Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-12-18
"CURFEw MUST NOT RING TO-
NIGHT"

Slowly Englands sun was setting o'er the hilltops
far away,
Filling all the land with beauty at the close Of one
- sad day,
And the last rays kissed the forehead of man and
maiden fair @
He with footsteps slow and weary she with sunny,
floating hair; g ~
He with bowed head, sad and thoughtful, she with
lips al cold and white,
Struggling to keep back the murmur,-
"Curfew must not ring to- night
Sexton Besse's white lips fatcred pointing to
the prison old,
With its turrcts tall and gloomy, with its walls
dark damp and cold,
1--we lover in that prison, doomed this very night
to die .@ RS.
At the ringin. of the curfew and no earthly help
is nigh;
Cromwell will not come till sunset and her lips
grew strangely white
As she breathed the husky Whisper
"Curfew must not ring to night
"Besse,' calmly spoke the sexton, every word
pierced her young heart
Like the piercing of an arrow like deadly, poi
soned dart.
Long, lsng years I've run9 the curfew from that
gloomy shadowed tower;
Every evening just at sunset it has told the twi-
light hour; - i'i i;t'
have done my duty ever triedi 10 do it just and
: right, ifsis assat '-'ii''fH
Now I'm old still must do it, at -,ffl
Curfew, it must ring o-night.'' i
Wild her eyes and pale her features, stern and
white her thoughtful brow.
And within her secret bosom Bessie made a solemn
vow.
She had listened while the judges read without a
tear or Il sigh.
AT the ringing of the curfew, Basil Underwood
must die
And her breath came faster and faster, and her
eyes grew large and bright
In an undertone she murmured.-
'Curfew must not ring to night
She with quick steps bounded forward, sprans
within the old church door,
Left the old man threading slowly paths oft he'd
trod before;
Not one moment paused the maiden. but with eyes
and check aglow.
Mounted up the gloomy tower, where the bell
swung to and fro,
And she climbed the dusty ladder on which fell no
ray of light, -'
Upland up,Nher white lips saying
'Curfew shall not ring tonight
She has reached the topmost ladder DER her hangs
the great dark bell;
Awful is the gloom beneath her, like a pathway
down to hell.
Lo the ponderbus tongue is swinging. tislthe holr
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her
breath and paled her brow.
Shall she let it ring? No, never. Flash her eyes
with sudden light.
And she springs and grasps it firmly
'Curfew shall not ring tonight. -
Out she swung, far out the city seemed specll of
light below.
''TwiXt heaven and earth her. form suspended, as
the bell swung to and fro,
And the sexton at the bell rope, old and deaf
heard not the bell
But he theht il still ringing fair young Basils
funeral knell.
Still the maiden clung most firmly, and with trem-
bling lips and white,
Said to hush her hearts wild beating,
"Curfew shall not ring tonight
1t was oer the bell ceased swaying, and the maid
stepped once more
Firmly on the dark old ladder where for hundred
years before,
Human foot had not been planted The brave
deed that she had done
Should be told long ages after, the rays Of set
ting sun
Should ilume the sky with beauty; aged sires
with heads Of white
Long should tell the little children.
Curfewtdid not ring that night.
Der the distant hills came Cromwell bessie secs
him. and her brow.
Full of hope and full of sladness has anxious
traces now.
AT his feet she tells her story shows her hands all
bruised and torn:
And her face so sweet and pleading vet with sor-
pale and worm
Touched his heart with sudden pity. lit his eve
with misty light:
Co your lover lvesn said Cromwell
"Curfew shall not ring tonight