diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/65495-h/65495-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/65495-h/65495-h.htm | 13718 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 13718 deletions
diff --git a/old/65495-h/65495-h.htm b/old/65495-h/65495-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 53c9d78..0000000 --- a/old/65495-h/65495-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,13718 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - What Cheer, or Roger Williams in Banishment, by Job Durfee—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -/*Paragraphs*/ - p { text-indent: 1.5em; margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; - text-align: justify; line-height: 130%; } - .sp4 { margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 1em; } - .sp2 { margin-top: 2em; } - .sp1 { text-indent: 1.5em; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 0em; } - .sp05 { text-indent: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0em; } - .indent4 { text-indent: 4em;} - .stanzano { text-align: center; font-size: 90%; } - div.noindent p{ text-indent: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em; } - div.hang p{ text-indent: -2em; margin-left: 4em; } - -/*Headings*/ - h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 2.0em; } - h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.5em; - page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 1em; } - h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; - page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em; } - h2.nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; margin-top: 4em; } - h4 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.0em; - page-break-before: auto; margin-top: 2em; } - -/*Horizontal rules*/ -hr { width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; margin-right: 33.5%; clear: both; } -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.hr15 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 42%; width: 15%; margin-right: 43%; } - -/*Page breaks*/ -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} -div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } -.chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } -.section { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } -.numberplusstanza { page-break-inside: avoid; } - -.pagenum { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: gray; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border: none; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } - -/*Lists*/ -.ol_1 li {padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em; } -ol.ol_1 {padding-left: 0; margin-left: 6.94%; margin-top: .5em; - margin-bottom: .5em; list-style-type: decimal; } - -/*Tables*/ -table { margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em; } -.toccol1 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } -.toccol2 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } - -.blockquot p{ text-indent: -3em; margin-left: 5em; font-size: 0.85em; } - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto; line-height: 140%; } -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} -@media handheld, print { .poetry {display: block;} } - -/* Footnotes */ -.footnote {margin-left: 2%; margin-right: 7%; margin-bottom: 1em; font-size: 0.9em;} -.fnanchor { vertical-align: top; font-size: .6em; text-decoration: none; } -div.footnote p {text-align: left; text-indent: 2em; font-size: 80%; - margin-top: -0.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; } -div.footnote .spaced {text-align: left; text-indent: -2em; font-size: 80%; - margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em; } -div.footnote .label { display: inline-block; width: 4em; font-size: 80%; - text-indent: 1em; text-align: left; } - -/* Text effects */ -.center {text-align: center;} -.sc { font-variant: small-caps; } -.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} -sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.65em; line-height: 1.0;} -abbr { border-bottom-width: thin; border-bottom-style: dotted; - text-decoration: none; border-bottom: none; } - -/* Font sizes */ - .fs175 { font-size: 175%; } - .fs133 { font-size: 133%; } - .fs125 { font-size: 125%; } - .fs90 { font-size: 90%; } - .fs80 { font-size: 80%; } - .fs75 { font-size: 75%; } - .fs65 { font-size: 65%; } - .fs50 { font-size: 50%; } - - -/* Images */ -img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } -img.w100 {width: 100%;} -.figcenter { margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; clear: both;} -div.figcenter p { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } -.figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } -.w100 { width:100%; } -.w50 { width:50%; } -@media handheld { .w50 { margin-left:25%; width:65%; } } - -/* Boxes */ -div.tnbox { background-color:#C4F8E1; border:0.25em solid silver; - padding: 0.5em; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; } - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent14 {text-indent: 4em;} -.poetry .indent16 {text-indent: 5em;} -.poetry .indent18 {text-indent: 6em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} -.poetry .indent20 {text-indent: 7em;} -.poetry .indent26 {text-indent: 10em;} -.poetry .indent8 {text-indent: 1em;} - - - </style> -</head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of What Cheer, by Job Durfee</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:table'> - <div style='display:table-row'> - <div style='display:table-cell; padding-right:0.5em'>Title:</div> - <div style='display:table-cell; padding-right:0.5em'>What Cheer</div> - </div> - <div style='display:table-row;'> - <div style='display:table-cell'></div> - <div style='display:table-cell'>Or Roger Williams in Banishment, a Poem</div> - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Job Durfee</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Editor: Thomas Durfee</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 3, 2021 [eBook #65495]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Brian Wilson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT CHEER ***</div> - -<!--Cover--> - -<div class="figcenter w50"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover image" class="w100" /> -</div> - -<div class="tnbox"> -<p class="sp2">Transcriber's note: The Notes at the end of the book, relating to particular stanzas, are -hyperlinked from the numeral above the stanza or, in the case of the first stanza, from the first words of the stanza. -Similarly, the heading to each Note is backlinked to the relevant stanza.</p> -</div> - -<!--Title page--> - -<div class="section"> -<h1 class="sp2">WHAT CHEER<br /> -<span class="fs50">OR</span><br /> -<span class="fs65">ROGER WILLIAMS IN BANISHMENT</span></h1> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p class="center sp2"><span class="fs125"><i>A POEM</i></span></p> - -<p class="center sp2"><span class="fs175 sc">By Job Durfee</span></p> - -<p class="center sp2">“And surely betweene my friends of the Bay and Plimouth, I was -sorely tost for fourteen weeks, in a bitter cold winter season, not -knowing what bed or bread did meane.”—<cite>Roger Williams’s Letter -to Mason.</cite></p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<p class="center sp2">REVISED AND EDITED</p> - -<p class="center sp1"><span class="fs75">BY</span></p> - -<p class="center sp1"><span class="sc fs133">Thomas Durfee</span></p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<p class="center sp2"><span class="sc fs90">Providence</span><br /> -PRESTON & ROUNDS<br /> -1896</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="section"> -<p class="center sp4 fs90">Copyright, 1896,<br /> -By <span class="sc">Thomas Durfee</span>.</p> -</div> - - -<p class="center sp4 fs80"><i>Snow & Farnham, Printers,<br /> -Providence.</i> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="NOTICE">NOTICE.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<p class="sp2"><span class="sc">The</span> Editor owes it to the reader to say that, in preparing the -following poem for re-publication, he has ventured to omit -some of the stanzas and to make changes in others. The stanzas -were omitted because, in his opinion, they broke the continuity -or retarded the flow of the narration, slackening the reader’s -interest, and could be omitted with advantage to the poem. -The changes have been mostly slight and formal, and, when -more extensive, have been made to modify (not the meaning, -but) only the expression; making it clearer or more direct, or -giving it an easier metrical movement.</p> - -<div class="hang"> -<p class="sp1 fs90"><span class="sc">Providence, R. I.</span>,<br /> -May, 1896.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<table summary="Contents"> -<colgroup> -<col width="90%" /> -<col width="10%" /> -</colgroup> - - <tr> - <th class="toccol1"> </th> - <th class="toccol2"> </th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Introduction</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_vii" title="Go to Page vii">vii</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">What Cheer</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_1" title="Go to Page 1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Notes</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_177" title="Go to Page 177">177</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Appendix</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_215" title="Go to Page 215">215</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<h3>ADDENDA.