Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-12-12


comes next with $500, 9s7.
Aud so we left Chicago city utterly sad in
its material ruin; but grand and beautiful in its
courage, its hope. and its faith in the future
Lady Wentworth.
BY LoNGFEILow.
One hundred years ago, and something more,
In Queen street, Portsmouth, at her tavern door,
Neat as pin and blooming as rose,
Stood Mistress Stavers in her furbelows,
Just as her cuckoo-clock was striking nine
Above her head, respondent on the sign,
The portrait of the Earl of Halifax,
In scarlet coat and perlwg of flax,
Surveyed at leisure all her varied charms,
Her cap, her bodice her white folded arms,
And half resolved, though he was past his prime,
And rather damaged by the lapse Of time,
To fall down at her feet, and 70 declare
The passion that had driven him to despair.
For from his lofty station he had seen
Stavers, her husband, dressed in bottle-green,
Drive his new Flying Stage-coach, foursin-hand
Down the long lane and out into the land,
Aud knew that he was far upon the way
To Ipswich and to Boston on the Bay!
Just then the meditations of the Earl
Were interrupted by little girl,
BarefOoted, ragged, with neglected hair,
Eyes full OF laughter neck and shoulders bare
thin slip of a girl, like new moon,
Sure to be rounded into beauty soon;
A creature men would worship and adore.
Though now in mean habiliments she bore
a pail of water, dripping through the street,
Aud bathing, as she went, her naked feet
II was pretty picture, full of grace
The slender form, the delicate thin face;
The swaying motion, as she hurried by;
The shining feet, the laughter in her eye.
That Ger her face in ripples cleaned and glanced,
AS in her pail the shifting sunbeam danced;
And with uncommon feelings of delight
The Earl Of Halifax beheld the sight.
Not so Dame Stavers, for he heard her say
These words, or thought he did, as plain as day:
80 Martha Hilton! Eie how dare you go
About the town half dressed aud looking so %
At which the gypsy laughed and straight replied:
"No matter how look; yet shall ride
In my own chariot, ma'am." And on the child
The Earl of Halifax benignly smiled,
As with her heavy burden she passed on,
Looked back, then turned the corner and was gone.
What next upon that memorable day,
Drew his august attention was a gay
And brilliant equipage, that flashed and spun,
The silver harness glittering in the sun,
0utriders with red jackets, 18th and lank
Pounding the saddles as they rose and sank.
While all alone within the chariot sat
portly person with three-cornered hat,
A crimson velvet coat head high in air,
Gold-headed cane, and nicely powdered hair,
And diamond buckles sparkling at his knees,
Dgniied, stately, ford much at ease,
Onward the pageant swept and as it passed
Fair Mistress Stavers courtesied low and fast;
For this was Governor Wentworth, driving down
To Little Harbor, just beyond the town,
Where his Great House stood looking out to sea
A goodly place, where 1t was good to be.
1t was pleasant mansion, an abode
Near and yet hidden from the great highroad.
SeQuestered amOug trees, noble pile,
Baronial and colonial in its style;
Gables and dOrmer-windOws everywhere,
And stacks Of chimneys rising high IL air
PaRdaan pipes on which all winds that blew
Made mOurnful music the whole winter through.
Within, unwOnted splendOrs met the eye
Panels, and floors of oak, and tapestry;
Carved chimney-pieces, where on brazen dogs
Reveed and rOared the Christmas fire of logs;
Doors opening into darkness unawares,
Mysterious passages, and flights of stairs;
And on the walls, in heavy gilded frames,
The ancestral Wentworths with 0ld-Scrpture
names
Such was the mansion where the great man dwelt,
widower and childless; and he felt
The loneliness, the uncOngenial gloom
That like presence haunted every room;
For though not given to weakness, he could feel
The pain of wounds that ache because they heal.
The years came and the years went-seven in all
| And passed in cloud and sunshine Ger the Hall;
The dawns their spendor through its chambers
shed.
The sunsets flushed its western windows red
The snow was on its roofs the wind, the RAIN
Its woodlands were in leaf and bare again;
Moons waXed and waued, the lilacs doomed and
died,
In the broad river ebbed and flowed the tide,
Ships went to sea, and ships came home from sea,
And the slow years sailed by and ceased to be.
And all these years had Martha Hilton served
In the Great House, not wholly uuObserved;
BY day by night, the silver crescent grew,
Though hidden by clouds, her light still shining
through
A maid of all work, whether coarse or fine.
4 servant who made service seem divine!
Through her each room was fair to look upon,
Tie mirrors gistened and the brasses shOne,
The very knocker on the outer door,
III she but passed, was brighter than before.
And now the ceaseless turning of the mill
Of Time, that never for an hour stands still,
Ground out the governors siXtieth birthday,
And powdered his brown hair with silver gray.
robin HDPnrfOnpr nj OET
The bluebird with his jOcund carOlling,
The restless swallows building in the caves
Inc golden buttercupS, the grass, the leaves,
The lilacs tossing in the winds of May-
All welcomed this majestic holiday!
He gave splendid banquet served on plate
such as became the governor of the state,
Who represented England and the king,
And was magnificent in everything
he had invited all his friends and peers
The Pepperels, the Langdons and the Lears,
The Sparhawks, the PenhallOws and the rest,
For why repeat the name Of every guest2
But must mention one in bands and gown,
The rector there, the Reverend Arthur Brown
Of the Established Church; with smiling face
lie sat beside the governor and said grace;
And then the feast went on, as Others do,
But ended as none other err knew
When they had drunk the king with many cheer,
The governor whispered in servants ear
VINO disappeared, and presently there stood
Within the room, in perfect womanhood
A maiden, modest and yet sefpossessed.
Youthful and beautiful, and simply dressed
Can this lie Martha Hilton? 1t must be!
Yes, Martina Hilton, and no other she!
lowered with the beauty other twenty years.
How ladyike how Queenike she appears;
The pale, thin crescent of the days gone by
Is Diana now in all her majesty!
Yet scarce guest perceived that she was there.
Until the Governor, rising from his chair
Played slightly with his ruifies then looked down
And said unto the Reverend Arthur Brown:
This Is my birthday, it shall likewise be
Ny wedding-day and you shall marry mep
The listening guests were greatly mystifed
None more so than the rector, who replied:
Marry you? Yes, that were pleasant task
Your Excellency; but to whom, ask?"
The Governor answered. ITO this lady here"
And beckOned Martha Hilton to draw near
She came and stood, all bushes, at his side.
The rector paused. The impatient Governor cried:
This is the lady; do you hesitatey
Then command you as Chief Magistrate"
The rector read the service loud and clear:
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here"
And so on to the end. 1T his command
On the fourth finger Of her fair left hand
The Governor placed the ring; and that was all:
Martha was Lady Wentworth of the Hall!
January Atid1ltic.