The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-13

Secluded and peaceful, an old house
stood.
From the quaint old balcony just in
front,
That Swallowed the door as you en-
tered in,
Whitfield had preached TO the gather
ed crowds
OF the mercy of God, or His wrath
for sin.
Across on the hillside that sloped away
The soldiers. drilling, were trained
for war,
Ere over the cross of st. George shone
forth
The first pale glimmer of Freedoms
star.
But there were gathered beneath it's
roof.
When preacher and convert had
passed away,
A simple people whose loyal hearts
Beat warmly under the Quaker gray.
For now. as the cloud that the prophet
saw,
hand,
Till it darkened the joy of a pros
porous IdHu
Then in the hour of it's sorest need
Their dearest treasures the people
gave,
With tears and blessings and many
prayers,
That He who guided might also. save.
Lydiah Darrah of Loxley House
Had naught to offer in lands or gold,
But her pewter platters and leaden
spoons
She melted and shaped in the bullet
mold;
And her sheets in lavender laid away
She wrought into bandage and feecy
lint,
And the dainties crowding her pantry
shelves
Gave, glad in giving that knew no
stint.
BY such devotion at home sustained,
What wonder the soldiers in camp
and field,
Though worn with famine and spent
with pain,
Endured, and waited and would not
yieldi
The summer ended, the winter brought
Winds that were bitter and driving
sleet,
And the trampled snow where the
army passed
Was stained by naked and bleeding
feet.
After the battle of Germantown,
Scarce out of sight of the citTs
spires,
Washington, hating at Whitemarsh,
stayed;
His men were huddled round smoky
fires
Faint with marching and lack of
bread,
While under the roofs of the loyal
town
Howe and his soldiers We're housed
and fed.
And so it happened that Loxley
House
Was forced to shelter the nations foe,
Like masters. naughty and arrogant,
Lydiah saw them come and go;
Their red coats crowded the passage
ways,
Their sabers clattered upon the stair,
The low walls rang with their noisy
mirth,
They reveled and rioted everywhere;
Through the pleasant accents OF
Quaker speech,
With its thee and thou and its
yea" and may"
Their oaths made discord like voices
Dispelling the silence where people
pray.
Outwardly seeming on toll intent,
Lydiah serving them, murmured not,
But, sweeping or securing she, still
intent,
Needed each whisper of deep-laid
plot.
At last, one day, as the night drew
wintry and cherries, in cloudy
gloom,
They babe her hasten and ready place
At their disposal an upper room,
Those who are coming will tarry
late
The Adjutant, cycling her. sternly
2 said,
See to it, then, at an early hour
You and your children are all in
bed"
Her quick mind noted the gruff, curt
speech,
Needing its import with woman's
tact,
While under her placid obedience lay
The power to determine, the will to
act.
So the guests, arriving, the Quaker
house
Found dark and cold as the winter
night
Save where through a window. across
the path,
Glimmered one fickering candies
light.
For Lydiah. tucking the children in,
Lay down beside them until they
slept,
And then with caution she softly rose,
And down the long passage on tip
toe crept.
The clock in the kitchen licked hoarse
and loud,
The crickets chirped that the hearth
kept warm,
a loose board under her bare feet
creaked,
A easement shook in the rising
storm;
The restless dog in his kennel bayed