</h3> - -<table summary="Contents—Addenda"> -<colgroup> -<col width="90%" /> -<col width="10%" /> -</colgroup> - - <tr> - <th class="toccol1"> </th> - <th class="toccol2"> </th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Life’s Voyage</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_221" title="Go to Page 221">221</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Hymn by Twilight</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_223" title="Go to Page 223">223</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">Reynard’s Soliloquy</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_224" title="Go to Page 224">224</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1 sc">A Summons to the Country</td> - <td class="toccol2"><a href="#Page_225" title="Go to Page 225">225</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii"></a>[p. vii]</span></p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p class="center sp2"><span class="fs125">TO THE REV. ROMEO ELTON,</span><br /> -<span class="fs80">PROFESSOR OF LANGUAGES IN BROWN UNIVERSITY.</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza sp1"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">What</span> time, dear Elton, we were wont to rove</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From classic Brown along fair Seekonk’s vale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, in the murmurs of his storied cove,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hear barbarous voices still our Founder hail;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en then my bosom with young rapture hove</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To give to deathless verse the exile’s tale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every ripple’s moan or breeze’s sigh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brought back whole centuries as it murmured by.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon the transient dream of youth was gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And different labors to our lots were given;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You at the shrine of peace and glory shone,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sublime your toils, for still your theme was Heaven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I, upon life’s tempestuous billows thrown,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A little bark before the tempest driven,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strove for a time the surging tide to breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And up its rolling mountains sought for rest.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Wearied at length with the unceasing strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I gave my pinnace to the harbor’s lee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And left that ocean, still with tempests rife,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To mad ambition’s heartless rivalry;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No longer venturing for exalted life,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For storms and quicksands have no charms for me,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I, in the listless labors of the swain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Provoke no turmoil and awake no pain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To drive the team afield and guide the plough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or lead the herds to graze the dewy mead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wakes not the glance of lynx-eyed rival now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And makes no heart with disappointment bleed;</div> - <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a>[p. viii]</span><div class="verse indent0">Once more I joy to see the rivers flow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lambkins sport, and brindled oxen feed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er the tranquil soul returns the dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which once she cherished by fair Seekonk’s stream.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And when stern winter breathes the chilling storm,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And night comes down on earth in mantle hoar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I guide the herds and flocks to shelter warm,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sate their hunger from the gathered store;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then round the cottage hearth the circle form</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of childhood lovelier than the vernal flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Partake its harmless glee and prattle gay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soothe my soul to tune the artless lay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus were the numbers taught at first to flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Scarce conscious that they bore a tale along;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath my hand still would the pages grow,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They were not labor, but the joy of song;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still every line would unsung beauties show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Williams’ soul, and still the strain prolong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till, all in rapture with the theme sublime,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My thoughts spontaneous sought the embodying rhyme.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No man was he of heart with love confined,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With blessings only for his bosom friend,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His glowing soul embraced the human kind,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He toiled and suffered for earth’s farthest end.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Touched by the truths of his unyielding mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The human soul did her long bondage rend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stern Persecution paused—blushed—dropped the rod:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He strove like man, but conquered like a God.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now, my Elton, as in hours of ease,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With aimless joy I filled this frail balloon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So like blind impulse bids me trust the breeze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And soar on dancing winds to fate unknown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And be my lot whatever chance decrees—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let gales propitious gently waft me on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or tempests dash far down oblivious night,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er the goal, I tempt the heedless flight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="fs80 sp1 indent4"><i>Tiverton, R. I., September, 1832.</i></p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[p. 1]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="WHATCHEER">WHATCHEER.</h2> -</div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>CANTO FIRST.</h3></div> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> The Fireside at Salem—The Wilderness—The Wigwam.]</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><a href="#Endnote_1.1" id="ENref_1.1"><span class="sc">I sing</span></a> of trials, toils and sufferings great,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which <span class="sc">Father Williams</span> in his exile bore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he the conscience-bound might liberate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to the soul her sacred rights restore;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, after flying persecution’s hate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And roving long by Narraganset’s shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In lone Mooshausick’s vale at last he sate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gave soul-liberty her Guardian State.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He was a man of spirit true and bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fearless to speak his thoughts whate’er they were;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His frame, though light, was of an iron mould,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fitted well fatigue and change to bear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For God ordained that he should breast the cold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wet of northern wilds in winter drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And of red savages protection pray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Christians, but—more savage still than they.