The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-07-31
curfew Must Not Ring Tonight.

- ditSW INok SeiIlA y Cf1ISTts N
He with step so slow and weakened, she
with sunny, floating hair;
He with sad bowed head, and thoughtful;
she with lips so cold and white,
Struggling to keep back the murmur,
"Curfew must not ring tonight"
"sexton'-Bessie's white lips faltered,
pointing to the prison old,
With its walls so dark and ~gloomy-walls
so dark and damp and cold
I've a lover in that prison, doomed this
very night to die
At the ringing of the curfew, and no
Cromwell will not come till sunset and
her face grew strangely white
AS she spoke in husky whispers, Cur
few must not ring tonight
Bessie" calmly spoke the ~sexton-every
word pierced her young heart
Like a thousand cleaning arrows, like a
deadly poisoned dart,
Long, long years I've rung the curfew
from that gloomy, Swallowed tower:
the twilight hour;
i have done my duty ever, tried to do 1t
just and right;
Now I'm old, I will not miss 1t; girl, the
curfew rings tonight"
Wild her eyes and pale her features, stern
And within her hearts deep center, Bes-
sic made a solemn VOW.
She had listened while the judges read,
without a tear or Sigh,
AT the ringing of the curfew-Basil I'm
derwood must die"
And her breath came fast and faster, and
her eyes grew large and bright,
One low murmur, scarcely s~poken-"Cur-
few must not ring tonight"
She with light step bounded Onward,
sprang within the old church door.
Left the old man coming slowly, paths
he'd trod SO oft before;
Not one moment paused the maiden. but
with cheek and brow aglow,
Staggered up the gloomy tower, where the
bell III to and fro;
Then she climbed the Shiny ladder, dark.
without one ray, Of light,
Upward still, her pale lips saying, Cur
few shall not ring tonight!
She has reached the topmost ladder; Ger
her hangs the great dark. bell.
And the awful gloom beneath her, Lii the
pathway down'to hell.
See, the ponderous tongue is swinging! tbs
the hour of curfew now!
And the sight has chilled her bosom,
stopped her breath and paled her
brow,
Shall she let 1t ring? No, never! Her eyes
flash with sudden light,
AS she springs and grasps it ir1rly-"Cur-
few shall not ring tonight"
Out she swung, far out: the city seemed a
tiny speck below;
There 'twixt heaven and earth suspended.
as the bell swung to and fro,
And the half-deaf sexton ringing (years
he had not heard the belD,
And HI thought the twilight curfew rang
young Basil's funeral knell;
Still the maiden clinging firmly, cheek
and brow so pale and white
StiIied, her frightened hearts wild beat
ing-"Curfew shall not ring tonight"
It was o'er-the bell ceased swaying, and
the maiden stepped once more
Firmly on the damp old ladder, where for
hundred years before
lunar foot had not been planted; and
h she this night had done
hould be told in long years after-as the
ray OF setting sun
Light the sky with mellow beauty, aged
sires with heads Of white
Tell their children why the curfew did not
ring that one sad night.
Ger the distant hills came Cromwell, Bes-
sic saw him.. and her brow,
Lately white with sickening terror, CLOVIS
with sudden beauty now;
At his feet she ted her story, showed her
hands all bruised and torn
And her CWeet young face so haggard.
with a look 80 sad and worn. -
Touched his heart with sudden pity, lit
his eyes with misty light
AGo, your lover ltves!" cried Cromwell;
'Curfew shall not righ tonight
--Ross Hartwtck Thorpe.