New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-05-31
,He RIDE OF COLLINS GRAVES.
An Incident Of the Flood In Massachusetts
on May Is, 1874.
By JOHN BOYLE GRIZZLY.

BY JOHN BOYLE GRIZZLY.
No song of Q soldier riding down
TO the raging fight from Winchester town;
No soBg Of time that shook the earth
with the nations throe at nations birth;
But the cong of a brave man, free from fear
As Sheridan's self or Paul Revere
Who risked what they risked nee 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 ciDgs to the trees and grass,
And the early toers smiling pass,
As they glance aside at the white walled homes,
Or up the valley, where merrily comes
Che brook that sparkles in diamond ills
Az the sun comes over the Hampshire hills
What was it that passed like an ominous breath
Like q SILVER of ft ar or touch Of deathl
What was iii The valley is peaceful stu.
And the leaves ale afire on tie top OF the hill
II was not sound. nor q thing Of SENSE .
But q pain, like the pang of the short suspense
That wraps the being OF those whose
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 shivering air
Arrests her foot Oh the cottage stair;
instinctively taught by the mot her Iove'
And thinks of the sleeping ones aoovei
Why start the listenersi Why does the course
OF the mill. stream widen ? Is it a horse
Hark to the sound OF bis hoOs. they say,
That gallop 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 byf
Whence come theyl Listen And now they hear
The sound Of the gallopping horse hoofs near;
They watch the trend of the vale and SEQ
The rider who thunders SO menancingly,
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 shout and ring Of the Rallopping feet.
And this is the cry that he filings to the wiud:
ITO the hills for your lives! The flood Is behind!
He cries and is gone; but they know the worst
The treacherOns Williamsburg dam has burst!
The basin that nourished their happy homes
In changed to demon-It comes 1t comes!
A monster il aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, to take the brunt
or the dwellings they shatter-white-maned and
The morciless terror fills the course
or the narrow valley, and rushing raves,
With Death on the hrst Of it's kissing waves,
Till cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumbled and crushed.
But onward still,
In front of the roaring food is heard
The gsllopng horse and the warning word.
Thank God that the brave mans life is spared
Prom Williamsburg town he n0bly 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 steadfast mind;
"Tbey must be warnedr r. 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 az noble thrill awake,
For be offered his life for the people sake.
Boston Pilot.