The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-07-04
RICHMOND, Va, june %, 1881.
tn IA EdifOr of the DisD0fch

To TIE Editor Of the Dispatch
Dear sir, IL send you copy Of the posm,
"Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight" pro-
badly referred TO by al. L. j." In your ie-
sue Of 23d instant. The author Is Mrs. T..
c. Thorp, OF Litchfeld, Mich.
Yours truly, G. d. b.
copy from "Librsry Of Choice Litera-
ture," Vol. ~. G. n. b.
" Curfew Must Net hing Tonight"
slowly Engiands sun was setting DER the billso2s
ruling ID dc land with beauty at the close ofons
And the isa rays kissed the forehead Of man end
He win footsteps sore and weary she With sunny
e With bowed head. sad and thoughtful she with
lips all cold and white
Struggled TO keep back the murmuf,
"Curfew must not ring tonight
sextonr Dessle's white lips faitered, pointing 70
with is tarrets tan and gloomy, with IL walls
dark, damp, and cold,
A, me ringing Of the curfewand no earthly help
Cromwell will not come TIL sunset" and her lips
grew strangely white
As sic breathed the husky whisper,
"Curfew must not ring tonight"
" Bessie" calmly spoke the sexton, every word
pierced her young heart
Like the piercing OF an arrow, like desdly-poi-
@I.ong, long years I've rung the curfew from that
gloomy, Swallowed tower;
Every evening, just.at sunset II has toh'd me- n-
Ihaye done my duty ever, tried to do It Just and
Now I'm old still must do 1t.
Curfew 10 mustring o-night-"
Wild her eye, and pale her features, stern and
white her thoughtful brow,
And within her secret bosom Bessie AIDE solemn
She had listened while the Judges read without
AT the rinsing of the curfew Basil Underwood
And her breath came fast and faster, and her eyes
grew large and bright
In an undertone she inurmured,
"Curfew must not ring tonight"
She with quick steps bounded forward, sprsny
within the old church-door,
Left the old man threading slowly paths 70 or
he'd trod before;
Not one moment pausecNhe maiden, but with eye
Mounted dup MP tie the gloomy tower, where the bell
swung TO and frG
And she Climbed the dusty ladder on which fell no
ray Of light,
Up and up-hcr white lips saying
sCurfew shall not ring tonight"
She had reached the topmcsi ladder, DER her hangs
Awful Is the gloom beneath her, like pathway
down TO he'll.
10 the ponderous tongue is swinging, It's the hour
And the sight has chilled her bosom, stopped her
breath, and paled her brow.
shall she let it ring No, never. Flash her eyes
with sudden light,
And she springs and grasps II firmly,
"Curfcw shall not ring Tonight"
Out she swung, far out, the city seemed speck Of
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,
Bat he thought 1t still was ringing fair young
Basll's funeral knel.
still the maiden chung most firmly, and with tretn-
bling lips aud white.
Said TO hush her hearts Wild beating
"Curfew shall not ring Tonight"
1t was 0er the bell ceased swayng, and the maiden
Firmly on the dark old ladder, where FOR hundred
Human foot had not been planted. The bravo
deed that she had done
ShOnd be told long ages after as the rays OF sct-
ting sun
Should ilume the sky with beauty; aged sires with
heads Of white,
Long should tell the little children,
Curfew did not ring that night.
Ger the distant hills came Cromwell; Bessie sees
him, and her brow,
At his feet she tells her story, shows her hands all
bruised and torn;
nd her face so sweet and pleading, yet with sor-
row pale and worn,
Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit bis eye
with misty light:
= Go, your lover lives" said Cromwell,
''Curfew shall not ring Tonight"
This poem is founded on a romantic in
cdent In English history.
Basil Underwood, young soldier, is
to die at clrfew's ringing. His
betrothed had gone to the stern judges and
asked that her lover be spared until she
could see Cromwell, but her efforts were
futile. She even attempted to bride the
leaf old sexton, bit he also denied her
pleadings, and as the hour OF her lovers
approaching death drew nigh the stern eX-
ecutioner, listening for the signal from
curfew, listened in vain" curfew did not
ring that night"