National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1874-05-30
The Ride Of Collins Grave
An Incident of the Flood In Massachusetts,,
on May 10. 1874.
ny JOHN BOYLE o'REiLLY.

No song of soldier riding down
| To the raging fight from Winchester town;
| No song of II time that shook the earth
| With the nations throe AZ u nation 3 birth
| But tho song of a brave man, free from fear
As Sheridam's self or Paul Revere;
Who riskcd what they iisked, 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 toIers smiling pass,
As they glance aside at the whitewalled homes
| Or up the valley, where nerrily comes
The brook that sparkles in diamond rills
| As the sun comes over the Hampshire hills.
What was it, that passed like an ominou'
breath.
Like q shiver of fear or touch of death
What was it The valley is peaceful still,
And the leaves are afire on top OF the NIL.
IL was not u sound, nora thing OF SENSE
But pain, like the pang OF the 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 chill;
The workers pause at the door of the mill;
The house wife, keen to the shivering air,
Arrests her foot on the cottage stair.
Instructive taught by the mother-love.
And thinks of the sleeping ones above
Why start the lstcnersi Why does the
course
OF the mill-stream widen! Is it u horse,
Iiark to the sounds OF his hoOfs, they say,
That gallops so wildly Williamsburg way
God! what was that like human shrek
From the winding valley Will nobody speak,
VIII nobody answer those women who cry
AS the awful warnings thunder by
Whence come theyi Listen! And, now they
The sound of the galloping horse-hoofs near
They watch the friend of the vale. and see
The rider, who thunders so mcnacngly,
With waving arms and warning scream
To the home filled banks of the valley stream
He draws no rein, but he shakes the street
With II shout and the ring of the galloping
feet.
And this the cry that he filings to the wind:
"Io the hills far yoW Tires Z! The .food is
bchiMd!'
He cries and is gone; but they know the
worst
The treachcrous Williamsburg dam has burst !
The basin that nourshed their happy homes
is changed to II dcmun-lt comes 1t comes !!
monster in aspect with shaggy front
or shaft red dwellings, to take the brunt
OF the dwellings they shattcr-wliite-i'ianed
and h0arse,
The mGrcilcss terror fills the course
OF the harrow valley, and rushing raves,
With Death on the first of its kissing waves.
Till cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumblcd and crushed.
But onward still,
In front of the roaring Hood is heard
The galloping horse and the warning word.
Thank God. that the brave mans lite is
spared!
From Williamsburg town he nobly dared
To race with the flood and to take the road
In front of the terrible swath it mo ed.
For miles it thundcrcd and crashed behind,
But he looked ahead with IL steadf;ist mind
"1hey nust be warncd!" 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 us the Romans was brave and bold.
And the tale can AS noble thrill awake.
For he offered his life for The peoples sake.