II. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. NOTHING was heard in the room but the hurrying pen of the stripling Reading the marvellous words and achievements of Julius Cæsar. downwards, 66 Heavily on the page: A wonderful man was this Cæsar! You are a writer, and I am a fighter, but here is a fellow Who could both write and fight, and in both was equally skilful!" Straightway answered and spake John Alden, the comely, the youthful : "Yes, he was equally skilled, as you say, with his pen and his weapons. Somewhere have I read, but where I forget, he could dictate Seven letters at once, at the same time writing his memoirs." "Truly," continued the Captain, not heeding or hearing the other, "Truly a wonderful man was Caius Julius Cæsar! Better be first, he said, in a little Iberian village, Than be second in Rome, and I think he was right when he said it. Now, do you know what he did on a certain occasion in Flanders, When the rear-guard of his army retreated, the front giving way too, And the immortal Twelfth Legion was crowded so closely together There was no room for their swords? Why, he seized a shield from a soldier, Put himself straight at the head of his troops, and commanded the captains, Calling on each by his name, to order forward the ensigns; Then to widen the ranks, and give more room for their weapons; So he won the day, the battle of something-or-other. That's what I always say; if you wish a thing to be well done, All was silent again; the Captain continued his reading. Nothing was heard in the room but the hurrying pen of the stripling Writing epistles important to go next day by the May Flower, Filled with the name and the fame of the Puritan maiden Priscilla ; Every sentence began or closed with the name of Priscilla, Till the treacherous pen, to which he confided the secret, Strove to betray it by singing and shouting the name of Priscilla ! Finally closing his book, with a bang of the ponderous cover, Sudden and loud as the sound of a soldier grounding his musket, Thus to the young man spake Miles Standish the Captain of Plymouth: "When you have finished your work, I have something important to tell you. Be not however in haste; I can wait; I shall not be impatient!" Straightway Alden replied, as he folded the last of his letters, Pushing his papers aside, and giving respectful attention : C "Speak; for whenever you speak, I am always ready to listen, Always ready to hear whatever pertains to Miles Standish." Two have I seen and known; and the angel whose name is Priscilla You, who are bred as a scholar, can say it in elegant language. Such as you read in your books of the pleadings and wooings of lovers, Such as you think best adapted to win the heart of a maiden.” When he had spoken, John Alden, the fair-haired taciturn stripling, All aghast at his words, surprised, embarrassed, bewildered, Gravely shaking his head, made answer the Captain of Plymouth : 66 Truly the maxim is good, and I do not mean to gainsay it; But we must use it discreetly, and not waste powder for nothing. I can march up to a fortress and summon the place to surrender, But march up to a woman with such a proposal, I dare not. I'm not afraid of bullets, nor shot from the mouth of a cannon, But of a thundering 'No!' point-blank from the mouth of a woman, So you must grant my request, for you are an elegant scholar, prompts me; Surely you cannot refuse what I ask in the name of our friendship!" |