Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1877-05-11
Miscellany.
from the Providence journal, 1881
Bennington.


Breathed forth simple strain,
Last summer, you may recollect,
You bade me sing again.
Itake the harp-t is not mine
To "buid the lofty rime;"
But would tell, in simple phrase,
A tale Of olden time.
Up through cloudy sky, the sun
Was buheting his way,
on such q morn as ushers in
A sultry August day.
Hot was the air, and hotter yet
Mems hearts within them grew;
They Britons, Hessians, Tories saw
They saw their homesteads too.
They thought OF all their country's wrongs,
They thought Of noble lives
Poured out in battle with the foes,
They thought upon their wives,
Their children and their aged sires-
Their dresides s,-churches,-God;
And the deep thought made hAllowed ground
Each foot of soil they trod.
Their leader was a brave, bold man.
A man Of earnest will
His very presence was host,
He'd fought at Bunker Hill.
living mon ument he stood
OF stirring deeds Of fame
or deeds that shed fAdeless light
on his own deathless name.
OF Charlestown's fames-of warrens blood,
His presence told the tale,-
1t made the heroes hearts beat high
Though lips and cheeks grew pAle
II spoke Of Princeton, Morristown-
Told Trenton's noble story;
1t lii futurity with hope,
And on the past shed glory.
Who were those men their leader, whof
Where stood they on that morn7
The men were Berkshire yeomanry,
Brave men as e'er were born,
Who in the reaper's merry row
Or warrior rank could stand;
Right worthy such gallant troop
JoHN STARK led on the band.
WoAmAsac wanders by the spot
where they that morning stood;
Then rolled the war-cloud DER the stream,
The waves were tinged with blood,
And the near hills that dark cloud grit
And fires like lightning flashed,
And shrieks and groAns, like bowling blasts,
Rose as the bayonets clashed.
The night before the Yankee host
Came gathering from Sfar,
AHd in each belted bosom glowed
The spirit Of the war;
All full OF fight. though rainy storm,
Night cloudy, starleEs, dark,
They came, and gathered as they came
Around the valiant Stark.
There was Berkshire parson-he
And all his flock were there,
And like true chHrchmen militant
The arms Of q esh made bare.
'out spake the Domi ME and said,
"For battle have We come
These many times, and after this
We mean to stay at home"
"If are come in vain," sAid STARK.
"what! will you 60 tonight
To battle 1t with yonder troops?
God sen us morning light,
And we will give you work enough;
Let but the morning come,
And, II you hear no voice Of war,
Go back and stay at home"
The morning came,-there stood the foe
Stark eyed them as they stood;
Few words he spake, twas not time
For morsliIng mood.
"See there the enemy, my boys.
Now, strong in valor's might,
b eat them, or Molly Stark must sleep
In widowhood to might"
Each soldier there had left at home
A sweetheart, wife or mother,
A blooming sister, or perchAnce
A fAtr-haired, blue-eyed brother.
Each from . freside came, and thoughts
Those simple words aWofe
That nerVed up every hero's arm
And guided every stroke.
Oh fearful wAntonness Of warl
1t mocks the widows tears,
rowns on the orphaned infants wall
And mocks at mortal fears.
1t is the tyrAnt's minister
The robbers Of the world
Have done their deeds Of darkness where
The war-cloud thiekest curled.
But, where the invaders tramp is heard
when, rushing on the gale,
The slogan Of defiance comes,
sh all freemen's spirits quAili
No! rank to rank and hand to hand,
Quick let them meet the foe,
And to the God OF battles trust
Their country's veal and woe.
Thus did the Berkshire men that day;
Scarce had he spoke the words,
when burst the musket's rafting peal,
Out leaped the flashing swords;
And when brave Stark, in after time,
Told the proud tale OF wonder,
HO said the battle-din was zone
Continual clap Of thunder."'
Two hours they stroye; then victory crowned
The gallant Yankee boys;
Naught but the memory Of the dead
Bedimmed their glorious joys.
Ayei "there's the rub"-the hour Of strife,
Though follow years Of fame,
Is still in mournful memory linked
With some death-hallowed name.
The cypress with the laurel twines,
The poean sounds knell
The tr ophied column marks the spot
Where frien ds and brothers fell.
Fsme's mantle funeral pail,
Seems to the grief-dimmed eye
For, ever, where the bravest fall
The best beloved die
wollamsae's waves are bloodless now,
The hills no war-cloud girds,
No death shrek now the echo wakes,
But screams OF startled birds
Break on the sportsmAn's ear, the sights,
The sounds are all Of peace;
Soon may her gentle reign DER earth
Extend and never cease.
RANoRl
Providence, Jan. 10, 1888.
Il have taken the words Of the PArson, and
words OF Stark in the other parts Of the story, '
'carcely any variation, from StArks Biography