The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1867-07-19
Yantutk gefftrsonian.
THE FIRE FIEND.
A NIGHTMARE.

].
In the deepest dearth OF midnight. while the
sad and sole mn swell,
Still Was floating, family echoed from the for.
est chapel bell
Family, falteringly, floating DER the sable
waves Of air,
That we're thro' the midnight rolling, chat
ed and billowy with the tolling-
In my chamber lay dreaming, by the fire.
lights fful cleaning,
And my dreams were dreams fOrshadowed
on heart fOrsdOOmed TO care
Is the last, long, lingering echo oI the mid
nights site chime
Lifting through the sable bIlloxs of the
thiIher shore of Time
Leaving on the startless silence not q token
hor irsee-
Ia quiverlng sigh departed IRON ny cocoh
IN fear started
started 10 my feet In terror, Tor my dreams
phsntasmal error
Painted in the htfuI IRE frightful, ndish,
flaming face.
On the red hearth's reddest center, from a
blazing knot Of oak,
Seemed TO gibe and grin this phantom " hen
in lie rror | awoke,
And my slumberous eye!ids strainng. as
staggered 10 the fioOr
Sun In that dread vision seeming, turned my
gaze toward the cleaning
Hearth and there ?--oh, God. saw It; and
irom i'll flaming Jaw it
sPat ceaseleSs, seethins, kissing, bub bling
guTgling stream OF gore!
Speeches., struck with stony silence, frozen
10 the hoOr stood,
Till methougbt my brain WAS Kissing with !
that Missing. bubbling blood
Till felt my life blood Oozing, oozing from |
those limbent lips;
TIL the demon seemed TO mama me-then a |
WoundrOus calm came Ger me,
And my brow grew cold and dewy, with
And l ieI back on my pillow, in apparent
soul eclipse.
Then as in deaths seeming shadow, in the |
icy fall of fear
I lay, striken, came hoarse and nideous
murmur 10 my ear,
Came a murmur Ike nurmur of ssssssins |
in their sleep
Nuttering, Higher higher higher! am
demon of the Fire!
/ am Arch-Fiend of the Fire and each b,az- |
ing roofs nv pyre,
And my sweetest incense is the blood and T
tears my victims weep!
- HoW revel on the prairie how | roam |
among the pines,
Row laugh when from the village Ger the
snow the red fame shines,
And l hear the shrieks Of terror, with a life
in every breath.
How / scream with lsmbent laughter, as !
burl each cracking rafter
Dohu lne lc u dbsec VI AEc-uHbli AieueE
higher hi igher
Leap the high priests o. my altar, in the
merry dance of deathr'
- am Monarch OF the Fire! | am yass2l-
King OF Death
World enriching, with the shadow Of its
doom upon my breath
With the sy nbol OF Hereafter flaming from
my fatal face
command the Eternal Firel Higheri higher
higheriI
Leap my ministering demons, like phantas
magOric lemansl
embrace r.
shrouding sleep,
And sIumbered like an infant iE the "cradle
of the deep"
Till the belfry in the forest IIiVered with the
matin stroke,
And the martins, from the edges Of lts lieh-
en-lideled ledges,
Shimmered through the russell arches. "tsrs
The light Ia torn alss marches,
Like routed army struggling through the
seuied ranks Of oak.
Thrs my igy-frettei casen ent, filtered Ia
trsmulOus note,
- = -
robin sVeIled his throat
oaeraI0us, quaker breasted robin, calling
quantity for hIs mstei
Then started up unbidden from my slumber,
nightmare ridden,
With the memory of that dire demon in my
central fire.
On my eye 5 interior mirror ike the shadow
of tate !
All! the nendish fire had smouldersd to a
white and formless heap,
And no knot Of oak was flaming as it damed
upon my sleep;
But around its very center, where the de-
mon face had shOne,
Forked shadows seemed 10 lngeri pointing
as with spectral hnger,
10 Bible, massive. golden, on table cary /
ed and olden;
And bowed and said. All power is Of God
OF God alOneI
Recently a collection was taken up
in the Baptist church, West Troy, n
Y, to aid sister society in rebuilt