Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1899-09-14
Elegy Written In A Country Churehyard.

Modest her ancient solitary reign
Beneath those rugged eIms that yew-,rees shade,
Who're heaves the turf in many Numbering heap,
Fach in his narrow cell forever laid
The rude forefathers OF fhe hamlet sleep.
The breezy call of incense breathing morn,
The swallow twittering from the sraw-built shed
The cocks shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
No children TO lisp their sires return,
Or climb his knees the eayied kiss to share
Oft did the harvest their sickle yield
Their fuIrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How iocund did they drive their team aied!
How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroks!
Let not Ambition mock their useful toll,
Their homely Joys and destiny obscure;
For Grandeur hear with disdainfu smile
The short and simple annals of the poor
The boast Of hcraldry. the.pomp Of power
And all that beauty, all shat wealth e'er gave
Await alike the inevitable hour
The paths of glory lead but to the grave
Nor you, ye Proud, impute to these a fault
If Memory DER their toinb trophies raise
Where through the onglrawn aisle and fretted vault
The pcang anthem swes the note OF praise;
Can stored animated bust
Back to its mansion call the ieeting breathe
Can lIonor's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flately sooth the duh cold ear of Death9
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart pregnant with celestial lire;
Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed
Or walked to ecstasy the living Tyre
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spols of time, did ne'er unro
Chill Perjury repressed their noble rage,
And froze the genial current OF the soul
Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathomed of ocean bear
Full many flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert AIR
Some village Hampder that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute ingorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltess of his country blood
The applause Of listening senates to command
The threats of pain and ruin to despise
TO scatter plenty DER smiling land
And read their history in nation eyes
Their lot forbade: crcumscribed alone
Their growing virtues, bit their crimes confined;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And Shut the gates of mercy on mankind
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide
To quench the bushes of ingenious shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kndled at the MUSES. flame
Far from the maddng crowds ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learned to stray;
Along the cool sequestered vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Yet even these bones from insult TO protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless scu pture decked
Implores the passing tribute of sigh.
Their name their years, spet by the unettered Muse
The place of fame and elegy supply;
And many a holy text around she strews;
That teach the rustic moraist to die.
For who to dumb Forgetfulness prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned,
Leftth warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing lingering look behind2
On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
Some pious drops the closing eve requires;
Even from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Even in our ashes live their wonted fires
For thee who mindful Of the unhonored dead
Dost in these lines their artless tale relate
If chance by lonely Contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate;
HAPPY some hoary -headed swain may say;
loft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
To meet the sun on the upland lawn.
There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pour upon the brook that babbles by.
Hard by yon wood now smiling as in seorn
Muering his hayward fancies he would rove;
Now dropping, woeul, wan like one orlorn.
Or crazed with care or crossed in hopeless love
One morn missed him the customed hill
Along the heath and near his favorite tree
Another came; vet beside the rill,
Nor nj the lawn nor nj the wood was he
The next, with dirges due, in sad AIRY
Slow through the churchway path saw him borne:
Approach and read for thoH canst read-the lay
Grayed on the stone beneath yon aged thorn
Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
Youth to Fortune and TO Fame unknown:
Fair Science frowned not his humble birth,
And Melancholy marked him for her
Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
Heaven did recompense as largely send
He gave TO Misery all he had tear;
He gained from Heaven twas all he wished
friend
No further seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode
There they alike in trembling hope repose-
The bosom Of his Father and his God.
THOMAS GRAY
o. -