Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-10-30
Selected gnetrp.
CURFEw MUST NOT RING TONIGHT.

BY MRS. ROSA HARTWICK THORPE.
Engand's sun was setting DER the hills so far
away
Filled the land with misty beauty at the close of
one sad day;
And the last rays kiss'd the forehead of man
aud maiden fair
He with step so slow and weary, she with sunny,
floating hair;
He with bowed head, sad and thoughtful, she
with lips so cold and white,
Struggling to keep back the murmur, "Curfew
must not ring tonight"
"Sexton," Bessie's white lips faltered, pointing
to the prison old,
With its walls SO tall and gloomy, walls so dark
and damp and cold,
"rve lover in that prison, doomed this very
night to die,
At the ringing of the Curfsw and no earthly help
is nigh,
Cromwell will not come till sunset" and her face
grew strangely white,
AS she spoke in husky whispers, "Curfew must
not ring tonight"
"Bessie," calmly spoke the sexton-every word
pierced her young heart
Like thousand cleaning arrows-like deadly
poisoned dart,
"Long, long years I've rung the Curfew from
that gloomy shadowed tower;
twilight hour;
have done my duty ever-tried to do itjust and
Now I'm old, will not miss it; girl, the Curfew
rings to-nightr'
Wild her eyes and pale her features, stern and
white her thoughtful brow,
And within her hearts deep centre Bessie made
solemn VOW,
She had listened while the judges read, without
a tear or sigh,
"At the ringing Of the Curfew, Basil Underwood
must der
And her breath came fast and faster. and her
eyes grew large and bright
One low murmur scarcely spoken-"Curfewm must
not ring tonight"
She with light step bounded forward, sprang
within the old church door,
Left the old man coming slowly, paths he'd trod
so oft before;
Not one moment paused the maiden, but with
cheek and brow aglow,
Staggered up the gloomy tower where the bell
swung to and fro;
Then she climbed the shiny ladder, dark without
Upward still, her pale lips saying, "curfew shall
not ring tonight"
She has reached the topmost ladder, o'er her
hangs the great dark bell,
And the awful gloom beneath her, like the path
way down to hell;
See, the ponderouss tongue is swinging, tits the
hour for Curfew now,
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her
breath and paled her brow,
Shall she let it ring? No never! her eyes flash
with sudden light,
And She springs ana graSpS IL Hrmly-'Curie"
shall not ring tonight"
Out she swung-far ont-the city seemed tiny
speck below;
There, 'twixt heaven and earth suspended, as the
bell swung to and fro;
And the half dead sexton ringing (years he had
not heard the belly,
While he thoughtthe twilight Curfew rang young
Basil's funeral knel;
Still the maiden clinging firmly, cheek and brow
so pale and white,
Stilled her frightened hearts wild beating-"Cur-
teW shall not ring to-night."
It was oer-the bell ceased swaying, and the
maiden stepped once more
Firmly on the damp old ladder, where, for hun
dred years before,
Human foot had not been planted, and what she
this night had done
Should be told long ages after. AS the rays OF
setting sun
Light the sky with mellow beauty, aged sres
with heads of white,
Tell the children why the Curfew did not ring
that one sad night.
Ger the distant hills came Cromwell; Bessie saw
him, and her brow,
Lately white with sickening horror, glows with
sudden beauty now;
At his feet she told her story, showed her hands
all bruised and torn,
And her sweet young face so haggard, with a
look so sad and worn,
Touched his heart with sudden pity-lit his eyes
with misty light
$50, your lover lives" cried Cromwell; ; "Curfew
shall not ring tonight"