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Midwinter reigned; and Salem’s infant town,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where late were cleft the forests’ skirts away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Showed its low roofs, and, from their thatching brown</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sheeted with ice, sent back the sun’s last ray;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[p. 2]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The school-boys left the slippery hillock’s crown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So keen the blast came o’er the eastern bay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pale in vapors thick the sun went down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the glassed forest cast a sombre frown.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The busy house-wife guarded well the door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That night, against the gathering winter storm—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did well the walls of all the cot explore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where’er the snow-gust might a passage form;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to the couch of age and childhood bore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With anxious care the mantle thick and warm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then of fuel gathered ample store,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade the blaze up the rude chimney roar.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">That night sate Williams, with his children, by</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The blazing hearth—his consort at his side;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And often did she heave the heavy sigh</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As still her task of needle-work she plied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, from the lashes of her azure eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did often brush the starting tear aside;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For they at Spring the savage wilds must try,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas so decreed by ruthless bigotry.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside the good-man lay his Bible’s fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broad open page upon the accustomed stand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And many a passage had he noted there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Israel wandering o’er the desert’s sand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And each assurance he had marked with care,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made by Jehovah, of the <em>promised land</em>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from the sacred page had learned to dare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The exile’s peril, and his ills to bear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[p. 3]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano">VII.</p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, while the holy book he pondered o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And often told, to cheer his consort’s breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, for their faith, the blest apostles bore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The exile’s wanderings and the dungeon’s pest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A heavy foot approached his humble door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And some one, opening, instant entrance prest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A well-known elder was he, strict and sour,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strong in a church ensphered in civil power.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I come,” he said in accents hard and stern,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The Governor’s and Council’s word to bear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They are convened, and hear, with deep concern,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thou abusest their indulgence fair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, with resentment and abhorrence learn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That still thou dost thy specious tenets share</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With visitors, who, smit therewith, discern</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strange godliness in thee, and from us turn.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Till spring we gave; and thou wast not to teach</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy interdicted doctrines here the while,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But curb thy tongue, or with submissive speech</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The church regain, and quit thy errors vile;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of which condition thou committest breach,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dost her saints from Salem’s church beguile;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And plan, ’tis said, to found in easy reach</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A State where Antichrist himself may preach.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“From such a State our blessed elders see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The church may, even here, the infection share;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And therefore have the Council made decree,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That to the wilderness thou shalt not fare;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[p. 4]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But have their mandate hither sent by me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thou to Boston presently repair;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where waits a ship now ready for the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To carry back thy heresy and thee.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams replied, “Thy message is unkind,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In sooth, I think it even somewhat rude;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The snow falls fast, and searching is the wind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wildly howls through the benighted wood.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The path to Boston is a little blind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor are my nerves in their robuster mood;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul has seldom at her lot repined,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to submission now she’s disinclined.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.12" id="ENref_1.12"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A voyage to England, and to start to-night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And brave the ocean at this season drear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twould scantly give the hardy tar delight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Much less my consort and these pledges dear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Go, and the Council tell, that we’re not quite</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In health to bear a trial so severe,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That if we yield ’twill be to lawless might,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not to their kind feelings or their right.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Much do I grieve,” the elder then replied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“To bear this answer to the Governor;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twill show that thou hast Church and State defied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And will I ween make not a little stir;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And should a pinnace, on the morn espied</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er yonder waters speeding, bring with her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A squad of soldiers, Underhill their guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be not surprised, but—Williams, quell thy pride!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[p. 5]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This said, he turned and hastily withdrew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all but Williams now were left in tears;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wife, still comely, lost her blooming hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her nature yielding to her rising fears;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A giddy whirling passed her senses through,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She almost heard the blazing musketeers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And trembling to her couch retired to sigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seek relief in prayer to God on high.