Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1861-05-02
From the Atlantic Monthly.
PAUL REV RES RIDE.

Listen, nv children, and you shall hear
OF the midnight ride OF Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth Of April, Seventy Five:
Hardly man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year
He said to his friend,--"lf the British march
By land or sea from the town tonight,
Hang a lantern aloft in the bcfry arch
OF the North Church-tower, as a signal-light,-
one if by land. and two ifby sea;
And on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every 1liddlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up snd arm"
Then he said good night, and with Iauffled oar
Silently rowe dto the Charleston shore,
lust as the moon raised over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The SOMERSET, British man ofwar:
phantom ship, with each nlsst and spar
Across the moon, like prison-bar,
And huge, hlack hulk, that magnfed
BY It's own reelection in the tide.
Meanwhile, h friend, through alley and street
Wanders ald 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 erenadiers
Marching down to their boats on the shore
Then he climbed to the tower of the church,
Up the wooden stairs, with stesity tread,
To the berry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre ralters, 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 churchyarl, las the dead
In their night encamYment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still,
That he could hear. like Il sentinel S tread,
The watchful night wind, as it vent
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, ''All is wcll.'
\ moment only he feels the spell
Ofthe place and the hour, the secret dread
OF the lonely befry and the dead
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On i shadowy something far away,
Where the river widcns to meetthe bay
\ line of black, that bends and floats
On the rising tide, like bridge of boats
Meanwhile, inpatient to mount and ride,
Boote'l and spurred with heavy stride.
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he pattcd his horses side,
Now he gazed on the landscape far and near,
Then impctuous stamped the earth.
snd turned and tlshtencd his saddle -eirth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfiy tower of the old North church,
rs il rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely. and spectral. and sombre, and still
And 10. as hc looks. on the bel.r,'s hight,
\ elimmer, and then CLEAN of light.
He springs TO the saddle, the bride he turns.
But fingers and gazeS. till full on his sight
y second lamp in the beltiy burns.
\ hurry Of hoofs in a village street,
\ shape in the moonlight, bulk in the dark.
And beneath from tn, pebbles, in passing, 4
spark
Struck out by steed that flies fearless and fleet
That was all, And yet, through the gloom and
the light,
The fate of nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his
fight,
Eindled the land into aame with its heat
II was twelve by the villago-c!ock,
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the growing of the cock,
And the barking Of the farmers dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises when the sun goes down.
Ii was one by the village clock,
When lie rode into Lexington,
He saw the glded weathcrcock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed.
And the meeting house windows. blank aud
bare,
Gaze ut him with a 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 ofthe flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the nJrning 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 muskct-ball
Y on know the rest In the books YOU have read
How the British regulars frel and Hed,--
How the farmers gave them ball Tor ball,
Eyom behind each fence and farmyard Tall,
Chasing the red coats down the lane,
Then crossing the held to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausng to fire and load.
So through the night rode Pau. Revere,
And so through the night went his cry of ALARM
every hldulcScN village an" '"'"'
A CRY of defiance, and not of iear,--
4 voice in the ,larkness, knock at the door,
And word that shall echo for cvermore
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the las,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen 90 hear
The hurrtinc hoofbeat of that stsed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere