12. 13. "And more, much more,-for now The life-sealed fountains of my nature move,— Of weakness and mistrust, and bow it down The soul-thirst slaken at the living stream, To live, O God! that life is but a dream! Dim,—dim,—I faint,-darkness comes o'er my eye,— 14. 'Twas morning, and the old man lay alone. LXXVIII.-THE BELLS. 1. HEAR the sledges with the bells, silver bells EDGAR A. POE. What a world of merriment their melody foretells! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, in the icy air of night! While the stars that oversprinkle all the heavens, seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight— Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells, bells— From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells, 2. Hear the mellow wedding-bells, golden bells, What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! Through the balmy air of night how they ring out their delight! From the molten-golden notes, all in tune, What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats on the moon! What a gush of euphony voluminously wells! How it swells, how it dwells On the Future! how it tells of the rapture that impels To the swinging and the ringing of the bells, bells, bells— To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells. 3. Hear the loud alarum-bells, brazen bells! What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! In the startled ear of night how they scream out their affright! Out of tune, In the clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, By the side of the pale-faced moon. O, the bells, bells, bells, what a tale their terror tells of Despair! Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging and the clanging, how the danger ebbs and flows; In the jangling, and the wrangling, how the danger sinks and swells, In the clamor and the clangor of the bells! 4. Hear the tolling of the bells, iron bells! What a world of solemn thought their monody compels! At the melancholy menace of their tone! For every sound that floats from the rust within their throats Is a groan. And the people-ah, the people—they that dwell up in the steeple All alone, And who tolling, tolling, tolling, in that muffled monotone, Feel a glory in so rolling on the human heart a stone They are neither man nor woman-they are neither brute nor human, They are ghouls : And their king it is who tolls; and he rolls, rolls, rolls, rolls, A pæan from the bells! and his merry bosom swells With the pean of the bells! and he dances and he yells: Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the pean of the bells, of the bells: Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme, To the sobbing of the bells: Keeping time, time, time, as he knells, knells, knells, LXXIX. THE OLD CONTINENTALS. GUY HUMPHREY MCMASTER. 1. In their ragged regimentals Stood the old Continentals, Yielding not, When the Grenadiers were lunging, And like hail fell the plunging Cannon-shot: When the files Of the isles, From the smoky night encampment, bore the banner of the rampant Unicorn, And grummer, grummer, grummer rolled the roll of the drummer, 2. Then with eyes to the front all, Stood our sires; And the balls whistled deadly, As the roar On the shore, Swept the strong battle-breakers o'er the green-sodded acres And louder, louder, louder, cracked the black gunpowder, 3. Now like smiths at their forges Cannoniers; And the " villainous saltpetre" Rang a fierce, discordant metre Round their ears; As the swift With hot sweeping anger, came the horse-guards' clangor Then higher, higher, higher, burned the old-fashioned fire 4. Then the old-fashioned Colonel Galloped through the white infernal And his broad sword was swinging, And his brazen throat was ringing Trumpet loud.. Then the blue And the trooper-jackets redden at the touch of the leaden And rounder, rounder, rounder, roared the iron six-pounder, LXXX. ONCE I WAS PURE. 1. O! THE Snow, the beautiful snow, Over the heads of the people you meet, Dancing, Flirting, Skimming along, Beautiful snow! It can do nothing wrong, Flying to kiss a fair lady's cheek, Clinging to lips in a frolicsome freak, 2. O! the snow, the beautiful snow, How the flakes gather and laugh as they go! It plays in its glee with every one, Chasing, Laughing, Hurrying by, It lights up the face and it sparkles the eye! And even the dogs, with a bark and a bound, Swinging, Dashing they go, Over the crest of the beautiful snow; Snow so pure when it falls from the sky, To be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by, To be trampled and tracked by the thousands of feet, Till it blends with the filth in the horrible street. 4. Once I was pure as the snow-but I fell ! Pleading, Cursing, Dreading to die, Selling my soul to whoever would buy, And yet I was once like the beautiful snow. 5. Once I was fair as the beautiful snow, With an eye like its crystal, a heart like its glow: Once I was loved for my innocent grace Flattered and sought for the charms of my face: Father, Mother, Sisters all, God, and myself, I have lost by my fall. The veriest wretch that goes shivering by, 6. How strange it should be that this beautiful snow |