He hears the rustling flag, And the armed sentry's tramp; 8. With slow tread and still tread, He scans the tented line, And he counts the battery-guns By the gaunt' and shadowy pine; And his slow tread and still tread Gives no warning sign. 4. The dark wave, the plumed wave! 5. A sharp clang, a steel clang! In the camp a spy hath found! 6. With calm brow, steady brow, He listens to his doom; In his look there is no fear, Nor a shadow trace of gloom; But with calm brow and steady brow 7. In the long night, the still night, 8. 'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, And he mourns that he can lose But one life for Liberty; And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 9. His last words, his message words, With his last words, his dying words, 10. From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 1 GÄUNT. Long and thin; lank. 4 FÂL'CON-EYED (fâl- or fâw'kn-id). Sharp-eyed as a falcon. 5 SŎL'EMN. Serious, sacred. 6 MĚS'SAGE. Word or communica. tion sent from one person to an other. 7 ÜRN. A vessel in which the Romans placed the ashes of the dead; hence, a tomb. LXXIV: -TALLEYRAND AND ARNOLD. YOUTH'S COMPANION. [Benedict Arnold was an American general in the Revolutionary war. He showed great bravery and skill on many occasions, in the cause of his country; but while in command of West Point he became a traitor, and plotted to deliver this stronghold into the hands of the British. His treason was discovered by the capture of John Andre, a major in the British army, as he was returning from an interview with Arnold. Arnold escaped, and joined the enemy. Andre was hung as a spy. Talleyrand was a celebrated French statesman, born in 1754, died in 1838. After the fall of Louis XVI. he fled to the United States to escape the dangers that threatened him at home. Afterward he returned to France, and held various high offices successively under Napoleon, Louis XVIII., and Louis Philippe. The Reign of Terror is that period in French history after the execution of Louis XVI., from June 2, 1793, to July 27, 1794, during which Robespierre was at the head of the government. It was a period of fearful trials and butcheries.] 1. THERE was a day when Talleyrand arrived in Havre, direct from Paris. It was the darkest hour of the French Revolution. Pursued by the blood-hounds of the Reign of Terror, stripped of every wreck of property and power, Talleyrand secured a passage to America, in a ship about to sail. He was a beggar and a wanderer to a strange land, to earn his daily bread by daily labor. 2. Is there an American staying at your house?" he asked the landlord of the hotel. "I am bound across the water, and would like a letter to a person of influence in the New World." 3. The landlord hesitated a moment, then replied"There is a gentleman up stairs, either from America or Britain, but whether an American or an Englishman, I cannot tell." 4. He pointed the way, and Talleyrand-who, in his life, was Bishop, Prince, and Prime Minister ~ ascended the stairs. A miserable suppliant,' he stood before the stranger's door, knocked and entered. 5. In the farther corner of the dimly-lighted room, sat a man of some fifty years, his arms folded and his head bowed on his breast. From a window directly opposite, a flood of light poured over his forehead. His eyes looked from beneath the downcast brows, and gazed on Talleyrand's face with a peculiar1 and searching expression. 6. His face was striking in outline, the mouth and chin indicative of an iron will. His form, vigorous even with the snows of fifty winters, was clad in a dark but rich and distinguished costume.* 7. Talleyrand advanced-stated that he was a fugitive and under the impression that the gentleman before him was an American, he solicited his kind offices. He poured forth his history in eloquent French and broken English. 5 -the scenes of Paris 8. I am a wanderer. an exile. I am forced to fly to the New World, without a friend or home. You are an American! Give me, then, I beseech you, a letter of yours, so that I may be able to earn my bread. I am willing to toil in manner any have seized me with such horror, that a life of labor would be a paradise to a career of luxury in France. You will give me a letter to one of your friends? A gentleman, like you, has doubtless many friends." 9. The strange gentleman rose. With a look that Talleyrand never forgot, he retreated towards the door of the next chamber. He spoke as he stepped backward his voice was full of meaning. 10. "I am the only man born in the New World who can raise his hand to God and say, I have not a friend not one in all America!" Talleyrand never forgot the overwhelming sadness of the look which accompanied these words. 11. "Who are you?" he cried, as the strange man retreated to the next room; 66 your name?" 12. My name," he replied with a smile that had more mockery than joy in its convulsive expression 66 my name is Benedict Arnold !” He was gone. Talleyrand sank into a chair, gasping the words— "Arnold the Traitor "" 13. Thus, you see, he wandered over the earth, another Cain, with the wanderer's mark upon his brow. Even in that secluded room at that inn in Havre, his crime found him out, and forced him to tell his name that name the synonyme 7 of infamy. 14. The last twenty years of his life were covered with a cloud, from the darkness of which but a few gleams of light flashed out upon the page of history. 15. The manner of his death is not exactly known. But we cannot doubt that he died utterly friendless that remorse pursued him to the grave, whispering the name of Andre in his ear, and that the memory of his course of glory gnawed like a canker at his heart, murmuring forever"True to your country, what might you have been, O, Arnold the Traitor!" 1 SUP'PLI-ANT. One who entreats. 8 IN-DICA-TIVE. Pointing out, show- 20* 4 CŎS-TÜME'. Style of dress, clothes. 6 SE-CLUDED. Solitary, retired. |