Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1861-01-12
Paul Rsvsre,s Ride.
An INCIDENT OF rHE REVOLUTION.

An INCIDENT OF THE RzVoLurIoS
By H. w. LOaRfsaOs f tie atlantic Monahly for asSdrl
Listen, my children. and you shall hear
OF the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth Of April, iu Seventy Five :
Hardly man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to bis frend,- the British march
BY land or sea from the town tonight,
Hang a lantern, Rloft in the belfry-arch
OF the North. Church-tower, as a signal light
One il by land. and two if by sea
And on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm, s
Through every Middlesex village and farm.
For the country-folk to be up and 10 arm"
Then he said good night and with muiiled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, L.
just as the moon rose over the bny,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
Tue Somerset, British nan-of-wor:
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the mooa like prison-bai,
And a huge, black hulk, that was magn6ed
BY its own reflection in the tide.
a4fa r.hfE.. .aa .rft. .t
Meanwhile, his friend, through alley aud street,
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till 10 the silence around him be hears
The muster Of men at the barraek. door,
The sound OF arms, aud the tramp OF feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore.
Then he climbed TO the tower Of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread
To the belfry- chamber overhead,
And started the pigeons from their perch
On the sombFe raflers, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes OF shade
Up the light ladder, slender aud tall,
10 the highest window In the wall,
Where be paused TO listen and look down
A moment on the roofs Of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.
Beneath 10 the eharchyard, lay the dead 7 Z
In their night-encampment on the hill "A
Wrapped in silence so deep and still,
That he could bear like a sentineTs tread
The watchful night-wind as il went,
Creeping along from tent to tent
And seeming to whisper, "All is well 4"
A moment only be feels the spell .--... I-r
or the place and the hour, the secret dread
or the lonely belfry and the dead
For suddenly all bis thoughts are bent
On shadowy something far away, w
Where the river widens to meet the bay
A line OF black, that bends aud floats la
On the rising tide, like bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted hts horses side, pa.4
Now gazed on the landscape far and near
Then impetuous stamped the earth,
ADD turned and tightened his saddle girth
But mostly be watched with eager search
The belfry-tower Of the old North Church,
As II rose above the graves on the bin,
Lonely, and spectral, and sombre, and still
And 10 as be looks on the belfrys hight
a glimner, and then CLEAN Of light ~
ne spFings to the saddle, the bride be turns,
But fingers and gazss. till full on his sight
A second lamp In the belfry burns
A hurry Of hoois IN village street
A shape IN the moonlight bulk 10 the dark,
And beneath from the pebbles,in passing. sparI
Struck out by steed that flies fearless and Aset
That was all And yet. through the gloom an,
4 the light
The fSte Of nation was riding that night
Aud the spark struck out by that steed, in hi
hgbt, ..,si.,s 81.
| Kindled the land into fame with its beat
II was twelve by the villsge.clock.
When be crossed the brldgs ioto hsdiord to- wn