Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing, as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine."

JOSEPH ADDISON.

* 78 *

BUGLE SONG.

THE splendor falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying:
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

Oh hark! oh hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
Oh sweet and far from cliff and scar 1

The horns of Elfland 2 faintly blowing!

Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.

O Love, they die in yon rich sky,

They faint on hill, or field, or river: Our echoes roll from soul to soul,

And grow forever and forever:

Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.

ALFRED TENNYSON.

1 scar, a bare and broken place on the side of a mountain.

2 Elfland, fairy-land.

* 79 *

ASPIRATIONS OF YOUTH.

HIGHER, higher, will we climb
Up the mount of glory,

That our names may live through time
In our country's story:

Happy, when her welfare calls,
He who conquers, he who falls.

Deeper, deeper, let us toil

In the mines of knowledge, Nature's wealth and Learning's spoil

Win from school and college; Delve we there for richer gems Than the stars of diadems.

Onward, onward, may we press
Through the path of duty;
Virtue is true happiness,

Excellence true beauty:

Minds are of celestial birth,

Make we, then, a heaven of earth.

Closer, closer, let us knit

Hearts and hands together,

Where our fireside comforts sit
In the wildest weather:

Oh, they wander wide who roam

For the joys of life from home.

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

* 80 *

GEORGE NIDIVER.

MEN have done brave deeds,

And bards have sung them well: I of George Nid'iver

Now the tale will tell.

In Californian mountains,
A hunter bold was he:
Keen his eye and sure his aim
As any you should see.

A little Indian boy

Followed him everywhere, Eager to share the hunter's joy, The hunter's meal to share :

And when the bird or deer

Fell by the hunter's skill,

The boy was always near

To help with right good-will.

One day as through the cleft
Between two mountains steep,

Shut in both right and left,
Their questing way they keep,

They see two grizzly bears,
With hunger fierce and fell,
Rush at them unawares,

Right down the narrow dell.

The boy turned round with screams,
And ran with terror wild:
One of the pair of savage beasts
Pursued the shrieking child.

The hunter raised his gun,

He knew one charge was all, And through the boy's pursuing foe He sent his only ball.

The other bear, now furious,

Came on with dreadful pace;

The hunter stood unarmed,
And met him face to face.

I say unarmed he stood:

Against those frightful paws, For rifle butt or club of wood, Could stand no more than straws.

George Nidiver stood still,

And looked him in the face; The wild beast stopped amazed, Then came with slackening pace.

Still firm the hunter stood,

Although his heart beat high; Again the creature stopped,

And gazed with wondering eye.

The hunter met his gaze,
Nor yet an inch gave way;

The bear turned slowly round
And slowly moved away ·

What thoughts were in his mind.
It would be hard to spell; 1
What thoughts were in George Nidiver's
I rather guess than tell.

Be sure that rifle's aim,

Swift choice of generous part, Showed, in its passing gleam, The depths of a brave heart.

* 81 *

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE!

How sleep the Brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest!
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress a sweeter sod
Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.

By fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen their dirge is sung;
There Honor comes, a pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell a weeping hermit there!

W. COLLINS.

1 spell, relate - an old use of the word.

« AnteriorContinuar »