Bowed and whispered the wheat on the hill of death, and their kindred Seemed to awake in their graves, and to join in the prayer 135 that they uttered. Sun-illumined and white, on the eastern verge of the ocean Gleamed the departing sail, like a marble slab in a graveyard; Buried beneath it lay forever all hope of escaping. Lo! as they turned to depart, they saw the form of an Indian, Watching them from the hill; but while they spake with each other, 140 Pointing with outstretched hands, and saying, "Look!" he had vanished. So they returned to their homes; but Alden lingered a little, Musing alone on the shore, and watching the wash of the billows Round the base of the rock, and the sparkle and flash of the sunshine, Like the spirit of God, moving visibly over the waters.' 145 VI. PRISCILLA. THUS for a while he stood, and mused by the shore of the ocean, Thinking of many things, and most of all of Priscilla; And as if thought had the power to draw to itself, like the loadstone, Whatsoever it touches, by subtle laws of its nature, Lo! as he turned to depart, Priscilla was standing beside 66 him. 5 Are you so much offended, you will not speak to me?" said she. Genesis, i. 2. 66 Am I so much to blame, that yesterday, when you were pleading Warmly the cause of another, my heart, impulsive and way ward, Pleaded your own, and spake out, forgetful perhaps of deco rum? Certainly you can forgive me for speaking so frankly, for say 10 ing What I ought not to have said, yet now I can never unsay it; For there are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion, That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret, Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered to gether. 15 Yesterday I was shocked, when I heard you speak of Miles Standish, Praising his virtues, transforming his very defects into vir tues, Praising his courage and strength, and even his fighting in Flanders, As if by fighting alone you could win the heart of a woman, Quite overlooking yourself and the rest, in exalting your hero. Therefore I spake as I did, by an irresistible impulse. 20 You will forgive me, I hope, for the sake of the friendship between us, Which is too true and too sacred to be so easily broken!" Thereupon answered John Alden, the scholar, the friend of Miles Standish: "I was not angry with you, with myself alone I was angry, 25 Seeing how badly I managed the matter I had in my keeping.' "No!" interrupted the maiden, with answer prompt and decisive; "No; you were angry with me, for speaking so frankly and freely. It was wrong, I acknowledge; for it is the fate of a woman Long to be patient and silent, to wait like a ghost that is 30 speechless, Till some questioning voice dissolves the spell of its silence. Running through caverns of darkness, unheard, unseen, and unfruitful, Chafing their channels of stone, with endless and profitless murmurs. 35 Thereupon answered John Alden, the young man, the lover 66 of women: 'Heaven forbid it, Priscilla; and truly they seem to me always More like the beautiful rivers' that watered the garden of Eden, More like the river Euphrates, through deserts of Havilah flowing, Filling the land with delight, and memories sweet of the gar den!" 40 "Ah, by these words, I can see," again interrupted the maiden, 66 How very little you prize me, or care for what I am saying. When from the depths of my heart, in pain and with secret misgiving, Frankly I speak to you, asking for sympathy only and kindness, Straightway you take up my words, that are plain and direct and in earnest, 45 1 Longfellow may have had in mind the classic Alpheus, a river in the Peloponnesus, which flowed for some distance underground. The story of the pursuit of the nymph Arethusa by the river-god is told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, v. 10, and in Shelley's Arethusa. Cf. also Coleridge's Vision of Kubla Khan. 2 The Pison," which compasseth the whole land of Havilah," the Gihon, the Hiddekel, and the Euphrates. Genesis, ii. 11-13. Turn them away from their meaning, and answer with flattering phrases. This is not right, is not just, is not true to the best that is in you; For I know and esteem you, and feel that your nature is noble, Lifting mine up to a higher, a more ethereal level. Therefore I value your friendship, and feel it perhaps the more keenly 50 If you say aught that implies I am only as one among many, If you make use of those common and complimentary phrases Most men think so fine, in dealing and speaking with women, But which women reject as insipid, if not as insulting." Mute and amazed was Alden; and listened and looked at Priscilla, 55 Thinking he never had seen her more fair, more divine in her beauty. He who but yesterday pleaded so glibly the cause of another, Stood there embarrassed and silent, and seeking in vain for an answer. So the maiden went on, and little divined or imagined What was at work in his heart, that made him so awkward and speechless. 60 "Let us, then, be what we are, and speak what we think, and in all things Keep ourselves loyal to truth, and the sacred professions of friendship. It is no secret I tell you, nor am I ashamed to declare it: I have liked to be with you, to see you, to speak with you always. So I was hurt at your words, and a little affronted to hear 65 you Urge me to marry your friend, though he were the Captain Miles Standish. For I must tell you the truth: much more to me is your friendship |