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O! for a friend,” still as he paced the floor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sire Williams cried, “a friend in my sore need,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To help me now some hidden way explore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By which my glorious purpose may succeed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But closed to-night is every cottage door;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet there is one who is a friend indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forever present to the meek and poor—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I will thy counsels, mighty Lord, implore.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here dropt the friend of conscience on his knees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And prayed, with hand and heart to Heaven upreared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“O, thou, the God who parted Egypt’s seas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cloud or fire in Israel’s van appeared,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Send down thine angel now, if so it please,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That forth from Church within the State ensphered</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He guide my steps, to where there yet may be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A Church not ruled by men, but ruled by Thee.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Father ceased.—The tempest roared around</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With double fury at this moment drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cottage trembled, and the very ground</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did seem to feel the element’s career;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[p. 6]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With ice and snow the window-panes were bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor through their dimness could the earth appear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still in gusts the wind a passage found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down the rude chimney with a roaring sound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A voice divine it did to Williams seem;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sat awhile within himself retired,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then seemed to rouse, as from a transient dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Just as the lamp’s last flickering ray expired;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around the room soft falls a quivering beam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cast from the brands that on the hearth are fired;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tempest lulls apace, until he seems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hear from neighboring woods the panther’s screams.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But what is that?—a knocking?—and once more?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some way-lost wanderer seeks a shelter here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wretched man, amid the boisterous roar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of snow and wind, thy sufferings are severe!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He raised the bar that kept the outer door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with the snow-gust from the darkness drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A stranger entered, whose large garments bore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proof of the storm in clinging snowflakes hoar.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Aged he seemed, and staff of length had he,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which well would holy pilgrim have become,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet he sought, with quiet dignity</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And easy step, the centre of the room;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then by the glimmering light our Sire could see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His flowing beard, white as the lily’s bloom;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Age had his temples scored; but,—glancing free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As from the imprint of a century,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[p. 7]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His eyes beamed youth; and such a solemn mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Joined with such majesty and graceful air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder thought he ne’er before had seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In mortal form; and at the offered chair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The stranger gently shook his brow serene,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the act revealed his long white hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As fell the fleecy covering from it clean,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where down his shoulder hung its tresses sheen.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And when he spake his voice was low and clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But yet so deeply thrilling in its tone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The listening soul seemed rapt into a sphere</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where angels speak in music of their own.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Williams,” it said, “I come on message here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of mighty moment to this age unknown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou must not dally, or the tempest fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But fly at morn into the forest drear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thou art to voyage an unexploréd flood;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No chart is there thy lonely bark to steer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath her, rocks—around her, tempests rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And persecution’s billows in her rear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall shake thy soul till it is near subdued:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when the welcome of ‘What cheer! What cheer!’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall greet thine ears from Indian multitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cast thou thine <em>Anchor</em> there, and <em>trust in God</em>.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The stranger ceased, and gently past away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though Williams to retain him still was fain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The night was dark, and wild the tempest’s sway,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lone the desert,” but ’twas all in vain;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[p. 8]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He only in soft accents seemed to say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Perchance I may behold thee yet again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What time thy day shall more auspicious be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hope shall turn to joy in victory.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The stranger past, and Williams, by the fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long mused on this mysterious event:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was it some seraph, robed in man’s attire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come down to urge and hallow his intent?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To counsel—kindle—and his breast inspire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With words of high prophetic sentiment?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or had he dreamed and in his mind, as clear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if in corporal presence, seen the seer?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas strange—mysterious! Yet, if dream it were,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas such as chosen men of old had known,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Jacob saw the heaven-ascending stair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Joseph hoarded for the dearth foreshown.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah! did the Omniscient hear his earnest prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And did e’en Heaven the glorious project own!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then would he, by the morrow’s earliest ray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unto the distant forest make his way.