Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-05-01
"ATLANTIC."
By B. F. TAYLOR.

Ay, build her long and narrow and deep;
She shall cut the sea with a cimeter7s sweep,
whatever betides and whoever may weepi
R-;ng ont the red wine, Lift the glass to the lip;
with the roar of great guns, and a g Hip! hip!
Hurrah 7" for the craft We will christen the ship!
Bash a draught on the bow! All, the spar of white
Drip into the sea till it colors the flood
Withthe very own double and symbol of blood!
How out with the name of the monarch gigantic
That shall queen it SO grandly when surges are
frantic
child of fire and of IRON, God save the Atlantic!
All freighted with power below and above,
The heart of a fend and the wing of a dove
Tumble in the brave cargo of life and Of loyei
Good for a thousand souls Hustle them in!
Your mother and mine shall the census begin;
Then tell off the children too little to SIM
With furnace of fire and forest of mast,
She can conquer the calm and rally ne blast;
But fuel is costly! Coal beavers 1vast!
All, those ebony heaps that cum',er the hold
Can never be reckoned in silver and gold
Ten lives to the ton, and an anguish untold
Alas for the lack of a handful OF cSals;
Alas for the ship that is haunted With souls;
Alas for the bell that eternally tollsi
All aboard, my fine fellows! Cup anchor! !" the
All, never again shall that order be heard,
For two worlds will be mourning ye gone to a third!
To the trumpet of March wild gallops the sea;
The white-crested troopers are under the lee
Old World and New World and Soul World are
three!
Great garments of rain wrap the desolate night:
Sweet Heaven disastered is lost to the sight;
"Atlantic," crash on in the pride of thy might,
With thy look-out's dun cry, "One O'Clock and all
right!
Ho, down with the matches! The Seas come
aboard!
All together they come, like a passionate word
Like pirates that put every soul to the swordl
Their black flag all aboard makes murky the air;
But the ship parts the night as a maiden her hair
Through and through the thick gloom, from land
here to land there,
Like the shuttle that weaves for a mourner TO wear!
Good night, proud Atlantic :" One tick of the
clock,
And a staggering craunch and a shivering shock
'Tis the flint and the steel! IT'S the ship and tho
rock!
Deathless sparks are struck out from the bosoms
of girls,
From the stout hearts of manhood in scintilant
whrls,
Like the stars of the flag when the banner unfurIs !!
What hundreds in agony bafied the deep
Nobody to pray and nobody to weep
Alas for the flag of the single white Star"
With light pale and cold as the woman's hands are
Who froze in the shrouds, flashed her jewels afsr,
Lost her hold on the world and then clutehed at a
spar!
God of mercy and grace! How the bubbles come up
With souls from the revel, who stayed not to sup;
Death drank the last toast, and then shattered the
cup!
Who crushed those poor hearts that wild terrors
Atlantic of waterf Atlantic of iron?
The den where they bearded the granite old lion?
The God of the sparrow? A breath from Mount
Zion?
Bring the World into court! Bid the verdict be
giveni
"To this true words we render, resistlessly driven,
And so say we all-Not Guilty, fore Heaven"
For the fellow who thought, sab, how costly is
coal !"
He loses who bids any price for his soul!
And Christ died for this man-this pitful creature !
Made like the noblest in fashion and feature
Saint John the BELOVED and the Wilderness Preacher
Too sordid for soul and too subtle for sod,
Let us lock out of heart the poor animate clod,
And leave the new Cain and his brother with God
In the clash of the leaves of the frantic woods,
And the turbulent whirl of the angry floods,
And the rumble and roar of the cloudy brOOdS.
In the height OF the storm you have sometimes
heard
The melodious voice of an unseen bird,
And SO clear and SO brave that your heart was
stirred.
1t seemed TO be Faith set anew to a song,
That the weakest of things need never fear wrong,
If they only believe in the true and the strong.
In that bitter storm when the plunge of the wreck
Tossed the white forms at will that were strewing
the deck,
As the foam-hakes are tossed on a warehouses; neck.
And men growing grim in their hunger for life,
And husband in frenzy abandoning wife
To struggle alone in the desperate strife.
Then a voice brave and young rose sweet through
the din:
"Lend a hand! I'm alone with a lifetime to win .
Twas the song of an angel r~ebuking the sin.
Then the brute that's in men skunk back to its lair
Strong fingers were wound in the boys curly hair
"Pass the lad right along! My chance he shall
share Z"
We'll done, little John! For you smote their lef
flank,
And ummone them back to the heroes from
rank;
Mid death and disaster, John Henly we thank!
H.