LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE.
TOLL for the Brave!
The brave that are no more!
All sunk beneath the wave
Fast by 1 their native shore !
Eight hundred of the brave,
Whose courage well was tried,
Had make the vessel heel,2
And laid her on her side.
A land breeze shook the shrouds,
And she was overset ;
Down went the Royal George,
With all her crew complete!
Toll for the brave!
Brave Kempenfelt is gone;
His last sea-fight is fought,
His work of glory done.
It was not in the battle;
No tempest gave the shock;
She sprang no fatal leak; 4
She ran upon no rock.
1 fast by, near.
2 heel, lean over.
▲ spring a leak, to leak by means of a sudden breach.
His sword was in its sheath,
His fingers held the pen,
When Kempenfelt went down
With twice four hundred men.
Weigh1 the vessel up,
Once dreaded by our foes,
And mingle with our cup 2
The tears that England owes.
Her timbers yet are sound,
And she may float again,
Full charged with England's thunder,3
And plough the distant main.
But Kempenfelt is gone,
His victories are o'er;
And he and his eight hundred
Shall plough the wave no more.
The Royal George, a man-of-war carrying 108 guns, commanded by Admiral Kempenfelt, while partially careened to have her seams calked, in Portsmouth Harbor, England, was overset about ten A.M., Aug. 29, 1782. The total loss was believed to be near one thousand souls.
3 thunder, noise of cannon.
THE sun was sinking out of sight:
"Bessie," said Herbert, "have you heard?
It's really true, upon my word!
This year is going away to-night!
It's time is up, they say, and so
At midnight it will have to go.
And right away another year
Will come along, a real new year,
As soft as any mouse,
So soft, we'll hardly hear it creep,
Yes, come right to this very house,
While every one's asleep!"
Now Bessie's eyes grew wide to hear.
"Let's keep awake,” she cried, "and so
We'll see one come and see one go.
Two years at once! Won't that be queer?
Let's tell the New Year it is bad,
We want the one we've always had,
With birds and flowers and things, you know,
And funny ice and pretty snow.
It had my birthday, too, in May,
And yours when was it? and you know
How it had Fourth o' July one day,
And Christmas. Oh, it mustn't go!"
"Ha, ha!" laughed Herbert. "What a Bess!
This year was new when first it came;
The next one will be just the same
As this that's going now, I guess.
That's nothing. But what bothers me
Is how the change is going to be.
I can't see how one year can go
And one can come at midnight, so
All in a minute: that's the bother!
I've heard them say, 'the rolling year: '
You'd think they'd roll on one another,
Unless they knew just how to steer."
The speck of time 'twixt night and day
Was close at hand. Herbert and Bess
Had won their parents' smiling "yes
To watch the old year go away.
Nurse on the lounge found easy rest
Till Bess should come to be undrest:
All but the children were asleep,
And years might roll, or years might creep, For all they cared; while Bess and Bert, Who never stirred, and scarcely spoke, Watched the great clock, awake, alert, All breathless for the coming stroke.
Soon Bessie whispered, "Moll don't care.'
Moll was her doll. And Herbert said,
"The clock's so far up overhead
It makes me wink to watch it there,
The great tall thing! Let's look inside."
And so its door they opened wide.
Tick-a-tick! How loud it sounded!
Bessie's heart with wonder bounded.
How the great round thing that hung
Down the middle swung and swung!
Tick, a-tick, a-tick, a-tick,-
Dear how loud it was, and quick!
Tick-a, tick-a, tick-a, tick-a!
Surely it was growing quicker!
While the swinging thing kept on,
Back and forth, and never done.
There! It's coming! Loud and clear
Each ringing stroke the night alarms.
Bess, screaming, hid in Herbert's arms.
"The year!" he cried, "the year! the year!"
"Where?" faltered Bessie, "which? where,
'bouts?"
But still "The year!" glad Herbert shouts ;
And still the steady strokes rang on
Until the banished year was gone.
"We've seen the Old Year out — hurrah!"
"Oh, oh!" sobbed Bessie, "call mamma.
I don't like years to racket so:
It frightens me to hear 'em go."
But Herbert kissed away her tears,
And, gently soothing all her fears,
He heard the New Year coming quick,
Tick, a-tick, a-tick, a-tick.
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