The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1861-02-08
Selefted 2oetru.
Paul Revere's Ride.

"A FAMOUS INCIDENT OF THE REvoLur1oSAR
EPOCH.
(ByHw Longfellow in the Atlantic Monthly for Jan.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
OF the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five:
Hardly man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
He said to his friend-'If the British march
BY land or sea from the town tonight,
Hang lantern. aloft in the belfry-arch
Of the North Church tower, as a signal light
One if by land. and two if by sea;
And on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm.
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country-folk to be up and to arm"
Then he said goodnight. and with mutiled oar
Silently rOwed to the CharleStOwn shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moOrngs lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war:
A phantom ship. with each mast and spar
Across the moon, like prison-bar.
And huge, black hulk, that was magnifed
BY its own reflection in the tide.
Meanwhile, his friend. through alley and street,
WanderS and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and 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 sombre raftcrS, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes Of shade
Up the light ladder, slender and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town,
And the moonlight flowing over all.
! Beneath. in the chrchyard, lay the dead
In their night t-encampment on the hill,
J Wrapped in silence so deep and STILL
That he could hear, like sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind. as it went,
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is we'll :"
A moment only he feels the spell
| OF the place and the hour, the secret dread
OF the lonely belfry and the dead !;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On shadowy something far away.
Where the river wldenS to meet the bav,-
A line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like bridge of boats.
|
Booted and spurrcd, with heavy stride,
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horses side,
Now gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then mpetuOuS stamped the earth,
And turned and frightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The bclfry tower of the old North Church,
AS it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely. and spectral, and sombre, and still.
And 10 as he looks on the belfry's hight,
A glimmer, and then gleam of light.
He springs to the saddle. the bride he turns,
But fingers and gazes. till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns
A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
shape in the moonlight, bulk in tho dark
And beneath from the pebbles. in passing, a sp
Struck out by steed that flies fearless and Ae
That was all And yet. through the gloom
the light.
The fate of nation was riding that night:
And the spark struck out by that steed in
flight
Kindled the land into fame with its heat
1t was twelve by the village clock,
When he crossed the bridge into Medford tow
He heard the Growing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmers dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That Uses when the sun goes down.
1t was one BY the village clock,
When he rode into Lexington,
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed.
And the meeting house windows, blank and b:
Gaze at him with spectral glare,
AS if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.
1t was two by the village-clock.
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twtter Of birds among the trees,
5 And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown,
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by British musket-ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have 7
How the British regulars fired and fed
How .he farmers gave them ball for ball,
y From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane.
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
> And only pausing 10 fire and load
t So through the night rode Paul Revere:
: And so through the night went his cry of alar
: To every Middlesex village and farm,-
A crv of defiance, and not of fear
r A voice in the darkness. knock at the door
And word that shall echo forevermore.
For borne on the night-wind of the past,
Through all our history, to the last.
n In the hour of darkness, and peril, and need,
e The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof beat of that steed,
And the midnig ght-message of Paul Revere.
,. Women are said to have stronger alta
a ments than men. 1t is not so. Strength
attachment is evinced in little things. A n
IS often attached to an old hat; but did .