The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-08-07

ii JUN AtoAA4E v As4AAAAs
No song OF a soldier riding down
To the raging fight from Winchester town;
No song of a time that shook the earth
with the nations throes at a nations birth;
But the song OF a brave man, free from fear
As Sheridan's self or Paul Revere;
Who risked what they risked, 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 tOilers smiling pass,
As they glance aside at the white-wailed homes,
or up the valley, where merrily comes
The brook that sparkles in diamond rills
As the sun comes over the Hampshire hills.
What was it, that passed like an omlnous
Like a shiver OF fear or a touch OF death?
What was IL? The valley is peaceful still,
And the leaves are afire on top of the hill.
II was not sound, nor a thing OF sense
but pains IKE the pang OF the short suspense
That wraps the beings OF those who see
AT their feet the gulf Of Eterniiyi
The air Of the valley has felt the chill;
The workers pause at the door OF the mill;
The housewife, keen TO the ShiveEing air,
Arrests her loot on the cottage stair,
Instructive taught by the mOther-lOve.
Ana thinks OF the sleeping ones above!
Why start the listeners? Why does the course
OF the mill-stream widen ? j. Il horse,
lHark TO the sound OF his hoofs, they say,l
That gallops so wildly Williamsburg way7
God! what was that, like a human shrek
From the winding valley Will nobody speak,
VIII nobody answer those women who cry
As the awful warning thunders by?
Whence come they? Lisleni And, now they
hear
The sound OF the ealloplng horse-hoofs near;
They watch the trend Of the vale, and see
The rider, who thunders so menacingly,
With waving arms and warning scream
To the hOme-filled banks OF the valley stream
lie draws no rein, but he shakes the street
With a shout and ring Of the galloping feet
And this the cry that lac filings TO the wind:
.'Io the hills Tor your livesi The flood Is be-
hind :"
He cries and is gone; but they know the worst
The treacherOus Williamsburg dam has burst
The basin that nourished their happy homes
is changed 10 a demon-it comes! II comes,
a monster in aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, 10 take the brunt
OF the dwellings they shaiter-white-maned
and hOarse.
The merciless terror hlls the course
or the narrow valley, and rushing raves
Win Death on the first Of its kissing waves,
Till cottage and street and crowded mill
Are crumb bled and crushed.
But onward still,
In front Of the roaring flood is heard
The gallOping horse and the warning word.
Thank God, that the brave mans life Is spared:
FrOm Williamsburg town he nObly dared
To race with the Hood and 10 take the road
In frOnt OF the terrible swath IL moved.
For miles IL Numbered and crashed behind
But he looked ahead with a Steadfast mind:
They must be warned :" 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 Curiius OF old
HIS deed as the Romans was brave and bold,
And the tale can as noble "a thrill awake
for lac offered his life for the peoples sake.
- Boston Pilot