The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-10-22
/ nd sn;rit free than in the thraIl

| And spirit free than IN the thiah
| OF heart of flesh that falleth mere,
| Timely insooth Dale knights to cneer'
| The Knights so young so fair so true.
| Cheeks moist with bath of morning dew'
| Would welcome not the wing OF night,
Save in bright Cupid's ard .nt flight.
Then dewy May was getting nlgh,
And meath The stars of tender SKY
Fair maids would bear May baskets sweet,
| With emblems of the heart repiete.
| And hang them on the palace doors.
| And knock and run roads, fields and moors,
Chance taking to be chased and caught
| With loving import always 1raushe'
| So, while the April twilight glow
Droned to the peep of orbs far through
The azure and the purpling gray.
Their eager thoughts were wont To stray
| Unto the shrine within the Wooo'
| Where came the missives from the gooo'
| The pure, the holy and refined,
| Deaths rare filtration of the MING
| In palmer words, the sprght OF hogue'
That time and death could not ptorogue,
| But which, invoked would come and tell.
| In words unechoed by the dell,
| the import ill. the import fair,
| When maids were caught in May night air.
| So, when the new moons rim was low
On April's crimson tinted brow,
Sirs Charles, the Duke, and Charles the Earl,
Sweet hearted each by lovely girl.
Sir Frank lin ard Sir Warren, late
To ponder each choice o. mate,
Betook them to the woods of hr
And to the shrine, while not stir
Of zephyrs gone to sleep was heard,
To mar the last note of a bird.
That said good night unto its kind
In plaided nest with MOSES lined,
And sheltered meath the boughs OF green,
Where nestled life is perfect seen.
Wended they through the narrow patn'
I ata n INV
Now edged by the arbutus mete
To grace their steps to the retreat,
Where vows and vigils well had been
The choice of true, devoted men,
Each one in turn, hand on the round,
Ascerded from the Sheltered ground;
Hand over hand, feet mounting slow,
They climbed the wood, and on its brow
Pushing ajar the little door,.
They gained the tabernacle floor
A bench ran low along the room:
And safe they down there in the gloom;
For only sickle moon and stars
Gave feeble light through shutter bars
Across window high and small,
Sole outlook from the western wall.
Not long had they been seated there.
When swooped along the murky air
An owl, that bird whose day-bhnd sight
Is clarified by shades of night.
He lit within the open door.
Not caring nearer them to soar,
And, with voice smoothed by the dew.
Staring, he raised the question. "Who!
Two said, "I'm Charles" one said, "1'm Frank. y
But Warren snarled, 1.-THE birds crank:
hate this gloomy dialogue.
I'd rather talk with spright of Bogue,"
But ten to one the livelong night
Well see here not spook in sight"
"Ah, Bogue will come" quoth Franklin well,
"E'en now feel the mystic spell
Of shadowy earth, the sickle moon,
The stars all pale as in swoon:
Even this bird harbinger
OF Bogue's sure coming aver.
Methinks we we'll may mediate
In silence, though his coming's late"
Warren then settled on his seat,
No word would speak, no word repeat,
Although the owl moped in the dew.
Repeating oft his question, "Who?"
Charles said, if Warren would reply,
The bird would leave with kind goodbye;
But Warren, like the bird, seemed sure
To win the title, "Quite Demure."
To drive the pickering bird away,
An evil omen reckoned they:
Hence in the tabernacle door
They let him drone to midnight hour.
A fair new day was then hard by.
So told the clock within the sky,
When suddenly on ladder round
A cat-like tread. stealthy sound5
Greeted the young knights ears that night:
The owl broke camp and took to flight:
The coming of Bogue's spright at last
Commanded then their gaze steadfast:
But then again they missed their count;
A large and hungry catamount
Had come in answer to the owl,
Sprang on the threshold with growl.
Thrashed with his ponderous tail the floor,
Sent out yell. that echoed DER
The wood and field and PASTURE ground,
A terror bearing in the sound.
The youths drew quick their sharpened steel:
The catamount turned on his heel
Once more the boys awaited Bogue
Beneath the Heavens horologue.
There, just before the peep of dawn.
When nights dun shade was deepest on,
Hist, hist; list. list; he come, he came:
No need was there to ask his name:
No ladder round was heard to creak:
None of the four was first to speak.
A hand was seen in patch of mist;
Their cheeks 1t touched: cold lips then kissed
The brow of each young knight in turn,
While in each breast was felt heartburn.
He said to Charles the Duke, "Your looks
Befit life beside the Brooks"
To Franklin next he. whispering. Kissed.
you're not congenial to the mist"
Franklin said low in monologue,
"By mist he doubtless means the fog"
In front of Charles the Earl the ghost
In solemn quandary seemed lost:
For courtesy loves not the breach,
When pain appraises joy in speech:
Hence not word to him was spoke:
No oracle the silence broke.
To Warren, hailed as Banneret,
With brilliant steel. though nightly wet,
He bent and said; "Your comely grace,
Fair mated l forbear to trace"
He turned and looked unto the stars,
Signalled to Venus and to Mars,
And, in the purpling of the day,
His astral form then passed away.
Each night in early May beheld
Each knightly heart with prompting swelled,
IT, x,,fob within his oosflo nato