COUSIN SALLY DILLIARD. CHOPS. Well, Sir, go on. 341 WITNESS. Well, Sir, Captain Rice he gin a treat, and cousin Sally Dilliard she came over to our house and axed me if my wife she moutn't go CHOPS. There it is again. Witness, please to stop. WITNESS. Well, Sir, what do you want? CHOPS. We want to know about the fight, and you must not proceed in this impertinent story. Do you know anything about the matter before the Court? WITNESS. To be sure I do. CHOPS. Well, go on and tell it, and nothing else. WITNESS. Well, Captain Rice he gin a treat CHOPS. This is intolerable. May it please the Court, I move that this witness be committed for a contempt; he seems to be trifling with this Court. COURT. Witness, you are now before a court of justice, and unless you behave yourself in a more becoming manner, you will be sent to jail; so begin, and tell what you know about the fight at Captain Rice's. WITNESS. [Alarmed.] Well, gentlemen, Captain Rice he gin a treat, and cousin Sally Dilliard- CHOPS. I hope the witness may be ordered into custody. COURT. Mr. Attorney, the Court is of the opinion that we may save time by telling witness to go on in his own way. Proceed, Mr. Harris, with your story, but stick to the point. WITNESS. Yes, gentlemen. Well, Captain Rice he gin a treat, and cousin Sally Dilliard she came over to our house and axed me if my wife she moutn't go. I told cousin Sally Dilliard that my wife she was poorly, being as how she had the rheumatics in the hip, and the big swamp was up; but howsomever, as it was she, cousin Sally Dilliard, my wife she mout go. Well, cousin Sally Dilliard then axed if Mose he moutn't go. I told cousin Sally Dilliard as how Mose--he was the foreman of the crap, and the crap was smartly in the grass--but howsomever, as it was her cousin Sally Dilliard, Mose he mout go. So they goes on together, Mose, my wife, and cousin Sally Dilliard, and they come to the big swamp, and it was up, as I was telling you; but being as how there was a lóg across the big swamp, cousin Sally Dilliard and Mose, like genteel folks, they walked the log; but my wife, like, a darned fool, waded through. And that's all I know about tl fight. १ 342 GELERT. GELERT.-W. R. SPENCER. HE spearmen heard the bugle sound, and cheerly smiled the THE morn; And many a brach, and many a hound, attend Llewellyn's horn; Unpleased, Llewellyn homeward hied, when, near the portal seat, But when he gained the castle-door, aghast the chieftain stood; The hound was smeared with gouts of gore; his lips and fangs ran blood! Llewellyn gazed with wild surprise; unused such looks to meet, His favorite checked his joyful guise, and crouched, and licked his feet. Onward in haste Llewellyn passed (and on went Gelert, too), And still, where'er his eyes were cast, fresh blood-gouts shocked his view! O'erturned his infant's bed, he found the blood-stained cover rent; And all around the walls and ground with recent blood besprent, He called his child; no voice replied; he searched, with terror wild; Blood! blood! he found on every side, but nowhere found his child! "Death-hound! by thee my child's devoured!" the frantic father cried; And, to the hilt, his vengeful sword he plunged in Gelert's side. Aroused by Gelert's dying yell, some slumberer wakened nigh: BINGEN ON THE RHINE. 343 Nor scratch had he, nor harm, nor dread; but the same couch beneath Lay a great wolf, all torn and dead, tremendous still in death! Vain, vain was all Llewellyn's woe! "Best of thy kind, adieu! A BINGEN ON THE RHINE.-MRS. NORTON. SOLDIER of the Legion lay dying in Algiers, There was lack of woman's nursing, there was dearth of But a comrade stood beside him, while the life-blood ebbed away, "Tell my brothers and companions, when they meet and crowd around To hear my mournful story, in the pleasant vineyard ground, scars! But some were young, and suddenly beheld Life's morn decline,And one had come from Bingen-fair Bingen on the Rhine. 344 BINGEN ON THE RHINE. "Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort her old age, For I was still a truant bird, that thought his home a cage; For my father was a soldier, and, even when a child, My heart leaped forth to hear him tell of struggles fierce and wild; And when he died, and left us to divide his scanty hoard, I let them take whate'er they would, but kept my father's sword! And with boyish love I hung it where the bright light used to shine On the cottage-wall at Bingen-calm Bingen on the Rhine! "Tell my sisters not to weep for me, and sob with drooping head, When the troops come marching home again, with glad and gallant tread; But to look upon them proudly, with a calm and steadfast eye, To listen to him kindly, without regret and shame; And to hang the old sword in its place-(my father's sword and mine), For the honor of old Bingen-dear Bingen on the Rhine! "There's another, not a sister,-in happy days gone by You'd have known her by the merriment that sparkled in her eye; Too innocent for coquetry, too fond for idle scorning,- O! friend, I fear the lightest heart makes sometimes heaviest mourning! Tell her the last night of my life--(for, ere the moon be risen I dreamed I stood with her, and saw the yellow sunlight shine "I saw the blue Rhine sweep along,-I heard, or seemed to hear, talk, Down many a path beloved of yore, and well-remembered walk; 12 THE DRUNKARD'S DAUGHTER. And her little hand lay lightly, confidingly, in mine,- 345 But we'll meet no more at Bingen-loved Bingen on the Rhine!" His trembling voice grew faint and hoarse, his gasp was childish weak His eyes put on a dying look,--he sighed, and ceased to speak; His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark of life had fled-The soldier of the Legion in a foreign land was dead! And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly she looked down On the red sand of the battle-field, with bloody corses strewn ! Yes, calmly on that dreadful scene her pale light seemed to shine, As it shone on distant Bingen-fair Bingen on the Rhine. THE DRUNKARD'S DAUGHTER. O, feel what I have felt- Go Go, bear what I have borne- And the cold world's proud scorn: Go, kneel as I have knelt, Implore, beseech, and pray - The downward course to stay- Go, weep as I have wept O'er a loved father's fall See every promised blessing swept— Go, see what I have seen Behold the strong man bow, With gnashing teeth, lips bathed in blood, And cold and livid brow |