4. All night they snuff and snarl befōre
The poor patched window and broken door.
They paw the clapboards,' and claw the latch,-
At every crevice they whine and scratch.
5. Their tongues are subtle, and long, and thin,
And they lap the living blood within.
Icy keen are the teeth that tear,
Red as ruin the eyes that glare.
6. Children crouched in corners cōld
Shiver in tattered garments ōld,
And start from sleep with bitter pangs
At the touch of the phantoms'' viewlèss fangs.
7. Weary the mother, and worn with strife,
Still she watches and fights for life;
But her hand is feeble, her weapon small,—
One little needle against them all!
8. O ye that listen to stōries told,
When hearths are cheery, and nights are cold,
Weep no more at the tales you hear;
The danger is close, and the wolves are near!
9. Pass not by, with averted eye,
The door where the stricken children cry.
But when the beat of the unseen feet
Sounds by night through the stormy street,
Follow thou where the specters glide;
Stand like Hope by the mother's side;
And be thyself the angel sent
To shield the haplèss and innocènt.
10. He gives but little who gives his tears,
He gives his best who aids and cheers;
He does well in the forest wild
Who slays the monster, and saves the child;
But he does better, and mĕrits mōre,
Who drives the wolf from the poor man's door.
1 Clapboards (klåb' bordz).
2 Subtle (sůt′ 1), sly in design; artful; cunning.
3 Phăn' tom, a specter; a ghost. 4 Averted (a vårt' ed), turned or caused to turn cff, aside, or away.
ISTERS two, all praise to you,
With your faces pinched and blue;
To the poor man you've been true
From of ōld:
You can speak the keenèst word,
You are sure of being heard,
From the point you're never stirred,
Hunger and Cōld!
2. Let sleek statesmen temporize;
Palsied are their shifts and lies
When they meet your bloodshot eyes,
Grim and bold;
Policy you set at naught,
In their traps you'll not be caught,
You're too honest to be bought,
Hunger and Cold!
3. Bolt and bar the palace-door;
While the mass of men are poor,
Naked truth grows mōre and more
Uncontrolled:
You had never yět, I guess,
Any praise for bashfulness;
You can visit sans' court-dress,
Hunger and Cold!
4. While the music fell and rose,
And the dance reeled to its close,
Where her round of costly woes
Fashion strolled,
I beheld, with shuddering fear,
Wolves' eyes through the windows peer;
Little dream they you are near,
5. When the toiler's heart you clutch, Conscience is not valued much,
Rush in and savagely demand,
With brutal voice and oath profane,
The startled boy for exile's chain!
5. The mother sprang with gesture wild,
And to her bosom clasped her child;
Then, with pale cheek and flashing eye,
Shouted, with fearful energy,
"Back, ruffians, back! nor dare to tread
Too near the body of my dead!
Nor touch the living boy; I stand
Between him and your lawlèss band!
Take me, and bind these arms, these hands,
With Russia's' heaviest iron bands,
And drag me to Siberia's wild,
To perish, if 't will save my child !"
6. "Peace, woman, peace!" the leader cried,
Tearing the pale boy from her side,
And in his ruffian grasp he bōre
His victim to the temple door.
"One moment!" shrieked the mother, "one!
Will land or gold redeem my son?
Take heritage, take name, take all,
But leave him free from Russian' thrall!3
Take these!" and her white arms and hands
She stripped of rings and diämond bands,
And tōre from braids of long black hair
The gems that gleamed like starlight there.
Her cross of blazing rubies, last
Down at the Russian's feet she cast.
7. He stooped to seize the glittering stōre ;—
Up springing from the marble floor
The mother, with a cry of joy,
Snatched to her leaping heart the boy!
But no! the Russian's iron grasp
Again undid the mother's clasp.
1 Russia (růsh' i å).
? Russian (rush' an).
3 Thrall, a slave; slavery; bondage; servitude.
Forward she fell with one long cry
Of more than mortal agony.
8. But the brave child is roused at length,
And, breaking from the Russian's hold,
He stands, a giant in the strength
Of his young spirit fierce and bōld,
Proudly he towers; his flashing eye
So blue, and yet so bright,
Seems kindled from the eternal sky,
So brilliant is its light.
His curling lips and crimson cheeks
Foretell the thought before he speaks.
With a full voice of proud command
He turns upon the wondering band:
"Ye hold me not! no, no, nor can!
This hour has made the boy a man.
I knelt beside my slaughtered sire,
Nor felt one throb of vengeful ire.
I wept upon his marble brow,
Yes, wept! I was a child; but now-
My noble mother on her knee
Has done the work of years for me!"
9. He drew aside his broidered vest,
And there, like slumbering serpent's crest,
The jeweled haft' of poniard' bright
Glittered a moment on the sight.-
"Ha! start ye back? Fool! coward! knave!
Think ye my noble father's glave3
Would drink the life-blood of a slave?
The pearls that on the handle flame
Would blush to rubies in their shame;
The blade would quiver in thy breast,
Ashamed of such ignoble rest.
No! thus I rend the tyrant's chain,
And fling him back a boy's disdain!”
1 Haft (håft), a handle.
Poniard (pon' yard), a pointed instrument for stabbing; a small dagger.
3 Glave, a curved cutting instrument, having its edge on the outer curve, and fastened to the end of a pole-here used for poniard.
10. A moment, and the funeral light
Flashed on the jeweled weapon bright;
Another, and his young heart's blood
Leaped to the floor, a crimson flood!
Quick to his mother's side he sprang,
And on the air his clear voice rang:
Up mother, up! I'm free! I'm free!
The choice was death or slavery!
Up, mother, up! Look on thy son!
His freedom is forever won!
And now he waits one holy kiss
To bear his father home in bliss;
One last embrace, one blessing—one!
To prove thou know'st, approv'st, thy son.
What! silent yet? Canst thou not feel
My warm blood o'er thy heart congeal?
Speak, mother, speak! lift up thy head?
What! silent still? Then art thou dead!
-Great God! I thank thee! Mother, I
Rejoice with thee-and thus-to die!"-
One long, deep breath, and his pale head
Lay on his mother's bosom-dead!
88. THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON.
N the afternoon of the day on which the provincial coǹgress of Massachusetts adjourned [April 15, 1775], Gage took the light infantry and grenadiers off duty, and secretly prepared an expedition to destroy the colony's stores at Concord. But the attempt had for several weeks been expected; a strict watch had been kept; and signals were concerted to announce the first movement of troops for the country. Samuel Adams'
1 Samuel Adams, a leading actor in the American revolution, was born in Boston, Sept. 27, 1722, of a family
long settled there, where he died, Oct. 2, 1803. He was eight years a member of the Continental Congress.
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