The Van Buren press., 1874-06-16
MISCELLANY.
The Curfew Heroine.

1t lacked but half an hour Of Curiew
toll The old bell ringer came from un-
der the wattled roof OF his cottage stoop,
aAd stood with uncovered mead in the
clear, sweet scented air. He had grown
blind and deaf in the service, but his old
arm was as muscular as ever: and he
who listened this day marked no falter-
ing in the heavy, metallic 'thros OF the ca
thedral bell Oid Jasper had lived
through many changes. He had tolled
out his notes Of mourning for good
Queen Bcss ;,aud with tears scarcely dry
he had rung ,he glad tidin.;s Of the coro-
nation of Jarpes; Charles the First had
been crowned, reigned aud expiated his
weakness before all England in Jasper s
time; and now lie, who under his army
held all the commonwealth in the hollow
and sill the old man. with the habit Of a
long life upon him, rang his matin and
sorrow.
Jasper stood alone now, lifting his
dimmed eyes up to the softly dapped
sky
The walls Of his memory seemed so
written over-so crossed and re crossed
by the annals of the years that had gone
before, that there seemed little room for
anything in the present. Little reckoned
he that Cromweli's spearsmen were camp
ed on the moor beyond the village--that
Cromwell himself rode with his guards.
men league away; he only knew that
the bell that had been rung in the tower
when William the Conqueror made cur.
few law, had been spared by Puritan
and Roundhead, and that his arm for six
ty years had never failed him at eventide
lie was moving with slow step toward
the gate when woman came hurriedly
In from the street and stood beside him
lovely woman, but with face so blanched
that it seemed carved in the whitest of
marble with all of its roundness and dim.
pies. Her great solemn eyes were raised
to the aged face in pltilul appeal, and the
lips were forming words that he could
not understand
Speak up, lass am deaf, and can.
not hear your clatter
The voice raised. aud the hands clasped
and unclasped, and wrung themselves to-
gether palm and palm
For Heavens sake, good Jasper, do
not ring curiew to night
what ma ring curl'cw Ye must be
daft, lassie.
Jasper, for sweet Heavens sake, for
my sake, for one night in all your long
life forget to ring the bell! Fail this
/ hall l.,.. al
Crommell says shall die at curfew toll
Do you hear ?-my lover, Richard TEN
pie. See, Jasper, here is money to make
your old age happy sold my jewels
that the Lady Maud gave me; and the
gold shall all be yours for one curfew. {"
Would ye hribe me, Lily De We're !?
Ye're a changeling. Ye've ma the blood
Of the Plantaganees in yere veins as your
mother had. What! corrupt me, bell
ringer under her majesty, good Queen
Bess Not for all the gold that Lady
Maud could bring me! What is your
lover TO me ? Babes have been born and
strong men have died before now at the
ringing Of my bell Ava ava ~
And out on the village green, with the
solemn sUHNOWs Ol lUt lilNtUs lpHDlHtH-
ing over it. n strong man awaited the
curfew to toll for his death He stood.
handsome, and brave. and tall---tallcr by
an inch than the tallest pikeman who
guarded him.
What had he done that he should die
Little 1t mattered in those days when the
sword that the great Cromwell welded
was so prone to fall, what he or Others
had done He had been scribe to the
late lord up at the castle; and Lady
Maud, forgetting that nah must WOO,
and woman must wait, had given her
heart to him without the asking; while
the gentle Lily De We're, distant kinswo
man, and poor companion TO her, had,
without seeking. found the treasures OF
his true love. and held them fast Then
he had Joined the army. aud m dc one Of
the pious soldiers whose evil passions
were never stirred but by sign or symbol