Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1873-11-27
]9ottrp.
From the Atlantic Monthly for December.l
John Underhill.

BY JOHN C. WHITTIER.
A score Of wears had come and gone
since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth stone
When Captain Underhill, bearing scars
From Indian ambush and French wars,
Len three-hilled Boston and wandered down
East BY north. TO Cocheco town.
With Nane the Younger. in counsel sweet
He had sat at Anna Hutchinson's feet.
And, when the bolt of banishment fell
On the head of his sanity oracle.
! He had shared her i'll a. her good report,
And braVed the wrath of the General Court.
He shook from his feet as he rode away
The dust of the Massachusetts Bay.
The world might bless and the world might bar
| What did il matter the perfect man.
/ To whom the freedom Of earth was given,
Proof against sin, and sure of heaven.
He cheered his heart as he rode along
With screed of Scripture and holy song.
Ar thought how he rode with his lances free
~ the Lower Rhine and the Zuyder Zee.
Till his wood-path grew Ia a trodden road,
And Hilton Point in the distance showed.
He saw the church with the plock-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.
Gocdly and stately and grave to see
Into the clearing'> space rode he.
With the sun on the hift of his sword in sheath,
And his silver buckles and spurs beneath,
And the settlers welcomed him, one and all.
From swim Quampeagan TO Comic Fall.
And he said 10 the elders. 40. come
A. the way seemed open to seek a home,
Somewhat the Lord hath wrought by my hands
In the Narragansctt and Netherlands,
\ nj II there have work a 4 'lrlsflan man
Will tarry. and serve We rs best l can.
boast not Of gins. but fain would own
The wonderful favor God hath shown,
The special mercy vOuchsafed one day
On the shore of Narragansett Bay,
A. sat, with my pipe. from the camp aside
And unused like Isaac At eventide.
\ sudden sweetness Of peace / found.
y garment of gladness wrapped me round;
felt from the law Of work. released,
/ he strife Of the flesh and spirit ceased,
Ny faith TO a full assurance grew
And all had hoped for myself knew
Now. a. God appointeth. keep my way,
| shall not stumble. / shall not stray;
lie hath taken away my fig leaf dress.
| wear the robe of hi, righteousness
And the shaft, of Satan no more avail
Than Peqnot arrows on Christian mall
'larry with us,' the settlers cried.
Il hou man Of God. a. our ruler and guide"
And Captain Underhil bowed hi head
The viii of the Lord De done he said.
And the morrow beheld him sitting down
In the ru ler's seat in Cocheco town.
And he judged therein as q jus, man should:
His words were wise and his rule was good;
lie coveted not his neighbors land.
From the holding of bribes he shook his hand
And through the camps of the heather ran
n wholesome fear Of the valiant man.
But the hesrt is deceitful. the good Book salt h
And life hath ever q SAVIOR Of death.
Through hymns Of triumph the tempter calls
And whose thinketh he standeih falls.
Alas. ere their round the seasons 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,
] he shame in his eye. the halt in his prayer,
The signs Of battle lost within.
The pam of a soul in the coils of sin.
Then whisper Of SC andal linked his name
With broken VOWS and = life of blame;
And the people looked askance on him
As he walked among them sullen and grim,
III At ease and bitter Of word.
And promp Of quarrel with hand or sword.
None knew how, with prayer and fasting still
He stroye in the bonds Of his evil will:
But be shook himself like Samson si length,
And girded anew his loins OF strength,
And call together the wondering town.
Jecr and murmur and shaking Of head
Ceased a, he rose in his place and said,
Men. brethren and fathers, wei, We know
How came among you year ago,
strong IN the faith that my soul was freed
From sin Of feeling, or thought. or deed,
have sinned, / own il with grief and shame,
But not with lie on nv lips | came.
In my blindness | verify thought my heart
swept and garnished in every part.
lie charseth his angels with folly; he sees
The heavens unclean. Was Imore than these
| urge no plea. At your feet lay
The trust you gave me, and 90 my way.
Hate me or pity me, as you Will,
The Lord will have mercy on sinners still;
And |. who am chiefest, say to all,
Watch and pray, lest ye also fal.'
No voice made answer. but, from the crowd.
The sound OF woman sobbiDg loud
smote his heart with bitter pain,
A. into the forest he rode again,
And the veil of its oaken leaves shut down
On his latest glimpses of Cocheco town.
Crystal-clear on the man Of sin
The streams flashed up, and the sky shone In
ON his cheek Of fever the cool wind blew,
The leaves dro3Ded on him their tears of dew
And angels of God, in their pure, sweet guise
of flowers, looked on him with SD surprise.
Was his ear al fault that brook and breeze
Sang in their saddest Of minor KEYS:
W hat was it the mournful wood-thrush said
" hat whispered the pine-tr ees overhead:
Did ne 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 rebuke,
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 a once familiar name;
How among the Dutch of New Neither lands,
From wild Danskamar to Hasrlem sands,
| A ueniienf snldier nreachPd the Word