And men, taught wisdom from the past, Hung the sword in the hall, the spear on the wall, Our staunch good friend is he; Though we may thank him for the plough, CASABIANCA (14) FELICIA HEMANS. THE boy stood on the burning deck Yet beautiful and bright he stood, A creature of heroic blood, A proud, though child-like form. The flames rolled on-he would not go He called aloud:-"Say, father! say He knew not that the chieftain lay "Speak, father!" once again he cried, And but the booming shots replied, Upon his brow he felt their breath, And looked from that lone post of death And shouted but once more aloud, "My father! must I stay?" While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud, They wrapped the ship in splendour wild, And streamed above the gallant child, There came a burst of thunder-sound- With fragments strewed the sea! With mast, and helm, and pennon fair, But the noblest thing which perished there Happy are they who die in youth, when their renown is around them." Ossian. WEEP not for those whom the veil of the tomb In life's early morning hath hid from our eyes, Ere sin threw a blight o'er the spirit's young bloom, Or earth had profaned what was born for the skies. THOMAS MOORE. THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS. H. W. LONGFELLOW. Ir was the schooner Hesperus And the skipper had taken his little daughtèr Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds, The skipper he stood beside the helm, And he watched how the veering flaw did blow, The smoke now West, now South. Then up and spake an old sailor, "Last night the moon had a golden ring, Colder and louder blew the wind, Down came the storm, and smote amain The vessel in its strength; She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed, "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter, And do not tremble so; For I can weather the roughest gale He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat, He cut a rope from a broken spar, "Oh! father! I hear the church-bells ring; "'Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!" And he steered for the open sea. "Oh! father! I hear the sound of guns; Oh! say, what may it be?" "Some ship in distress, that cannot live In such an angry sea!" "Oh! father! I see a gleaming light; But the father answered never a word— Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow Then the maiden clasped her hands, and prayed That saved she might be: And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave On the Lake of Galilee. And fast through the midnight dark and drear, And ever the fitful gusts between The breakers were right beneath her bows; And a whooping billow swept the crew, She struck where the white and fleecy waves But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, At day-break, on the black sea-beach, To see the form of a maiden fair, The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes; And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed, On the billows fall and rise. Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow! Christ save us all from a death like this, On the reef of Norman's Woe! |