The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1884-11-21
miscellaneous.
The Curfew Heroine.

The CurfeW Heroine.
The story that is the basis of the well
known poem. "Curfew Shall not Ring To-
night" told in prose, is as follows:
1t lacked quite half an hour of curfew toll
Tue old bell-ringer came forth from under
the waited roof of his cottage stoop, and
stood with uncovered head in the clear,
sweet-scented air. He had grown blind and
deaf in the service, but his arm was as mus
cular as ever, and he who listened this day
marked no faltering in the heavy metallic
throbs ofthc Cathedral bell Old Jasper had
lived through many changes. He had tolled
out the notes of mourning for good Queen
Bess, and with tears scarcely dry he had
rung the glad tidings of the coronation of
James Charles l. had been crowned and
reigned and expiated his weakness before all
England in Jasper's time, and now he who
under army held all the Commonwealth in
the hollow of his hand ruled rs more than
a monarch, and still the old man with the
habit of long life upon him rang his matin
and curfew.
Jasper stood alone now, lifting his dimmed
eyes up to the softly dapped sky.
Tie walls of his memory seemed so writ
ten Oversee crossed and recrossed by the
annals of the year that had gone before that
there seemed little room for anything in the
present Little reckoned lie that Cromwell's
spearsmen were encamped on the moor be
yond the vllage-that Cromwell himselfrode
with his guardsmen league away; he only
knew that the bell had been rung in the
tower when William tie Conqueror made
curfew law, had been spared by Puritan
and Roundhead, and that his arm for sixty
years had never failed him at even tide.
He was moving with slow step toward
the gate, when woman came hurriedly in
from the street and stood beside him; love-
ly woman, but with a face so blanched that il
seemed carved in the whitest of marble, with
all of its roundness and dimples. Her great,
solemn eyes were raised to the aged face in
pitiful appeal, and the lips were forming
words that lie could not understand.
Speak up. lass l am deaf and cannot hear
your clatter."
For Heavens sake, Jasper do not ring the
curfew bells to. night"
what ! ma ring curfew Ye must be daft,
assie."
Jasper, for sweet Heavens sake-for my
sabe-for one night in all your long life for
g4 to ring the bell. Fail this once and my
lSver shall live, whom Cromwell says shall
dye at curfew toll. Do you hear? My lover.
Richard Temple. See Jasper, here is money
to make your old age happy sold my
jewelry that the Lady Maud gave me- and
the gold shall be yours for one curfew"
Would you bride me, Lily de Vere?-
Ye're changeling. Ye've ma the blood of
the Plantagenets in ye're veins as ye're
mother had. What, corrupt the bell. ringer
under her Majesty, good Queen Bess Not
for all the gold that Lady Maud could bring
me. Babes have been born and strong men
have died before now at the ringing of my
bell. AVA! Awar'
I'D ha lilo
shadows of the lichens lengthening over it, a
strong man awaited the curfew to toll for his
death. He stood handsome, and brave, and
tall-taller by an inch than the tallest pike
man who guarded him.
What had he done that he should die
Little 1t mattered in those days when the
sword that the great Cromwell welded was
80 prone to fall, what he or others had done.
He had been scribe to the late Lord up at the
castle, and the Lady Maud, forgetting that
man must WOO and woman must wait, had
given her heart to him without the asking,
while the gentle Lily De Yere, distant kins-
woman and poor companion other, had, with
out seeking, found the treasure of his true
love and held them fast. Then he had Joined
the army and made one of the pious soldiers
whose evil passions were never stirred but
by signs or symbols ofpoetry. But scorn-
there. Enemies and deep plots had con-
quered him. To night he was to die.
The beautiful world lay as vivid picture
before him. The dark green wood above the
rocky hill where Robin Hood and his merry
men had dwelt; the frowning castle with its
draw bridge and square towers, the long
stretch of moor with the purple shadows
upon it, the green, strait walks of the village
the birds overhead, even the daisies at his
feet he saw. But all! more wildly than all,
he saw the great red sun with Its hazy veil
lingering above the trees as though it pitied
him with more than human pity.
He was God-fearing and God serving
man. He had long made his peace with Heaven
Nothing stood between him and death-noth-
ing rose pleading between him and those who
were to destroy him but the sweet face of
Lily De We're, whom he loved. She had
knelt at Cromwell's feet and pleaded for him.
She wearied Heaven with her prayers, but
all without avail. Slowly now the great sun
went down. Slowly the rim was hid beneath
the greenwood. Thirty minutes more and
his soul would be with God The color did
not forsake his cheeks. II was his purpose
to die as martyrs and brave men die. What
was life that he should cling to it? He
almost felt the fair pulsate with the first
heavy roll of the death knell But no sound
came. Still facing the soldiers with his clear,
gray eyes upon them, he waited.
The crimson in the West paling to pink.
The kline had ceased their lowings and had
been gathered in the rick yards.
All nature had sounded her curfew, but
old Jasper was silent.
The bell ringer, with his grey head yet
barred, had traversed half the distance be-
tween his cottage and the UNCOVERED tower
when n firm, went fitting paat him with nala
shadowy robes floating around it, and hair
that the low western lights touched and tint.
ed rs with halo.
"Ah, Huldah, Huldah |" the old man NUT
tered show swift she flies will come soon,
dear. My work is almost done"
Huldab was the good wife who had gone
from him in her early womanhood and for
whom he had mourned all his long life But
the feeting form was not Huldah's. 1t was
Lily De We're, hurried by sudden and
desperate purpose. III