Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-06-04
THE RIDE OF COLLINS GRAVES.

AN INCIDENT OF THE FLOOD IN MASSACHUSETTS.
No song of soldier riding down
To the raging fight from Winchester town;
No song of time that shook the earth
With the nations throe at nations birth;
But the song of 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 20 the trees and grass,
And the early toilers smiling pass,
As they glance aside at the white-walled homes,
Or uD the valley, where merr1ly comes
The brook that sparkles in diamond rllls
As the sun comes over the Hampshire hills.
What was il that passed like an omlnous breath?
Like a shiver of fear or touch Of death?
What was it, The valley Is peaceful still,
And the leaves are afire on the top of the hill
1t was not a sound, nor thing of sense
But 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 chill;
The workers pause at the door Of the mill;
The housewife keen to the shiyerng air,
Arrests her foot on the cottage stair,
Instructive taught by the mOther-love,
And thinks of the sleeping ones above!
Why start the listeners Why does the course
OF the mill-stream widen? Is it a horse
sHark 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? VIII nobody speak?
VIII nobody answer those women who cry
As the awful warnings thunder by?
Whence come they? Listen! And now they hear
The sound Of the galloping horse-noOfs near;
They watch the trend of the vale, and see
The rider, VINO thundcrs so menacingly,
With waving arms and warning scream
To the hOme-Iilled banks of the valley stream.
He draws no rein. but he shakes the street
With a shout and the ring of the galloping feet.
And this the cry that he filings to the wind:
" To tie hits for yOHr tt0eS! The food Is bejHd!''
He cries and is gone, but they know the worst
The treacherous Williamsburg dam has bUrstl
The basin that nourished their happy homes
Is changed to demon. 1t comes! II comesl
A monster in aspect, with shaggy front
OF shattered dwellings, TO take the brunt
OF the dwellings they shatter-white-mane ant
The merciless 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 Crumbled and crushed.
But onward still
in front or the roaring flood is heard
The gallopng horse and the warning word.
Thank God, that the brave mans life is spared
From William sburg town he nobly 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;
- They must be dCGTHedi' 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 rs the Romans was brave and bold,
And the tale can as noble thrill awake,
For he offered his life for the peoples sake.
John Boyle O'Reitly, IN Boston Pilot