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He sought for rest, but feverous was his plight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For peaceful and refreshing sleep, I trow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still mused he on the morrow’s toilsome flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through unknown wilds and trackless wastes of snow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How to elude the persecutor’s sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or shun the eager quest of following foe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tasked his invention with no labor light—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And long, and slow, and lagging was the night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[p. 9]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And if by fits came intervening sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through deserts wild and rugged roved his soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here rose the rock—there sunk the headlong steep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fiercely round him seemed the storm to howl;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while from sheltered glen his foes would peep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With taunts and jeers, and with revilings foul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scoff at his efforts; and their clamors deep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came mingled with that awful tempest’s sweep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Morn came at last; and by the dawning day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Founder rose his secret flight to take;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wife and infant still in slumber lay;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shall he now that blissful slumber break?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, yes, for he believes that trials may,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the mind, its mightier powers awake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that the storms, which gloom the pilgrim’s way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prepare the soul for her eternal day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Mary!” (she woke) “prepare the meet attire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My pocket-compass and my mantle strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My flint and steel to yield the needful fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Food for a week, if that be not too long;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My hatchet, too—its service I require</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To clip my fuel desert wilds among;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With these I go to found, in forests drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A State where none shall persecution fear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What! goest thou, Roger, in this chilling storm?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wait! wait at least until its rage is o’er;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its wrath will bar e’en persecution’s arm</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From thee and me until it fails to roar.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[p. 10]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, what protecting hand from lurking harm</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will be thy shield by night?—What friendly door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will give thee refuge at the dire alarm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of hungry wolves, and beasts in human form?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh cease, my Mary, cease!—Thou dost complain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Heaven itself doth interpose to save,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doth wing this tempest’s fury to restrain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The quest of foes, and prompt my soul to brave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The desert’s perils, that I may maintain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The conscience free against who would enslave;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wait till the storm shall cease to sweep the plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we are doomed to cross yon heaving main.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No more he said, for she in silence went</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From place to place until her task was o’er;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams, the while, the fleeting moments spent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To scrawl a message to delay the more—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aye, to mislead the beagles on the scent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till he could safely reach far wood or shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, haply, hope its vain illusion lent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That friends might plead, and bigotry relent.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then he to Heaven his weeping spouse commends,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And craves its blessing on his purpose bold;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still Salem lies in sleep, and forth he wends</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To breast the driving storm and chilling cold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the lone mother from the window sends</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A look where all her aching heart is told;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dimly she marks him as his course he bends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Across the fields, and toward the forest tends.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[p. 11]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To show him parting, to the light she rears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His child, yet ignorant of human woe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon its guileless silver voice she hears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“O! where is father going in the snow?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tender accents start the mother’s tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“He does, my child, to barbarous red men go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To seek protection from hard brethren here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For thee and me, and all to him that’s dear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So forth he ventured;—even like the dove</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That earliest from the window of the ark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Went forth on venturous wings, to soar above</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The world of waters heaving wild and dark</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er sunken realms of death, the while she strove</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some high emergent mountain peak to mark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where she might rest, beyond the billow’s sweep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And build herself a home amid the deep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The boundless forests now our Founder trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And due southwestwardly his course he took;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lofty pines and cedars round him nod,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Loud roars the tempest through the leafless oak;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The snow lies deep upon the frozen sod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And still the storm’s descending torrents choke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heavens above; and only fancy could,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So dim the view,—conceive the solitude</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the wide forests that before him lay:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His ever steady onward pace alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Told that from home he lengthened yet his way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While the same forms—the same drear hollow moan,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[p. 12]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Seemed ever round him lingering to stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every step of progress to disown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As with all sail the bark may breast the tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet advance, but rather backward glide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Above his head the branches writhe and bend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or in the mingled wreck their ruin flies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The storm redoubles, and the whirlwinds blend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rising snow-drift with descending skies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft the crags a friendly shelter lend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His breathless bosom, and his sightless eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, when the transient gust its fury spends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the storm again his way he wends.