V.

But thou whose soul is glowing in the summer of thy years, Unvanquishable WARREN, thou, the youngest of thy peers, Wert born and bred, and shaped and made, to act a patriot's

part,

And dear to us thy presence is as heart's blood to the heart!

VI.

Hark! from the town a trumpet! The barges at the wharf Are crowded with the living freight; and now they 're pushing

off;

With clash and glitter, trump and drum, in all its bright array,
Behold the splendid sacrifice move slowly o'er the bay !

And still and still the barges fill, and still across the deep,
Like thunder clouds along the sky, the hostile transports sweep.

VII.

And now they're forming at the Point; and now the lines ad

vance:

We see beneath the sultry sun their polished bayonets glance; We hear anear the throbbing drum, the bugle-challenge ring; Quick bursts and loud the flashing cloud, and rolls from wing to wing;

But on the height our bulwark stands, tremendous in its gloom, As sullen as a tropic sky, and silent as a tomb.

VIII.

And so we waited till we saw, at scarce ten rifles' length,
The old vindictive Saxon spite, in all its stubborn strength;
When sudden, flash on flash, around the jagged rampart burst
From every gun the livid light upon the foe accursed.

Then quailed a monarch's might before a free-born people's ire; Then drank the sward the veteran's life, where swept the yeoman's fire.

IX.

Then, staggered by the shot, we saw their serried columns reel, And fall, as falls the bearded rye beneath the reaper's steel; And then arose a mighty shout that might have waked the

dead,

"Hurrah! they run! the field is won! Hurrah! the foe is fled ! "

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL

261

And every man hath dropped his gun to clutch a neighbor's

haud,

As his heart kept praying all the while for home and native land.

X.

Thrice on that day we stood the shock of thrice a thousand foes, And thrice that day within our lines the shout of victory rose ; And though our swift fire slackened then, and, reddening in the

skies,

We saw from Charlestown's roofs and walls the flamy columns

rise,

Yet while we had a cartridge left, we still maintained the fight, Nor gained the foe one foot of ground upon that blood-stained height.

XI.

What though for us no laurels bloom, and o'er the nameless

brave

No sculptured trophy, scroll, nor hatch records a warrior's grave! What though the day to us was lost! - upon that deathless

page

The everlasting charter stands for every land and age!

XII.

For man hath broke his felon bonds, and cast them in the dust,
And claimed his heritage divine, and justified the trust;
While through his rifted prison-bars the hues of freedom pour,
O'er every nation, race, and clime, on every sea and shore,
Such glories as the patriarch viewed, when, 'mid the darkest
skies,

He saw above a ruined world the Bow of Promise rise.

EXERCISE.

F. S. Cozzens.

1. Stretch the line on the sward, to mark the trench.
2. We fall to work with mattock and spade. [Pick-axe.]

3. We have to cope with fearful odds.

4. The hostile transports sweep across the stream.

5. Their polished bayonets glance beneath the sultry sun.

6. No sculptured trophy, scroll, nor hatch, records a warrior's grave 7. The patriarch saw the Bow of Promise rise above the world:

O'

CVIII. A MAN OVERBOARD.

FF the Azores we were overtaken by a series of severe squalls. We were preparing ourselves for the coming storm, when a man, who was coming down from the last reef, slipped as he stepped on the bulwarks, and went over backwards into the waves.

2. In a moment that most terrific of all cries at sea, A man overboard! a man overboard!" flew like lightning over the ship. I sprang upon the quarter-deck, just as the poor fellow, with his "fearful human face," riding the top of a billow, fled past.

3. In an instant all was commotion; plank after plank was cast over for him to seize and sustain himself on, till the ship could be put about and the boat lowered. The first mate, a bold, fiery fellow, leaped into the boat that hung at the side of the quarter-deck, and in a voice so sharp and stern that I seem to hear it yet, shouted, "In, men! in, men!"

4. But the poor sailors hung back,—the sea was too wild. The second mate sprang to the side of the first, and the men, ashamed to leave both their officers alone, followed.

