Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1911-11-25
The LODeTS EfYdnd

So the strong Will prevailed, and Al
den went on his errand,
Out Of the street of the village, and
into the paths of the forest.
Into the tranquil woods, where blue
birds and robins were building
Towns in the populous trees, with
hanging gardens of verdure,
Peaceful, aerial cities of Joy and af-
lection and freedom.
All around him was calm, but within
him commotion and conflict,
Love contending with friendship, and
self with each generous impulse.
TO and fro In his breast his thoughts
we're heaving and dashing,
As In a laundering ship, with every
roll of the vessel,
Washes the bitter sea, the merciless
surge of the ocean!
Must l relinquish it all" he cried
with a wild lamentation.
Must ! relinquish 1t all, the joy, the
hope, the illusion?
Was 1t for this l have loved. and
waited and worshiped in silence?
Was It for this ! have followed the
flying feet and the shadow
Over the wintry sea, to the desolate
shores of New England?
Truly the heart is deceitful, and out
of its depths of corruption
Rise, like an exhalation, the misty
phantoms of passion;
Angels of light they seem. but are
only delusions of Satan.
AL is clear to me now; feel It, see
It distinctly
This is the hand of the Lord; 1t is
laid upon me in anger,
For l have followed TOO much the
hearts desires and devices,
worshiping Ashtoreth blindly. and
impious idols of Baal
This is the cross must bear; the sin
and the swift retribution."
SO through the Plymouth woods John
Alden went on his errand;
Crossing the brook at the ford, where
It brawled over pebble and shall
low,
Gathering stir, as he went, the May
flowers blooming around him,
Fragrant, filling the air with a strange
and wonderful sweetness,
Children lost in the woods and GOV
cred with leaves in their slumber
puritan flowers" he said, land the
type OF Puritan maidens,
Modest and simple and sweet, thu
very type of Prlscilla
go will take them to her: to Priscilla
the May-dower of Plymouth,
Modest and simple and sweet as
parting gift will l take them;
Breathing their silent farewells, a
they fade and wither and perish
Soon to be thrown away, as Is thu
heart of the giver."
So through the Plymouth woods Johi
Alden went on his errand;
Came TO an open space, and saw tn
disk of the ocean,
sailless. somber and cold with tn
comfortless breath Of the cas-
wind;
Saw the new-built house. and peopl
at work in meadow;
Heard. as he drew near the door. tn
musical voice of Priscilla
Singing the hundredth Psalm, tn
grand old Puritan anthem.
Music that Luther sang to the sacre
words of the Psalmist.
Full Of the breath of the Lord, col
soling and comforting many.
Then, as he opened the door, he b
held the form of the maiden
Seated beside her wheel, and tn
carded wool like a snow-drift
Piled at her knee. her white hand
feeding the ravenous spindle,
While with her foot on the tread
she guided the wheel in it's motion
Open wide on her lap lay the wei
worn psalm-book of Ainsworth,
Printed in Amsterdam, the words an
music together,
Rough-hewn, angular notes, like stone
IN the wall of a churchyard,
Darkened and overhung by the rui
ming vine of the verses.
Such was the book from whose page
she sang the old Puritan anthem
She, the Puritan girl, in the solitud
OF the forest,
Making the humble house and II
modest apparel of homespun
Beautiful with her beauty, and ric
with the wealth of her beingi
Over him rushed. like a wind that
keen and cold and relentless,
Thoughts OF what might have bee
and the weight and woe of his e
rand;
All the dreams that had faded, al
all the hopes that had vanished.
An his life henceforth a dreary al
tenantless mansion,
Haunted by vain regrets, and palli
sorrowful faces.
SIN he said to himself. and almo
nercely he said It:
let not him that putteth his hand