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Still truly does his course the magnet keep—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No toils fatigue him, and no fears appal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft turns he at the glimpse of swampy deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or thicket dense, or crag abrupt and tall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or backward treads to shun the headlong steep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or pass above the tumbling waterfall;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet still rejoices when the torrent’s leap,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or crag abrupt, or thicket dense, or swamp’s far sweep</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Assures him progress.—From gray morn till noon—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hour after hour—from that drear noon until</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The evening’s gathering darkness had begun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To clothe with deeper glooms the vale and hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sire Williams journeyed in the forest lone;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then night’s thickening shades began to fill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His soul with doubt—for shelter he had none—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the outstretched waste was clad with one</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[p. 13]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Vast mantle hoar. And he began to hear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At times, the fox’s bark, and the fierce howl</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wolf, sometimes afar—sometimes so near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That in the very glen they seemed to prowl</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where now he, wearied, paused—and then his ear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Started to note some shaggy monster’s growl,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That from his snow-clad rocky den did peer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shrunk with gaunt famine in that tempest drear,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.43" id="ENref_1.43"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And scenting human blood:—yea, and so nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thrice did our northern tiger seem to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He thought he heard the fagots crackling by,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And saw, through driven snow and twilight gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Peer from the thickets his fierce burning eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Scanning his destined prey, and through the broom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thrice stealing on his ears, the whining cry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swelled by degrees above the tempest high.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Wayworn he stood—and fast that stormy night</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was gathering round him over hill and dale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He looked around and by the lingering light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Found he had paused within a narrow vale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On either hand a snow-clad rocky height</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ascended high, a shelter from the gale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst deep between them, in thick glooms bedight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A swampy dingle lay before his sight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through the white billows thither did he wade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And deep within its solemn bosom trod;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then on the snow with oft repeated tread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hardened a flooring for his night’s abode;—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[p. 14]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">All there was calm, for the thick branches made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A screen above, and round him closely stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The trunks of cedars and of pines arrayed,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the rude tempest a firm barricade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now his hatchet, with resounding stroke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hewed down the boscage that around him rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And of dry pine the brittle branches broke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To yield him fuel for the night’s repose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gathered heap an ample store bespoke;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He smites the steel—the tinder brightly glows;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fired by the match forth burst the kindling flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And light upon night’s seated darkness came.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">High branched the pines, and far the colonnade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of tapering trunks stood glimmering through the glen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then rejoiced he in that lonely glade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So far away from persecuting men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he might break of honesty the bread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And blessing crave in his own way again;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of up-piled brush a seat and board he made,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spread his plain fare, and piously he prayed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Father of mercies! thou the wanderer’s guide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In this dire storm along the howling waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thanks for the shelter thou dost here provide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thanks for the mercies of the day that’s past;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thanks for the frugal fare thou hast supplied;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And O! may still thy tender mercies last;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And may thy light on every falsehood shine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till man’s freed spirit owns no law but thine!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[p. 15]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our father ceased, and with keen relish he</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Refreshed his wearied frame in that lone dell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah! little can his far posterity</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Conceive the pleasures of that frugal meal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For naught he knew of lavish luxury,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And toil and fast had done their office well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No costliest viands culled from land and sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could half so sweet to pampered palates be.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His hunger sated with his simple fare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He would, in weariness, have sought repose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But at the kindling blaze, heard wide and far,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The howlings drear of forest monsters rose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, lured around him by the vivid glare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came darkling with light foot along the snows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whole packs of wolves, from their far mountain lair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the fierce cat, which scarce the blaze might scare.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Growling they come, and in dark groups they stand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Show the white fang, and roll the brightening eye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till urged by famine’s rage, the shaggy band</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seemed even the flame’s bright terrors to defy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then mid the group he hurled the blazing brand;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swift they disperse, and raise the scattered cry;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, rallying soon, back to the siege they came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in their rage scarce faltered at the flame.