Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-06-04
THE RIDE OF COLLINS GRAVES

An INCIDENT OF THE FLOOD IN MASSACHUSETTS.
M song OF soldier riding down
ia the raging fight from Winchester town;
sso song Of time that shook the earth
Win the nations throe at a nations BIRTH
But the song of a brave man, free from fear
a. Sheridan's self or Paul Revere
Wbo risked what they risked, free from strife
And ills promise of glorious pay-his life
The peaceful valley has walked and stirred.
And the answering echoes of life are HEARD
The dew still clngs TO the trees and grass,
And the early toilers smiling pass,
A. they glance aside at the white walled homes,
nr nm the valley, where merrily comes
The brook that sparl>les in diamond rills
A. the sun comes over the Hampshire hills.
What was il that passed like an omlnous breathe
Like a shiver of fear or a touch of DEATH
What was IT. The valley is peaceful still,
And the leaves are atire on the top of the hill.
Il WAS not a sound. nor a thing of sense
But a pain, like the pang of a short suspense
That wraps the being of those who see
At their feet the gulf of eternity!
The air of the valley has felt the chilli
The workers pause at the door of the mill:
The housewife, keen to the shivering air
Arrests her foot on the cottage STAIR
Instructive taught by the mother-love,
And thinks of the sleeping ones aboyel
Why start the listeners Why does the course
OF the mill-stream widen? Is il a horse
" III ark 10 the SOUNDS OF MS nOOlsl'' they say
That gallops so wildly Williamsburg way?
God what was that, like human shrek
From the winding valley? VIII nobody speak?
VIII nobody answer those women who cry
As the awful warnings thunder by?
Whence come they? Listenl And now they hear
The sound Of the galloping horse -hoofs near;
They watch the trend Of the vale, and see
The rider who thunders so menacingy
With WAVING and warning
To the home-hlled banks OF the valley stream.
He draws no rem, but he shakes the street
With shout and the ring of the galoping feet
And this the cry that he filings to the wind:
" TO the hills for your tiUeS! The food Is 6ehindt'
He cries and is gone but they know the worst
The trcacherous Williamsburg dam has hurstl
The basin that nourished their happy homes
Is changed to demon. 1t comesl it comcsl
A monster in aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, TO take the brunt
OF the dwellings they white-maned and
hOarre--
The mercess terror fills the course
OF the narrow valley, and rushing raves,
With Death on the first of its Kissing waves,
Till cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumbed and crushed.
But onward still
In front Of the roaring Hood il heard
The galloping horse and the warning word.
Thank God that the brave mans life is spared!
From Williamsburg town he nohly dared
To race with the flood 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 a steadfast mind
" Ihey must be tCdfHed!" was all he said,
As away on his terrible ride he 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 Romans was brave and bold,
And the tale can a. noble thrill awake,
For he offered his life for he peoples sake
John Boyle UReitly, IN Boston FftOt