The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-05-29
The Ride Of Collins GI'dVes.
a m Incident of the Flood In NasSachu-
setts, On May 18th, 1874.
BY JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY

No song of a soldier riding down
To the raging fight at Winchester town;
No song of time that shook the earth
With the nations thrOe at a nations birth
But the song of a brave man, free from fear
As Sheridan's self or Paul Revere;
who rlsked what they risked, free from
strife
And its promise of glorious pay-his life.
The peaceful valley has walked and stirred,
And the answering echoes of life are heard
The dew still Clings to the trees and grass,
And the early toilers smiling pass,
AS they glance aside at the white walled
homes,
Or up the valley, where merrily comes
The brook that sparkles in diamond rills
As the sun comes over the Hampshire hills.
What was it, that passed like an ominous
breath?
Like shiver of fear or touch of death?
What was it? The valley is peaceful still
And the leaves are atire on top of the hill;
1t was not a sound, nor y thing of sense
But pain, like the paug OF the short sus-
peuSe
That wraps the being of those who SEQ
AT their feet the gulf of Eternity!
The air of the valley has felt the chill;
The workers pause at the door of the mill;
The housewife, keen to the shiYering air,
Arrests her foot on the cottage stair,
Instructive taught by the mothcr-love,
@hit 'HIHFNS VI INC SIOeplnS ones dpONS!
Why start the listeners? Why does the
course
OF the mill-stream widen? Is it horse?
Hark to the sound of his hoofs, they say,
That gallops SO wildly Williamsburg way ?
God! what was that like a human shrek
From the winding valley? VIII nobody
speak?
Will nobody answer those women who cry
As the awful warnings thunder by?
Whence come they? Listen! And now they
hear
The sound of the galloping horse -hoofs near;
Thoy watch the trend of the vale, and see
The rider, who thuuders so meuaciugly,
With waving arms and warning scream,
To the home filed banks of the valley stream.
He uraws no rein, but he shakes the street
With shout and tho ring of the galloping
And this the cry that he filings to the wind :
- To the halls for your Tires! The food is be-
hind"
He cries and is gone; but they know the
worst
The treacherous williamsburg dam has
The basin that nourished their happy homes
Is changed to demon-It comes! 1t comes.
y monster in aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, 10 take the brunt
OF the dwellings they shatter-white-m
and hUarSP,
The merciless terror fills The course
OF the narrow valley, and rushing waves,
Till cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumbled and crushed.
But onward still,
In front of the roaring flood is heard
The galloping horse and the warning word.
Thank God, that the brave mans life is
sparedi
From williamsburg 80 noble dared
To race with the food and to take the road
In front of the terrible Swath it moved.
For miles it Numbered and crashed behind,
But he looked ahead with steadfast mind;
''THeg must be lrGrBed"' was all ha said,
AS away on his terrible ride be sped.
When heroes are called for, bring the crown
To this Yankee rider; send him down
On the stream of time with the Curtius old
His deed as the Roman : was brave and bold,
And the tale can as noble a thrill awake,
For he offered his life for the peoples sake.
-Boston Pilot.