The Opelousas courier., 1886-11-06
How sr. MrcHAEErs WAS SAVED.

E4O Nv 81. MIGf1 Ell NNRA1 ga v Eb
The poem GLOW st. Michael's Was Saved,
which is given below, derives present inter
ust from two circumstances, the foolhaEdy
feat Of Joseph Pirchir, who climbed to the
cross of the steeple of st. Stephens Cathedra
in Vienna to place a flag there in honor OF
the Austrian Emperor's last birthday, and
the fact that the earthquake has unsettled
st. Michael's Church-the n referred to il
the verses-in Charleston, SO that it viii
probably have to be torn down.
Leopold?
And yon, Alice, with face like morning, and curling
locks of gold?
To q tale Of the Southern city, proud Charleston by
the sea.
1t was long ago, my children, ere ever the signal
That blazed about Fort Sumter had awakened the
Long ere the wondrous pillar of battle-cloud and
Had marked where the unchained millions marched
on to their hearts desire.
On the roofs and the glittering t%urrets, that night,
as the snn went down,
The mellow glow of the twilight shone like a jew
eled crow
And, bathed in the living glory. as the people lifted
They saw the pride of the city, the spire OF st.
Michaels, rise.
High over the lesser steeples, tipped with the
golden bail,
That hung like a radiant planet caught in it's earth
First glimpse Of home to the sailor who made the
harbor round, :
And last siow-fading vision dear to the outward
bound.
The gently gathering shadows shut eut the wander
ing light; =,
The children prayed at their bedsides as yon will
pray tonight;
Tho noise of buyer and seller from the busy mart
had gone,
And in dreams of a peaceful morrow the city
But another light than sunrise aroused the sleeping
street,
For a cry was heard at midnight, and the rush of
trampling feet
Men stared in each others faces through min gled
While the frantic bells went crashing, clamorotas
stroke on stroke.
By the glare of her blazing tree the h~ouseless
With the babe she pressed to her bosom s~hrieking
In nameless dread,
While the fire kings wild battallons scaled wall and
And planted their tiaring banners against an inky
sky.
GIUulI Tie HcAtu Lu6L TA8Gu DGDluu tuSHls anu LHC
crash of ruin loud,
To the great square of the city were driven the
surging crowd,
Where yet, firm in all the .umult, unscatned by the
fery flood,
With Its heayenward-point finger. the church of
st. Michael stood.
But even IS they gazed upon it there rose a sudden
A cry of horror blended with the roarings of the
gale,
On whose scorching wings. mp driven, a single
on the towering steeple clung like q bloody
hand.
'tWill it fade7" The whisper tremblcd from a thou
sand whitening lips; |
Far out on the lurid harbor they watched it on the
ships /
baleful CLEAN that brighter and ever brighter
Shone, I
Like a Pickering, trembling will-o'-wisp to q steady
beacon grown.
tUncounted gold shall be given to the man whose
bright right hand
For th S9 l0 : Of bt the Reriled city plueks down y0H
20 cried the Mayor of Charleston, that the people
heard;
3ut they looked each one at his fellow, and no man
lis it leans from the belfry, with face upturned
TO the sky,
Ilings to o column and measures the dizzy spire
with his eye?
Win he dare it, the hero undaunted, that terrible
sickenlng height?
)r will the hot blood of his courage freeze In his
veins at the sight?
seel he has stepped on the railing; he climbs
with his feet and his hands;
nd firm on the narrow projection, with the belfry
beneath him. he stands,
once, and once only, they cheer hiT-a single
tempestuous breath
md there falls ON the multitude gazing a hush like
the stiffness of death.
low, steadily mounting, unheeding aught save the
tirhigher and higher, an atom. he moves on the
face of the spire.
lie stoPsl win ne faiI9 Lol for answer, a CLEAN
like q meteor's track,
md, hurled on the stones of the pavement, the red
brand lies shattered and black.
IND d the church door Mayor and Council wait,
their feet on the STAIR
Ind the eager throng hehin ID them press for a touch
of his hard-
he unknown savior. whose daring could compass
adeed SO grand.
'ut why does a sudden tremor seize on them while
they gaze7
md what meaneth that stifed murmur Of wen Ter
and amaze?
Ie stood at the gate of the temple he hid periIed
his life to save:
the face of the hero, my children, was til
sable face OF q slave.
With folded arms he was speaking, in tones that
were clear, not loud,
nd his eyes, . blaze In their sockets, burnt into
the eyes of the crowd
You may keep your gold ] scorn it but answer
me, We who can,
the deed I have done before you was not the deed
of a nan?1 ],
e stepped but q short space backward; and from
oil the women and men
here were only sobs for snswer and the Mayor
called for d pen
nd the great seal of the city, that he might read
who ran;
nd the slave who saved ST. Michael's went out
from Its door, a man.