He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river-fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock

Swim in the moonlight as he passed,

And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare,

As if they already stood aghast

At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock

When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,

And the twitter of birds among the trees
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadows brown.
And one was safe and asleep in his bed

Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British regulars fired and fled,

How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane;
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;

And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm—

A cry of defiance, and not of fear,

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore !
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,

In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

CHAPTER VI

MAXIMS AND MISCELLANEOUS LANGUAGE CONTENT

From the proverbs of a people we may learn the chief peculiarities in their moral and physical state-not only their "wit, spirit, and intelligence," as Lord Bacon observes, but their customs, domestic avocations, and natural scenery.

A blithe heart makes a blooming visage.
A guilty conscience needs no accuser.
A drowning man will catch at a straw.
A good name is better than riches.

A good word is as soon said as an ill one.
A liar should have a good memory.

A soft answer turneth away wrath.
All is not gold that glitters.

Better to be alone than in bad company.

Be the same thing that ye would be called.

Charity begins at home.

Count not your chickens before they are hatched.

Crosses are ladders leading to heaven.

Day and night, sun and moon, air and light, every one must have but none can buy.

Do not put off until to-morrow what you can do to-day. Do not cry over spilt milk.

Empty vessels make the greatest sound.

Envy shoots at others and wounds herself.

Every man is the architect of his own fortune.
Every dog has his day, and every man his hour.

Every man has his hobby horse.

Example teaches more than precept.

Fire and water are good servants but bad masters.
Forget others' faults by remembering your own.
Friendship cannot stand all on one side.

Give the devil his due.

Give him rope enough and he'll hang himself.
Good harvests make men prodigal, bad ones provident.
Gold goes in at any gate except Heaven's.

Haste makes waste.

He that plants trees loves others besides himself.

He who loses money loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses his spirit loses all.

He who rides behind another does not travel when he pleases.

He has fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire.

He loses his thanks who promises and delays.

He that stays in the valley shall never get over the hill. He that waits for dead men's shoes may go long enough barefoot.

How can the cat help it if the maid be a fool?

He who thinks he knows the most knows the least.

If you lie upon roses when young you will lie upon thorns when old.

In a country of blind people, the one-eyed man is a king. It is better to do well than to say well.

It is not easy to straighten in the oak the crook that grew in the sapling.

It is a long lane that has no turning.

It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.

Kind words never die.

Lean liberty is better than fat slavery.
Live and let live.

Look before you leap.

Look not a gift horse in the mouth.

Make the best of a bad bargain.

Many hands make light work.
Murder will out.

Never too old to learn.

No smoke without some fire.

No shoemaker beyond his last. (Do not attempt to judge beyond your training.)

Oil and truth will get uppermost at last.

One may live and learn.

One-half the world knows not how the other half lives. One is not so soon healed as hurt.

Open confession is good for the soul.

Put your finger in the fire and say it was your fortune. (Ill-luck.)

Rome was not built in a day.

Shallow waters make most noise.

Silence gives consent.

Silence is golden.

That is but an empty purse that is full of other folks' money.

The child says nothing but what he heard at the fireside. The absent party is always faulty.

The better the day the better the deed.

The burnt child dreads the fire.

The early bird catches the worm.

The greatest king must at last go to bed with a shovel.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

The whole ocean is made up of little drops.

Time and tide wait for no man.

To strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

To throw pearls before swine.