The National tribune., 1884-05-01
Lydia Darrah of Loxley House.
-Uk4 OF THE hENDLUJ
By MdrU L. Krolt !

Once, ere the city& had widened out,
Encroaching on village and field and wood,
Away from the noise of the crowded street,
Secluded and peaceful, an old house stood
It's knocker was polished. its floors white,
And the marrow panes of its windows wide
Were as fit for sunshine to filter through
As river that flowed with limpid tide.
From the quaint old balcony just in front,
hat shadows the door as you enter in,
Whitfield had preached to the gathered crowds
Of mercy of God and His wrath for sin.
Across on the hillside that slopes away
The soldiers. drilling, We're trained for war
Ere over the Cross of st. George shone forth
The FIRST pale giimmer of Freedoms star.
But there were gathered beneath its roof,
When preacher and soldier had passed away,
a simple people whose loyal hearts
Beat warmly under the Quaker gray;
But now, as the cloud which the prophet saw
Bringing the storm ikea out-spread hand,
tempest rose in the Nations sky
Til il darlIened the JOY OF n prosperous land;
Then, in the hour of its sorest need,
Their dearest treasures the people gave,
With tears and blessings and many prayers,
That He who guided might also save
Lydia Darrah of Loxley House
Had naught TO offer in lands or gold
But her pewter platters and leaden spoons
She melted and shaped In the bullet mold,
And her sheets, in lavender laid away
She made into bandage and ieecy lint
And the dainties crowding her kitchen shelves
Gave glad in giving tlIat knew no stint.
By such devotion at home sustained,
What wonder the soldiers IN camp and field,
Though worn with famine and spent with pain,
Endured and waited and would not yield.
The summer ended the winter brought
Winds that were bitter aud driving seet,
And the tranipled snow where an army passed
Was stained by naked and bleeding feet.
After the battle of Germantown.
Scarce ont Of sight Of the city g spires,
Washington hating at Whitemarsh, stayed;
His men were huddled round smoky fires,
Faint with marching and lack of bread,
While under the roofs OF the loyal town
Howe and his army were housed and fed.
And so il happened that Loxley House
Was forced to shelter tile country's foe;
xp MAJ To ham hfx aH1r amt
Lydia saw them come and go.
Their red coats crowded the passageways,
Their sabers cattcred upon the stair
The low walls rang with their noisy mirth,
They reyeled and rioted everywhere;
Through the pleasant accents of Quaker speech
With its thee" and thou" and its yea and
Their oaths made discord, like voices rude
Dispelling the silence where people pray.
0utwardly seeming on toll intent,
Lydia, serving them, murmured not,
But sweeping Or seouring she, still alert,
Needed each whisper Of deep-laid plot.
At last, one day when the night drew on
Wintry and cherries, in cloud and gloom,
They babe her hasten and ready place
at their disposal an upper room.
Those who are coming will tarry late"
The adlutant, eying her sterniy, said;
see TO II, then, mt an early hour
You and your children are all in bedn
Her quick mind noted the grHff curt speech
Reading its import with woinan's tact
While under her placid obedience lay
The VIII TO determine, the power to act.
Found dark and cold as the winter night,
save where through window across the path
Glimmered one pickering candies light
For Lydia tucking the children in bed
Lay down beside them until they slept,
And then with caution she softly rose
And down the long passage on tip-toe crept.
The clock In the kitchen licked hoarse and loud,
The crlckets chirped that the hearth kept warm
a loose board under her bare feet creaked,
The easement shook in the rising storm,
The restless dog in his kennel bayed,
She heard mouse in the wainscot squeak,
And close TO her making her heart stand STILL
A voice in the darkness seemed to speak -
But not was nothing; her fears gave shape
To fevered fancy; she onward went
III she GREATNESS paused nj bolted door
And close to the key-hole her keen ear bent.
Here were the scheIners in council met.
AT first there was silence and then she heard
The adjutant reading an order brief;
She listened, she followed, she lost word
Then stealing back to her little ones
She lay beside them with breathing deep,
Deaf TO the knocks at her chamber door,
Thrice repeated, assembling sleep.
The fate OF a Nation was held that hour
In the slender grasp of a woman's hand,
| And her speech or her silence were potent with
The veal or woe OF stricken land.
| With passport furnished ere scarce the dawn
Had broken tardy and dark and eIill,
Her purpose under her task concealed,
| Lydia hurried TO frankfort mill
! Then leaving the bag till the grist was ground,
She iastened to Washngtons camp, and there
/ She told her story and home returned
/ Her brave heart strengthened by thankful prayer
! lnat night AZ her WINDOW she stood and watched
| The confident British march away
| To capture the forces that ready were
! For the word she had carried at dawn that day.
| Again at the window she stood and heard
/ Muiiied and sullen, the drums slow beat,
| And saw the regiment Struggling back,
| Fooled in their purpose, with tagging feet.
And so returning to Loxley House
The batfied adjutant soreIy veyed,
/ Came to ponder his miSlaiti plans.
/ Wondering greatly, and much perplexed.
| He summoned Lydia then, and her
/ He questioned, needing her meek replies
| Her timid manners, her folded hands,
And the modest glance of her downcast eyes,
TILL feeling it idle, babe lier desist;
For what could cowardly woman do
! Whose mind dwelt only on household tasks
Whose hands were busy to bake and brew2
| Little creature like her could know
/ OF the plans OF a general great as he;
And yet some traitor had played him false
= Who could the lurking enemy be?
| He then repeated what he had said
That night when the company tarried late.
] And Lydia answered, u marked thy word
And was with my children in bed at eight"
= You, ere the men had gone, | know,"
lie, relentng more kindly spoke,
| Were sleeping soundly, for thrice knocked
Loud at your chamber you awoke.
| And yet when we marched to the rebel camp,
With wary caution, at dead of night
Neither surprising routing them,
/ We found them ready and dared not fight;
The gunners stood by the mounted guns,
The ragged soldiers alert and armed
| And back, like parcel of fools, came
Not hair of their rebel heads was harmed.
Lydia Darrah of LoxIey House
Let tardy honor adotn her name;
1 And let us, remembering the debt we owe,
Yield her She fullness of well-carned fame.
Philadelphia.
/ There is a resurrection of natures laten
| yigor every spring. Like the world arount
| you, renew your complexion, invigorate you