Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-03-20
THE CHASE.

Deaf to her duty's urgent call.
In wrath the Squire exclaimed, Why POUNDS
Matthew, what ails these cursed hounds
" know not, sir" replied the Whip,
" Unless some scoundrel chose TO slip
drug into their feed last night,
To do your promises spite.
These city chaps "Pshaw drive along
And-iamn your mercy use the thong y
No good in that. We'd best turn back.
You'll get no run, Squire, from the pack
And see yon cockney's tallow face;
He's grinning at our hounds disgrace !"
Across the squire's low brow a band
OF crimson came. His strong right hand
Closed on his whip-stock till the thorn
Cracked in his clutch. gtowl of scorn
Rolled from his lips, to see the smile
Fitting around him. For a while
He paused in doubt, then cried Away,
To covert Give the dogs fair play
And II they fail US there, why then
But give the pack chance, my men -
Into the brush the Huntsman led,
shaking his doubling grizzled head
And the keen Whips on either side,
flanked the dull pack, and closely pried
Hither and thither till-oh shame
To them and to the packs wide fame -
Before their startled eyes they saw
sly reynard from the covert draw,
With brush in air, and skurry by,
without "A tongue to make reply
To the rogue's challenge. "There, look there
fox. by satan! And / swear,
If have eyes, the rascal rose
Almost beneath white Flora's nose
Drive out the ours (! Is this the way
You beat q covert Out, say -
The devilsh temper OF the Squire
Burst outward AS furious hre,
That long has gnawed "a roof, at last
Breaks through 1t with sudden blast.
And leaps revealed, and towers on high
In flames and sparks against the sky.
Amid the covering dogs he dashed,
Rode over some, cursed all. and lashed
Even Flora till her milky side
With trckling crimson welts was dyed,
He raved and punished while his arm
Had strength to do the smallest harm;
Then paused, with flaming eyes, white lips,
And beloved at the trembling hips
Drive out, you scoundrelsn - Drive, sir -
where ~
just then the misty autumn air
Looked darker for a heavy smoke
That, rolling from the Furnace. broke
Above the woods, and waved its plume
Portentous of a coming doom.
"where9 Why to Colebrook down the glen.
III show these town-bred gentlemen,
II my dogs cannot hunt so well
on earth, another hunt in hell :"
Bawled the mad Squire and all the beast
| In his base nature so increased.
That he could crown the deed he sought
With laughter brutal as the thought.
SO the whole hunt towards Colebrook rode,
Marvel at what the squire forbode
By those strange words. Across the waste
OF Stag and cinder slowly paced
| The snorting steeds and hanging back,
| Whipped TO each step. the dropping pack
| Followed perforce. All well know
That some foul malice OF a foe
Had practiced on the noble hound
Or what that day could SO confound
| Great natures instinct, and so shame
| The faithful creatures well-won fame
| Beside the Furnace, wondering still
| What freak the angry Squire might will,
| The hunt dismounted. "up ~ he said,
| "Up with you, to the furnace head
Yes, bring the dogs" The Whips looked blank
Some multered, " Nonsense :" and some shranb
| From the fierce heat that overran
The reeking walls. "Up. dog and man -
Yelled forth the squire. "By Heaven, you'l
rue
Ifany balk the thing I'd do"
That they knew well so up they sped,
stu grumbling, to the furnace-head
"Call here the firemen :" And they came,
Grimy with dust, those sons of flame,
Hai-brute, scarce human, drudges base,
Bound to theirm and groveling place
By natures not a whit above
The abject work at which they strove.
Beneath them, painting, rose and fell
The surface OF that pot of hell.
Great logs of wood, and limestone gray,
And tons of ore, all boiled away
In one huge mass, that seethed and fumed,
Cracked and sparkled, flashed and gloomed,
And beched its sulphurous breath around,
Reeking aloft toward heavens profound:
As though the DEVILS self had planned
n
Once more TO wage against the Lord
The battle lost him by the sword.
A hundred curious eyes exchanged
Looks with their neighbors, rs they ranged
Hunters and hremen, and the crew
OF idlers who the chase pursue
Around the dreadful caldron's jaws.
Waiting the squiTe's behest. A pause
In which the cracking Of the Goals,
The sobbing vapor, and the rolls
OF pitchy smoke seemed strangely clear
Fell ON the gazer's eye and ear.
Then spoke the So quire and ii his breath
Had famed like that vast pit of death,
Wilder dismay would not have hung
Upon the mandate of his tongne.
" Come here, you drones, and work spell
Look to your furnace Can you tell
What needs a fire so dun and slack
Feed It, you slug CARDS, with this PACK -
cry, or protest rather. rose
From every lip before the close
OF those internal words. Thank Veaven,
Twas echoed by the lowest even!
Thank God, in mans behalf. can
Record 1t for tho sake OF man
Back from the furnace reeled the throng,
stung TO the heart; but stern and strong
As the dark, pitiless. vague form
That reigns In Hades, when the storm
OF wrath is widest, and the lost
On blazing waves are upward tossed.
Pale with their tortures so the squire,
Grim and mistaken in his ire,
With deadly calmness slowly said,
" DO as I order - White with dread
That beautifed their dusky clay,
The dolts, who dared not disobey,
Approached the hounds. oh, wonder not
At the poor serfs for on that spot
such was their masters power and awe
That his mere nod WAS more than law;
Twas fate, twas sustenance to come
To them and TO the mouths at home
VII.
HELL.
Into the flames with howl and yell,
Hurled by the rugged nremen, fell
That pack of forty. Better hounds,
Fuller of music, of the sounds
That fire the hunter. drawing near
His furry prey with whoop and cheer
The dogs all bursting in iull cry
Crashing through brush and timber high
Never could Cornwall boast and still