The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-07-10

To a level mead they came, ana llcrc
They drave the wickets IN:
Pleasantly shonc the setting sun
Over the town Of Lynn.
Like sportiyc deer they coursd about Y
And shouted MS they ran,
Turning to 5mirth all things Of earth,
AS only boyhood can;
But the Usher sat remote from all
A melancholy man
ellis hat was of, his vest apart,
TO catch heavens blessed breeze 5
{ For i burning thought was In his his
brow,
And his bosom Ill at ease
q So he lean'd his head on his hands
and read
The book between his knees.
Leaf after leaf he turn'd II DER, ,44
Nor ever glanced aside, a n,
For the peace Of his soul he read that
book
In the golden eyentide:
Much study had made him very lean,
And pale, and leaden:eyed.
AT last he shut the pondcrous tome,
With a fast and feryent grasp
He strand the dusky3 covers close,
And fix'd the brazen hasp:
Oh, God could i 50 close my mind
And claspisit with$a clasp!
Then leaping on his feet upright,
Some moody turns he took
Now up the mead, then down the
mead. I'll
And pasta shady nook
And, 10! he saw a little boy +.
That por'd upon q book.
my gentle lad /, what is It you read ~
Romance or fairy fable i e5s
Or is it some historic page,
OF kings and crowns unstable ~ si
The young boy gave an upward
glance.
1T lis The Deathgof Abel. ~
The Usher took six hasty strides,
AS .mit with sudden pain,
{ Six hasty strides beyond the place,
Then slowly back again;
! And down he sat beside the lad,
And talk'd with him OF Cain;
And, long since then, Of bloody mlcn.-
Whose deeds tradition saves;
OF lonely folk cut of unseen, sjS
And hid in sudden graves;
OfShorrid stabs, infgroves forlorn,
And murders done in caves
And how the sprites Of 8injurd men
@ Shrek upward from the sod;
Aye, how the ghostly hand will point
To show the burial clod
And unknown facts Of guilty acts
h. Are see, in dreams i = Il from ON God
He told how murderers wal k the earth !
Beneath the curse OF Cain,
With crimson clouds before their
eyes, s584 fs
And flames about their brain;
For blood has left upon their souls
It's everlasting stain.
d
saAnd well" quoth he, T know y for
truth,
Their pangs must3be extreme $,
Woe, woe, nnutterable woe, i,
Who spilllifcs sacred stream 't,'sall1l. 81
For why! Alethought,, last last night,
wrought !y3z
:A murder, in q dream .s
zone that had never done me wrong, #
a feeble man and old
i led him to a lonely field;
The moon shone clear and cold
Now here, said II this man shall die,
And i will have .his.gold
''Two sudden blows with g ragged.
5. stick, 535 v 4 Il a - A 533 n
And one withla heavy, stone, A !,
One hurried cash wit)lla hast,y9,knifftc--z
And then the deed was done
There WAS nothing lying ut my foot o.
But lifeless flesh and bone III
'sNothing but lifeless flesh and bone,
II That could not do me i'll
And yet / feard him all the more,
y For lying there SO still
There was a manhood in his LOOK,
That murder could not kill,
ss4And 10! the universal air
Seem'd lit with CHASTITY flame
Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes Il
Were looking down in blame
4 took the dead man by his hand
And call'd upon his name 4
.nOh, God! it made me quake to5se i
'Etcll sense withipfthe slain!
But whengl touch'd the lifeless clay,
The blood gush'd out amain!
For every clot, . burning spot
Mas scorchint, IN NV Ira II,