And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon's bar,
And louder yet into Winchester rolled
The roar of that red sea, uncontrolled,
Making the blood of the listener cold

As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.

ΙΟ

But there is a road from Winchester town,

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A good broad highway leading down;

And there, through the flush of the morning light,

A steed as black as the steeds of night

Was seen to pass as with eagle flight,
As if he knew the terrible need:

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He stretched away with his utmost speed;
Hills rose and fell, but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.

Still sprung from those swift hoofs, thundering south,
The dust, like smoke from the cannon's mouth

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Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster,
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster;

The heart of the steed and the heart of the master
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,
Impatient to be where the battle-field calls:

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Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,

With Sheridan only ten miles away.

Under his spurning feet the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed;
And the lansdscape sped away behind
Like an ocean flying before the wind;

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And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace ire,

Swept on with his wild eye full of fire.

But lo, he is nearing his heart's desire;

He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,
With Sheridan only five miles away.

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The first that the general saw were the groups

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops,

What was done? what to do? a glance told him both;
Then striking his spurs, with a terrible oath,

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He dashed down the line 'mid a storm of huzzas,

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because
The sight of the master compelled it to pause.

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;

By the flash of his eye and the red nostril's play

He seemed to the whole great army to say, "I have brought you Sheridan, all the way From Winchester, down to save the day!"

Hurrah, hurrah, for Sheridan!

Hurrah, hurrah, for horse and man!
And when their statues are placed on high,
Under the dome of the Union sky
(The American soldiers' Temple of Fame),
There with the glorious general's name,
Be it said, in letters both bold and bright,

"Here is the steed that saved the day

By carrying Sheridan into the fight,

From Winchester, twenty miles away!"

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1865.

THE HIGH TIDE AT GETTYSBURG

(BY WILL HENRY THOMPSON)

Reprinted from The Century Magazine, with the permission of the author
A cloud possessed the hollow field,

The gathering battle's smoky shield:
Athwart the gloom the lightning flashed,

And through the cloud some horsemen dashed,
And from the heights the thunder pealed.

Then at the brief command of Lee
Moved out that matchless infantry,
With Pickett leading grandly down,
To rush against the roaring crown
Of those dread heights of destiny.

Far heard above the angry guns

A cry across the tumult runs

The voice that rang through Shiloh's woods
And Chickamauga's solitudes,

The fierce South cheering on her sons!

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ΙΟ

151

EDMUND CLARENCE STEDMAN

HOW OLD BROWN TOOK HARPER'S FERRY
John Brown in Kansas settled, like a steadfast Yankee farmer,
Brave and godly, with four sons, all stalwart men of might.
There he spoke aloud for Freedom, and the Border-strife grew
warmer,

Till the Rangers fired his dwelling, in his absence, in the night:
And Old Brown
Osawatomie Brown,

Came homeward in the morning-to find his house burned down.

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Then he grasped his trusty rifle and boldly fought for Freedom,
Smote from border unto border the fierce, invading band;

And he and his brave boys vowed-so might Heaven help and speed
'em!-

They would save those grand old prairies from the curse that blights the land:

And Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,

Said, "Boys, the Lord will aid us!" and he shoved his ramrod down.

And the Lord did aid these men, and they labored day and even,
Saving Kansas from its peril; and their very lives seemed

charmed,

Till the Ruffians killed one son, in the blessed light of Heaven-
In cold blood the fellows slew him, as he journeyed all unarmed:
Then Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,

Shed not a tear, but shut his teeth and frowned a terrible frown!

Then they seized another brave boy-not amid the heat of battle,
But in peace, behind his plow-share,—and they loaded him with
chains,

And with pikes, before their horses, even as they goad their cattle,
Drove him cruelly, for their sport, and at last blew out his brains:

Then Old Brown,
Osawatomie Brown,

Raised his right hand up to Heaven, calling Heaven's vengeance down.

And he swore a fearful oath, by the name of the Almighty,

He would hunt this ravening evil that had scathed and torn
him so;

He would seize it by the vitals; he would crush it day and night; he
Would so pursue its footsteps, so return it blow for blow,

That Old Brown,

Osawatomie Brown,

Should be a name to swear by, in backwoods or in town!

Then his beard became more grizzled, and his wild blue eye grew wilder, And more sharply curved his hawk's-nose, snuffing battle from afar; And he and the two boys left, though the Kansas strife waxed milder,

IO

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