Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1878-06-06
Curiew Must Not Ring Tonight.
EYxRs. ROSA uARDw1cK rnRorE.

Slowly Englands sun was setting DER the hilltops
far away,
Filling all the land with beauty at the close of
sad day,
And the last rays kissed the forehead of man and
maiden fair
He with footsteps slow and weary-she with sunny,
floating hair
He with bowed head, sad and thoughtful-she with
lips all cold and white,
Struggling to keep back the murmur:
"Curfew must not ring tonight p"
Sexton Bcssies white lips faltercd, pointing to
the prison old.
With its turrets tall and gloomy, with its walls
dark, damp and cold,
I've lover in that prison, doomed this very night
At the ringing OF the Curfew; and earthly help is
nigh;
Cromwell win not wait till sunset" and her lip.
grew strangely white
AS she breathed the husky whisper:
-Curfew must not ring to- might
Bessie calmly spoke the sexton-every word
pierced her young heart
Like the piercing Of an arrow, like deadly-pos-
oned dart
gloomy, shadowed tower;
Every evening, just at sunset. it has told the tw-
hght-hour;
Now I'm old still must do it
Curfew it must ring tonight
Wild her eyes and pale her features stern and
white her thoughtful brow,
And within her secret bosom Bessie made a solemn
She had listened while the Judges read. without a
tear or sigh:
AT the ringing of the curfew Basil Underwood
must die.
And her breath came fast and faster, and her eyes
grew large and bright
In an undertone she murmured
-Curfew mast not ring Tonight
She with quick steps bounded forward. sprung
within the old church-door,
Left the old man treading slowly paths so oft he'd
Not one moment paused the maiden, bat, with eye
and cheek aglow
Mounted mp the gloomy tower, where the bel
As she climbed the dusty ladder on which fell nc
ray of light,
Up and up-her white lips saying:
-Curfew shall not ring tonight
She has reached the topmost adder-ocr hel
hangs the great dark bell
Awful is the gloom beneath her, like the pathway
10. the pondrous tongue is swinging, his the houl
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped he
Shall she let IL s' rnss s1 Nc Deyer Flash her eyes
with sudden light,
And she springs and grasps 1t firmly:
-Curfew shall not ring tonight
out she swang-far out-the city seemed speck o
light below
'Twixt Heaven and Earth her form suspended, a
the bell swung to and fro;
And the sexton at the bell rope, old and deaf
heard not the bell.
But he thought it still was ringing f-ir younl
Bazirs funersi-knen,
Still the maiden clung more firmly, and will
trembling lips and white,
Said, to hush her hearts wild beating:
-Curfew shall not ring tonight"
II was DER, the bell ceased swaying, aud the mai
den stepped once more
Firmly on the dark, old ladder, where Tor hundre'
years before
Human foot had not been planted. The brave dee,
she had done
Should be told long years after, the rays of set
ting
Should illume the sky with beauty aged sires wif
heads of white
Long should tell the little children:
-Curfew aid not ring that night"
Der the distant i.ills came Cromwell; Bessie see
him, and her brow,
Full of hope and full of gladness, has no anxiou
traces now,
At his feet she tells her story, showing her hand
all bruised and torn;
And her face, sweet and pleading, yet, wit
sorrow pale and worn,
Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit his eye
with misty light;
Go, your lover lives said Cromwell:
-Curfew shall not ring tonight"