5. "Cut away the lashings!" exclaimed the officer. The knife glanced round the ropes, the boat fell to the water, rose on a huge wave far over the deck, and drifted rapidly

astern.

6. The brave mate stood erect, the helm in his hand, his flashing eye embracing the whole peril in a single glance, and his hand bringing the head of the gallant little boat on each high sea that otherwise would have swamped her. I watched them till nearly two miles astern, when they lay to, to look for the lost sailor.

7. Just then I turned my eyes to the southern horizon, and saw a squall, blacker and heavier than any we had before encountered, rushing down upon us. The captain also saw it, and was terribly excited.

8. He called for a flag, and, springing into the shrouds,

A MAN OVERBOARD.

waved it for their return.

263

The gallant fellows obeyed the

signal, and pulled for the ship.

9. But it was slow work, for the head of the boat had to be laid on to almost every wave. It was now growing dark, and if the squall should strike the boat before it reached the vessel, there was no hope for it; it would either go down at once or drift away into the surrounding darkness, to struggle out the night as it could.

10. I shall never forget that scene. All along the southern horizon, between the black water and the blacker heavens, was a white streak of tossing foam. Nearer and clearer every moment it boiled and roared on its track.

11. I could not look steadily on that gallant little crew, now settling the question of life and death to themselves, and perhaps to us, who would be left almost unmanned in the middle of the Atlantic, and encompassed by a storm.

12. The sea was making fast, and yet that frail thing rode on it like a duck. Every time she sank away she carried my heart down with her; and when she remained a longer time than usual, I would think it was all over, and cover my eyes with horror; the next moment she would appear between us and the black rolling cloud, literally covered with foam and spray.

13. The captain knew that a few minutes more would decide the fate of his officers and crew; he called for his trumpet, and, springing up the ratlines, shouted out over the roar of the blast and waves, "Pull away, my brave boys; the squall is coming! give way, my hearties!" and the bold fellows did "give way" with a will.

14. I could see their ashen oars quiver as they rose from the water, while the lifelike boat sprang to their strokes down the billows, like a panther on a leap. On she came, and on came the blast. It was the wildest struggle I ever gazed on; but the gallant little boat conquered.

15. O, how my heart leaped when she at length shot round the stern, and, rising on a wave far above our leequarter, shook the water from her drenched head, as if in delight to find her shelter again!

16. The chains were fastened, and I never pulled with such right good-will on a rope as on the one that brought that boat up the vessel's side. As the heads of the crew appeared over the bulwarks, I could have hugged the brave fellows in transport.

17. As they stepped on deck, not a question was asked, no report given; but "Forward, men!" broke from the captain's lips. The vessel was trimmed to meet the blast, and we were again bounding on our way.

18. If that squall had pursued the course of all former ones, we must have lost our crew; but when nearest the boat (and it seemed to me the foam was breaking not a hundred rods off), the wind suddenly veered, and held the cloud in check, so that it swung round close to our bows.

19. The poor sailor was gone; he came not back again. It was his birthday (he was twenty-five years old), and, alas it was his death-day.

20. We saw him no more, and a gloom fell on the whole ship. There were few of us in all, and we felt his loss. It was a wild and dark night; death had been among us, and had left us with sad and serious hearts.

21. As I walked to the stern, and looked back on the foam and tumult of the vessel's wake, in which the poor sailor had disappeared, I instinctively murmured the mariner's hymn, closing with the sincere prayer,

"O sailor boy, sailor boy, peace to thy soul !"

Headley.

EXERCISE.

1. The mate's flashing eye embraced the whole peril in a single glance.

2. We were in the middle of the Atlantic, encompassed by a storm. 3. Springing up the ratlines he shouted out over the roar of the blast.

4. I could see their ashen oars quiver as they rose from the water. 5. O, how my heart leaped when she shot round the stern.

6. The heads of the crew appeared over the bulwarks.

7. The wind suddenly veered and held the cloud in check. 8. I instinctively murmured the mariner's hymn.