The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1883-01-27

Ine ruue lorelatners oil the namlet sleep,
The breezy call of incense breathing morn,
The swallow twttering from the straw
built shed,
The cocks shrill clarion or the ecboing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their low
ly bed.
For them no more the blazing hearth shall
burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care !;
Nor children run to lisp their s:re's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn gebe has
broke;
How joeund did they drive their team afield
How bowed the woods beneath their stur-
dy stroke
Let not ambition mock their useful toll,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure
Nor grandeur hear with disdanrul smile
The short and simple annals Of the poor.
The boast Of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er
gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour;
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Nor you. ye proud ,impute to these the fault,
If memory oer their tomb no trophies
raise,
Where, through the long drawn aisle and
fretted vault,
The pealing anthem swells the note of
praise.
Can storied urn, or animated bust,
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can honor's voice provoke The silent dust,
Or hattery soothe the dull, cold ear of
death?
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial
fire;
Hands that the rod OF empire might have
swayed,
Or walked to ecstasy the living Tyre;
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er
unroll
Chill penury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.
Full many gem Of purest ray serene
The dark ,unfathomed caves of ocean bear
Full many flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air
Some village Hamden, that, with dauntles'
breast,
The little Iyrant Of his fields withstood
Some mute ,:nglorious Milton here may rest
Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country
blood
The applause of listening senates to com
mand,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty DER a smiling land,
And read their history in a nations eye:
Their lot forbade nor circumscrbed alon
Their growing virtues, but their crime
confined
Forbade to wade through slaughter to
throne,
And shut the gates OF mercy on mankind
The struggling pangs of conscious truth
hide,
To quench the bushes ofingenuous shamt
Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride
With incense kindled at the muses. aam'
Far from the madding crowds iguoble strili
Their sober wishes never learned to stray
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life
They kept the nolseless tenor of their way
Yet even these bones from insult to protec
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes aud shapelcss sculI
ture decked,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
Their name, their years, spelt by the unle
tered muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply;
And many holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
For who, to dumb forgetfuluess a prey,
This peasing,anxious being ere resigne,
Lel the warm precincts Of a cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, lingering look b,
hind?
On some fond breast the parting soul relic
Some pious drops the closing eye requires
Zen from thetomb the voice Of Nature erie
Fen in our ashes live their wonted fire
For thee, who mindful of the uuhonore
dead,
Dost in these lines their artlcss tale relat
II chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fat
lIaIly some hoary headed swain may say:-
"Oft have we seen him, at the peep
dawn,
Brushing with hasiy steps the dews away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn
"There at the foot of yonder nodding bees
That wreathes its OLD, fantastic roots
high,
His listless length at noontide would
stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles b
"lIard by yon wood now smiling as in scor
, Muttering his wayward faneies be wou
> rove,
Now dropping, woful.wan, like one forlor
Or enzed with care, or crossed in hopel
love,