Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1876-02-16
w o O D S T o OK.
by MARY ALoYsIA o. FRANCIS.

by nary ALOYSIA o, FRANCIS
My own Green Mountain yilagel when last
looked on thee
My heart was heralding my course across the
heaving sea;
Lies cup was sparkling TO the Drim, ana ne'er
u thought had
OF future clouds that, even then, were darkcn-
ing DER the sky.
Oh, gaily sailed our gallant bark across the
Atlantic'S tide,
And loving hearts and kindly tones were ever
Mt my side:
Backward looked, with smile and sigh, across
the ocean y foam,
"For tar away, III live and die, the wide world
for my home"
little knew, in that first hour, the exile's
weary pain;
Ny heart had not begun to feel the lcngthcn
ing OF its chain
But, us the days passed on, pinned like some
For one brici glimpse of friends at home, -one
dear familiar word.
Sweet village mid the verdant hills my heart
has turned to thee,
When my light pinnance rocked and tossed
across tn Italian sea,
And when upon the solemn Nile the Arab
piled his oar,
would have given the world to see the "Qucc-
chy" flow once more.
The shadow ofthc pyramids fell ON the desert
sand,
! held the dust of ages in the hollow of my
hand,
The tombs of kings were meath my feet yet
close before me Sill
Was the picture Ofa graveyard, on q green
and lonely hill!
l saw the marble tombstoncs, and the "river
road below,
And the Pyramids and Arabs seemed to shift
and change and go;
The Sphinx crouchcd close beside me, yet my
heart was DER the sea,
was back again, dear Woodstock back
again once moro with thee.
1t was SO wherc'er wandered, but found
my heart the same,
Even sweeter was That mcm'ryy-cven dearest
was that name, t#.
For the life best worth the living, had been
passed in quiet there,
All was rest auQ peace within thee, all without
was strife and care
Tender mem'rics of my childhood, thoughts
OF those who made it Dlest,
Hallowcd visions Of the dear ones in that
churchyard laid to rest
All the pass had given OF pleasure, all the joys
that Ger cOulu come,
Seemed to point to thee, sweet village as my
best, my only home!
But the fate that turned my footsteps to those
distant countries came,
And drew other scenes and places DER the
dear, familiar Nance
Only thought could fly and travel, only memo
ry meet the past,
For my steps were ever tetercd and my YES
sci anchored faStl
O'er the bright and starry Banner, which my
heart hnd loved SO well,
Clouds OF darkness gathered slowly, scatter
ing ruin as they iell,
And amid Il sOrLid people,-in II stony hearted
land,
could only aid by praying those could not
help with h&nd.
Oh, brave sons, of Ethan Allen! ON each Grim.
son baltle.day,
There was one whose heart was with YOU,
though it beat SO far away!
There was one 10 call you heroes, with IL
proudly flushing cheek,
When those WHO bore the u inc tree" in the
strife began to speak
"For Vermont and for New lIampshirew that
was still my battle cry
On the rocky sleeps of Malta, and beneath th'
Egyptian sky
And gloricd i'll your triumph3, even while
with dropping head,
was mourning tor your dear oncs-sadly
weeping Ger your dead
1t is past, that strife ana struggle,-ending at a
martyrs grave!
And oar Sdiat has met, in Heaven, all those
souls so true and brave,
Who rallied round the Banner, as he called
them, one by one,
And kept its bright folds flying, till their lives
ana his were done!
! Ii is past and gone forever, and our hopes
/. have crowned our fears,
After all the bitter anguish of those sad and
blood-staincd years;
But the land is one vast churchyardl and of
those used to know,
| Many voice is hushcd forcver,-ma.ly II
proud head lying low!
Stil to be again ut Woodstock! Oh that river
road, to hear
The lippling otthe Quechey rs it flows dis.
tihcU ana clear,
To gaze upon the beauty of that fair and
peaceful town
When the silence of the twilight on the hills
is coming down.
Ills boon SO dcarand precious, after ali the st
weary years,
That s!t ana museupon it, Till my eyes grow
| DIM with tears.
And the brightest skies of Europe will shine
out III vain for me,
Ga, my own Green Mountain village! whca
look once more on thee!
| FLORENCE HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY, May |, 1856
|