Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1873-11-28
JOHN UNDERHILL.
BY JOHN q. WHITTIER.


A score OF years had come and gone
Since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth stone,
When Captain Underhill. bearing scars
From Indian ambush and Flemish wars,
Left th-ee-hilled Boston and wandered down,
East by north, TO Cocheco town.
With Vane, the younger, in counsel sweet
He had eat at Anna Hutchinson's foet,
And when the bolt of Punishment fell
On the head of his sanity oracle,
He had shared her i'll as her good report,
And braved the wrath OF the General Court.
lie shook from his feet rs he rode away
The dust of Massachusetts Bay.
The world might bless and the world might ban,
What did il matter, the perfect man,
To whom the freedom OF earth was given.
Proof against sin, and sure OF heaven!
lie chcered his heart as he rode along
With screed of Scripture and holy song,
Or thought how he rode with his lances free
By the Lower chime and the Zuyder Zee,
Till his w"oG-path grew to a trodden road,
And IIilon Point in the distance showed.
He saw the church with the block house nigh,
The two fair rivers, the flakes thereby,
And, tacking to windward, low and crank,
The little shallOp from Strawberry Bank;
And he rose in his stirrups and looked abroad
Over land and water, and praised the Lord.
Into the clearing's space rode he,
With the snn on the hilt Of his sword in sheath
And HE silver buckles and spurs beneath,
And the settlers welcomed him, one and all,
From swift Quampeagan to Comic Fail.
And he said to the elders, "Lo, come,
As the way seemed open to seek home.
Somewhat the Lord hath wrought by my hands
In the Narragansctt and Netherlands,
And If here ye have work for Christian man
will tarry and serve ye as best can.
II boast not of gifts, but fain would own
The wonderful favor God hath shown,
The special mercy vouchsafed one day
On the shore of Narragansett Bay,
As / sat, with my pipe, from the camp aside,
And mused like Isaac at eventide.
"A sudden sweetness of peace found,
garment of gladness wrapped me round;
l felt from the law of works released,
The strife of the flesh and spirit ceased,
My faith to a full assurance grew
And all had hoped for myself knew.
Now. as God appointeth, l keep my way,
l shall not stumble, shall not stray:
He hath taken away my fg-leaf dress,
wear the robe of his righteousness;
And the shafts of Satan no more avail
Than Pequot arrows on Christian mall
'.Tarry with us," the settlers cried,
'rhou man of God, as our ruler and guide"
Ana Captain Underhill bowed his head.
''The will On the Lord be done,'' he said.
And the morrow beheld him sitting down
In the rulers scat in Cocheco town.
And he judged therein as just man should;
His words were wise and his rule was good;
lie coveted not his ne: ghbor's land,
From the holding of blibes he shook his hand |;
And through the camps of the heather ran
A wholesome fear of the valiant man.
But the heart is deceitful, e good Book saith,
And life hath ever a SAVIOR of death,
Through hymns of tr umph the tcmpter calls,
And whose thinketh he stanGcth falls.
Alas. ere their rounds the season. ran
There was grief in the soul of the sanity man.
The tempter's arrows that rarely fail
Had found the joints OF his spiritual mail;
And men took note of his gloomy air.
The shame in his eye, the halt in his prayer;
The signs of a battle lost W thin,
The pain of soul in the coils Of sin.
Then a whisper OF scandal linked his name
With broken vows and lie of blame;
And the peope looked aekance on him
AS he walked among them suilen and grim,
Ill at ease, and bitter of word,
And prompt Of quarrel with hand or sword.
None knew how, with prayer and fasting still,
He sirove in the bonds n his evil will;
But he shook himself ike Sampson at length,
And girded anew his loiDs of strength,
And bade the crier go up and down
And call together the wondering town.
Jeer and murmur and shaking of head
Ceased as he rose in his place and said:
Men, brethren, and faihers, well ye know
How came among yOr year ago,
Strong in the faitI that my soul was freed
From sin of fee ing, or thought, or deed.
Il have sinned, own it with grief and shame,
But not with lie on my lips came.
In my blindress verify thought my heart
VOd t;nr she'd in n y,ar
He chargeth his angels with folly; he secs
The heavens unclean. Was more than these:
Il urge no plea. At your feet lay
The trust you gave me, and go my way.
Hate me or pity me, as you will,
The Lord will have mercy on sinners still:
And l, who am chiefest, say to all,
Watch and pray, lest ye also fall
No voice made answer, but, from the crowd,
The sound of Il woman sObbins loud
Smote his heart with bitter pain,
Az into the forest he rode again,
And the yell of its oaken leaves shut down
On his latest glimpse of COcheco town.
Crystal-clear on the man of sin
The streams flashed up and the sky shone in;
On his cheek of ;ever the cold wind blew,
The leaves dropped on him their tears of dew,
And angels of God, in the pure, sweet guise
OF flowers, looked on him with sad surprise.
" as nls cur dt IduIt thaL DIoCk anu bTccZe
Sang in their saddest of minor keys?
What was it the mOurnfpl woOd-thrush said?
What whispered the pine trees overhead!
Did he hear the voice on his lonely way
That Adam heard in the cool of day:
Into the desert alone rode he,
Alone with the Infinite Purity:
And, bowling his soul to its tender rebukc,
As Peter did to the Masters look,
He measured his path with prayers of pain,
For peace with God and nature again.
And in after years TO Cocheco came
The bruit of II once familiar name;
How among the Dutch of New Netherlands,
From Wild Dunskamar TO Haarlem sands,
A pentent soldier preached the Word,
And smotc the heather with Gideon's sword!
-if1Dfic far Ufcembcr