warrant and dragged him to prison; there he lay, for the justices would not take bail, till he was tried at the quarter sessions for assault and battery. His fine was hard upon us to pay; we contrived, however, to live the worse for it, and make up the loss by our frugality; but the justice was not content with that punishment and soon after had an opportunity of punishing us indeed. "An officer with press orders came down to our county, and having met with the justices agreed that they should pitch on a certain number, who could most easily be spared from the county, of whom he would take care to clear it: my son's name was in the justices' list. ""Twas on a Christmas eve and the birthday, too, of my son's little boy. The night was piercing cold, and it blew a storm, with showers of hail and snow. We had made up a cheering fire in an inner room; I sat before it in my wicker chair, blessing Providence that had still left a shelter for me and my children. My son's two little ones were holding their gambols around us; my heart warmed at the sight; I brought a bottle of my best ale, and all our misfortunes were forgotten. "It had long been our custom to play a game at blindman's buff on that night, and it was not omitted now; so to it we fell, I and my son, and his wife, the daughter of a neighboring farmer, who happened to be with us at the time, the two children, and an old maid servant, who had lived with me from a child. The lot fell on my son to be blindfolded; we had continued some time in our game when he groped his way into an outer room in pursuit of some of us who, he imagined, had taken shelter there; we kept snug in our places and enjoyed his mistake. He had not been long there when he was suddenly seized from behind: 'I shall have you now,' said he, and turned about. 'Shall you so, master?' answered the ruffian who had laid hold of him; 'we shall make you play at another sort of game by and by.'"-At these words Harley started with a convulsive sort of motion, and grasping Edwards' sword drew it half out of the scabbard, with a look of the most frantic wildness. Edwards gently replaced it in its sheath and went on with his relation. "On hearing these words in a strange voice, we all rushed out to discover the cause; the room by this time was almost full of the gang. My daughter-in-law fainted at the sight, the maid and I ran to assist her, while my poor son remained motionless, gazing by turns on his children and their mother. We soon recovered her to life, and begged her to retire and wait the issue of the affair; but she flew to her husband, and clung round him in an agony of terror and grief. "In the gang was one of a smoother aspect, whom, by his dress, we discovered to be a sergeant of foot; he came up to me and told me that my son had his choice of the sea or land service, whispering at the same time that, if he chose the land, he might get off, on procuring him another man and paying a certain sum for his freedom. The money we could just muster up in the house, by the assistance of the maid, who produced, in a green bag, all the little savings of her service; but the man we could not expect to find. My daughter-in-law gazed upon her children with a look of the wildest despair: 'My poor infants!' said she, 'your father is forced from you; who shall now labor for your bread? or must your mother beg for herself and you?' I prayed her to be patient; but comfort I had none to give her. At last, calling the sergeant aside, I asked him, 'If I was too old to be accepted in place of my son?' 'Why, I don't know,' said he; 'you are rather old, to be sure, but yet the money may do much.' I put the money in his hand, and coming back to my children, Jack,' said I, 'you are free; live to give your wife and these little ones bread; I will go, my child, in your stead: I have but little life to lose, and if I stayed, I should add one to the wretches you left behind.' 'No,' replied my son, 'I am not that coward you imagine me; Heaven forbid that my father's gray hairs should be so exposed while I sat idle at home; I am young and able to endure much, and God will take care of you and my family.' 'Jack,' said I, ‘I will put an end to this matter; you have never hitherto disobeyed me, I will not be contradicted in this, stay at home, I charge you, and, for my sake, be kind to my children.' "Our parting, Mr. Harley, I cannot describe to you: it was the first time we ever had parted; the very press gang could scarce keep from tears; but the sergeant, who had seemed the softest before was now the least moved of them all. He conducted me to a party of new-raised recruits, who lay at a village in the neighborhood, and we soon after joined the regiment. I had not been long with it when we were ordered to the East Indies, where I was soon made a sergeant, and might have picked up some money, if my heart had been as hard as some others were; but my nature was never of that kind that could think of getting rich at the expense of my conscience. 