Bell! thou soundest merrily; Parting hath gone by! Say! how canst thou mourn? Thou art but metal dull! Thou dost feel them all! God hath wonders many, THE CASTLE BY THE SEA. FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAND. "Hast thou seen that lordly castle, That Castle by the Sea, Golden and red above it The clouds float gorgeonsly. "And fain it would stoop downward "Well have I seen that castle, And the moon above it standing, "The winds and the waves of ocean, Had they a merry chime! Didst thou hear, from those lofty chambers, The harp and the minstrel's rhyme?" "The winds and the waves of ocean, They rested quietly; But I heard on the gale a sound of wail, "And sawest thou on the turrets "Led they not forth, in rapture, "Well saw I the ancient parents, They were moving slow, in weeds of woe, No maiden was by their side!" JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, (b 1807 d 1892). BARBARA FRIETCHIE. Up from the meadows rich with corn, The clustered spires of Frederick stand Round about them orchards sweep, Fair as the garden of the Lord To the eyes of the famished rebel horde, On that pleasant morn of the early fall When Lee marched over the mountain-wall, Over the mountains winding down, Forty flags with their silver stars, Flapped in the morning wind: the sun Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bravest of all in Frederick town, She took up the flag the men hauled down; In her attic window the staff she set, Up the street came the rebel tread, Under his slouched hat left and right "Halt!"-the dust-brown ranks stood fast. "Fire!"-out blazed the rifle-blast. It shivered the window, pane and sash; Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff She leaned far out on the window-sill, "Shoot, if you must, this old grey head, But spare your country's flag," she said. A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, The nobler nature within him stirred "Who touches a hair of yon gray head All day long through Frederick street All day long that free flag tost Ever its torn folds rose and fell And through the hill-gaps sunset light Barbara Frietchie's work is o'er, And the Rebel rides on his raids no more. Honour to her! and let a tear Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier. Over Barbara Frietchie's grave, Peace and order and beauty draw CONDUCTOR BRADLEY. Conductor Bradley, (always may his name. Be said with reverence!) as the swift doom came, Sank, with the brake he grasped just where he stood To do the utmost that a brave man could, And die, if needful, as a true man should. Men stooped above him; women dropped their tears What heard they? Lo! the ghastly lips of pain, Dead to all thought save duty's, moved again : "Put out the signals for the other train!" No nobler utterance since the world began Ah me! how poor and noteless seem to this O grand, supreme endeavour! Not in vain Following the wrecked one, as wave follows wave, Obeyed the warning which the dead lips gave. Others he saved, himself he could not save. Nay, the lost life was saved. He is not dead |