Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1885-04-20


Near, and nearer, and nearer still,
They came like fiends my blood to spill!
L heard the brushwood crack and break,
sound that made my bosom quaKe;
And soon, o God! the foremost hound
Leapt into sight with fearful bound.
Another, and another came
With frothing mouth, and eyes atfame.
o Christ! and would they tear and rend
The flesh of master and of friend?
1t was my last, my only choice;
spoke-the foremost knew my voice.
spoke again-each hound, amazed,
Advanced, and stood, and silent gazed-
And then, as if afraid to meet
The fiery look of stern command
They came, and fawned upon my feet
And leaped, and kissed my upraised hand.
Oh, then knew my life was spared,
And quickly for revenge prepared.
knelt and every dog caressed.
1 let them lap my cheeks; pressed
Each hairy form close in my arms,
And called them fond, endearing names.
Then up sprang, and pointed back
Along that wild and tangled track,
And with look, meaning shout
And gestures all could understand
turned each savage brute about,
And hurled them on that chasing band.
With howls that echoed far and wide.
They shot like lightning from my side:
The leaves from off their flying feet
Rose mp like dust upon the street,
And round my form were thickly strewed.
Thus, the pursuers were pursued.
Now followed days and nights of pain,
Exposed to famine, frosts and rain,
While daylight shone, I lay concealed
In lonely ten, or dismal swamp,
And then atnight would slowly tramp
Until the morning sun revealed
The breaking of another day;
Then again would hide away.
But 1 escaped; and though a slave
Of blacker skin would hardly pass
Where 1 could go-yet I, alas
Had danger more than they to brave.
For know, o priest! my hand was red
With human blood; and on my head
A sum was staked, 'alive or dead"
And thus-while negro or quadroon
Might find escape through Moses aid,
(Or by that railway underground
Where slaves nave passed ana freedom 1ounuJ
1 lay concealed near some lagoon,
Or haunt that man would not invade.
But escaped, as have said;
Yet would to God that L had died
For what is life to one whose bed
Is tossed and restless ON the tide?
Although in Canada, and free,
NV life was still curse to me.
Father! All this was years ago,
Before that blood was seen to flow,
That set bonded people free,
Or changed a nations destiny.
But still within this aching heart,
feel the wound, and feel the smart,
The same on that fatal day
They tore my love of life away;
Or will it ever pass from me,
While pulses beat or pupils see.
The wild war came; joined the ranks
And fought against my native land.
1t was not for reward or thanks;
But more to win my Lena's hand;
For victory with the northern side,
She still might hope to be my bride.
joined the thickest of the fight,
Where flew the bullets left and right;
heard the dying round me groan,
Was bathed in blood not all my own.
The Kissing ball, the bursting shell,
The cannon's loud and stunning boom,
The dying soldiers fearful yell,
Would thrill me and dispel my gloom;
For better far, methought, to fall
Beneath some well aimed rebel ball,
Than harbor thoughts too great to bear,
And die by that foul fend Despair.
Enough! The wild war closed, and /,
Though doubly doomed, and made to feel
The Kissing ball, and singing steel,
By either was not doomed to die.
And when the war clouds rolled away
Above that long and bloody fray,
And not a slave was in that land,
And long had ceased each burning brand,
And wild birds sang where once the clang
Ofmusket and of sabre rang,
And man unharmed by fellow man
Could safely walk those fields again.
l hurried to my southern home
To fnd-not Lena-but her tomb.
Talk not TO me of woes that kill
They are but joys compared with grief
That never, never finds relief;
Behold Niobe weeping still!
O'er Lena's tomb my heart of woe
Received its last-its fatal blow.
l saw the white slab coldly CLEAN,
Oh! would that it had been dream.
But there it stood, and 1 could trace,
Her age aud name upon its face.
My love was dead-I knew it well.
Confessor! On that marble stone
gaZed, as if some mystic spell
Had chained my eyes; no sigh or moan
Escaped my lips. l only stared
Upon those words with eyes that glared
AS wild as those that peruse
Some evil, and ill-omened news.
longed to rend that sod in twain,
And clasp her to my heart again;
| To see her face, and hear it sald
From her own lips, she was not dead.
| But no; and echo answered-'No.'
| l was above, and she below.
| The grave with all its horror lay
Between our love-'twixt flesh and clay
Though I might cry in wild despair.
And shout her name, or mutter prayer,
| No voice would answer from the gloom
Ofthat unfriendly feeling tomb.
| So one last-long-despairing look,
| Upon that silent sod took,
| Then slowly-sadly-wal away,
| Nor have I been there since that day.
Confessor! I draw to a close;
These lips have told my joys, my woes;
| And if there be a sin confessed,
Forgive-and set this heart at rest.
| know my hand is red with blood;
But who would stand what have stood,
And not have done the same as L?
| God knows wished he might not die,
For since that day I have not known
single joy as 1 have shown.
The last faint cleaning, trembling spark
Went out on Lena's lonely grave
Since then my life has been as dark
As some deep-hidden ocean cave.
I've wandered here, I've wandered there,
Without soul my grief to share;
Bnt shall rest, know, at last
And that before this nightis is passed.
One boon ask; When my poor soul
Has reached at last its final goal,
And am lowered into the grave,
Tell not the world / was a slave.
One prayer repeat, nor do neglect
| cross above me to erect.
1t is small, a simple task;
'Tis all I want-'Tis all 1 ASK
= u Il \
O'er Vile Marie the sun has rose
Into clear and cloudless sky;
But Gerald sleeps in calm repose,
With pulseless heart, and sightless eye.
His form is stiff, his warmth has fed,
snow white sheet is DER him spread;
And though no friend is there to keep
silent watch or o'er him weep,
He minds it not in that long sleep,
As long and lasting as it's deep.
Nor will he ever more awake,
To woes that caused his heart to break.
In 1920 a Dutch ship entered James riv,
Virginia with 20 African slaves. These were
first slaves in the country.-Historg Of Q
States
Tile might have SO little negro blood as to
| for a white mon. but co long hi mother ,