66 Amongst our prisoners was an old Indian, whom some of our officers supposed to have a treasure hidden somewhere, which is no uncommon practice in that country. They pressed him to discover it. He declared he had none; but that would not satisfy them: so they ordered him to be tied to a stake, and suffer fifty lashes every morning till he should learn to speak out, as they said. Oh! Mr. Harley, had you seen him, as I did, with his hands bound behind him, suffering in silence, while the big drops trickled down his shriveled cheeks, and wet his gray beard, which some of the inhuman soldiers plucked in scorn! I could not bear it, I could not for my soul; and one morning, when the rest of the guard were out of the way, I found means to let him escape. I was tried by a court-martial for negligence of my post, and ordered, in compassion of my age, and having got this wound in my arm, and that in my leg, in the service, only to suffer 300 lashes, and be turned out of the regiment; but my sentence was mitigated as to the lashes, and I had only 200. When I had suffered these, I was turned out of the camp, and had betwixt three and four hundred miles to travel before I could reach a seaport, without guide to conduct me, or money to buy me provisions by the way. I set out, however, resolved to walk as far as I could, and then to lay myself down and die. But I had scarce gone a mile when I was met by the Indian whom I had delivered. He pressed me in his arms, and kissed the marks of the lashes on my back a thousand times; he led me to a little hut, where some friend of his dwelt; and after I was recovered of my wounds conducted me so far on my journey himself, and sent another Indian to guide me through the rest. When we parted, he pulled out a purse with two hundred pieces of gold in it: "Take this,' said he, 'my dear preserver, it is all I have been able to procure.' I begged him not to bring himself to poverty for my sake, who should probably have no need of it long; but he insisted on my accepting it. He embraced me: 'You are an Englishman,' said he, 'but the Great Spirit has given you an Indian heart; may He bear up the weight of your old age, and blunt the arrow that brings it rest!' We parted, and not long after I made shift to get my passage to England. 'Tis but about a week since I landed, and I am going to end my days in the arms of my son. This sum may be of use to him and his children; 'tis all the value I put upon it. I thank Heaven I never was covetous of wealth; I never had much, but was always so happy as to be content with my little." When Edwards had ended his relation, Harley stood awhile looking at him in silence; at last he pressed him in his arms, and when he had given vent to the fullness of his heart by a shower of tears, "Edwards," said he, "let me hold thee to my bosom; let me imprint the virtue of thy sufferings on my soul. Come, my honored veteran ! let me endeavor to soften the last days of a life worn out in the service of humanity; call me also thy son, and let me cherish thee as a father." Edwards, from whom the recollections of his own sufferings had scarce forced a tear, now blubbered like a boy; he could not speak his gratitude but by some short exclamations of blessings upon Harley. LENORE. BY GOTTFRIED A. BÜRGER. (Translated by Elizabeth Craigmyle.) [GOTTFRIED AUGUST BÜRGER, a noted German lyric poet, was born in Molmerswende, in Prussian Saxony, in 1748, and studied theology at Halle, and law at Göttingen. In the latter place he led a life of dissipation, and would have remained unknown if his intimacy with Voss, the two Stolbergs, and other poets, had not inspired him with an earnest ambition to excel. In 1773 appeared his poem "Lenore," imitated by Scott as "William and Helen," which virtually created the school of German ballad poetry; and the ballads "The Song of the Brave Man," "The Emperor and the Abbot," and "The Wild Huntsman" (translated by Scott) were also well received. Bürger was thrice unhappily married, and died in poverty at Göttingen, June 8, 1794.] LENORE she woke at morning red, (O, but her dreams were eerie !) "Love William, art thou untrue or dead? For thy coming I grow weary. He was with old King Frederick's powers Through the fight at Prague in its bloody hours, No message came to tell What chance to him befell. The Empress and the King at last Decree the strife surcease. Their warlike thoughts away they cast, And made the longed-for peace. And either army did homeward come And green boughs round them clinging. And far and wide, and wide and far, With shouts of joy to greet. "Thank God!" the wives and children cried, "Welcome!" from many a maiden bride. Only Lenore did miss Her lover's clasp and kiss. In every face her love she sought, For there was none could tell her aught, The soldiers passed and left her there, The mother ran to clasp her child :— Woe, woe is me!" she said. "Help, God, our Lord! Look down on us! Child, say 'Thy will be done.' His will is best, though it be thus, Pity us, Holy Son!" "O mother, mother! Words and wind! God robbed me. He is cruel and blind. What use of all my praying? Now, no more need of saying." "Have pity, Lord! Thy children know Thy help in their distress; The blessed Sacrament shall grow A thing to heal and bless." |