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet Williams deemed that persecution took</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A form in them less odious than in men;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He on their proper solitude had broke,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ay, and had trespassed on their native glen;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[p. 16]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">His human shape they scantly too might brook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For it their enemy had ever been;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But bigot man to probe the conscience sought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scathed his brother for his secret thought.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft he recruited now the sinking blaze—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His stock of fuel seemed too scant to last;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, in the terror of the glittering rays,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was now the anchor of his safety cast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With utmost reach the boscage did he raze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or clipt the branches overhead that past;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still the burning pyre at times would raise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or hurl the firebrand at the monster’s gaze.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At length the groups a panic seemed to seize,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And soon he knew the terrifying cause;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For swelling slow beneath the arching trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Trilled the long whine the dreadful panther draws;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sound that might the boldest bosom freeze;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas followed by a drear and awful pause;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Naught marred the silence save the murmuring breeze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the far storm, like roar of distant seas.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all the dangerous monsters of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">None did the hunter dread like panther dire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For man and beast he fearlessly pursued;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst others shunned, he was allured by fire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams knew how perilous his mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And braced his nerves to battle with his ire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside the rising blaze he firmly stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every avenue of danger viewed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[p. 17]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In God he trusted for deliverance,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He thought of Daniel in the lion’s den;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He waited silent for the fierce advance,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He heard the fagots break along the glen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Another long-drawn yell, and the fierce glance</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of two bright burning eye-balls, looking then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Out of the darkness, did yet more enhance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The terrors of the menacing mischance.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But at this moment from the darkness broke</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A human voice, in Narraganset’s tongue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Neemat!” (my brother) in kind tone it spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“How comes Awanux these drear wilds among?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at the accents the dark thickets shook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And from them lightly the red hunter sprung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from his belt familiarly he took</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fired his calumet, and curled its smoke.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.58" id="ENref_1.58"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to our Founder passed the simple cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In sign of friendship to a wandering man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Let not,” he said, “my brother quake with fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas <em>Waban’s</em> cry at which the monsters ran.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams received the pledge of faith sincere;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet warily his guest began to scan.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tall did his straight and active form appear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And armed but with the hunter’s simple gear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The bear’s dark fur loose o’er his shoulders cast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hand did only at the breast confine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wampum wreath, which round his forehead past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did with the flame’s reflected brightness shine;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[p. 18]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The beaver’s girdle closely swathed his waist;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It’s skirts hung low, all trimm’d with ’broidery fine;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The well-formed ankles the close gaiters bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With furs befringed, and starred with tinsel round.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nature’s kind feelings did his visage grace;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His gently arching brow was shorn all bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the slight smile now fading from his face,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The aspect left of serious goodness there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though bright his eyes beneath his forehead’s base,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They rather seemed to smile than fiercely glare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the free dignity of Waban’s race</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seemed moving in his limbs and breathing from his face.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams the pledge of friendship now returned,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thanks o’erflowing to the hunter gave:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“From the Great Spirit sure my brother learned</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His brother’s danger, when he came to save.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” he answered, “from his lodge discerned</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A stranger’s fire, and heard the monsters rave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban has long within these wilds sojourned;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ne’er before has pale Awanux burned</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“His fire within this unfrequented glade.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wanders my brother from his homeward way?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The storm is thick, he surely may have strayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or has he hunted through the weary day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rapid moose; or in this lonely shade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seeks he to trap the deer, or make essay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To catch the wily beavers, who have made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their cunning wigwams in the river’s bed?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[p. 19]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Twere hard to tell my brother of the woods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What cause has forced his pale-faced brother here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The red and white men have their different moods,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Narraganset’s tongue lacks terms, I fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tell the strifes among white multitudes—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Strifes yet unknown within these forests drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where undisturbed ye worship various gods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And persecution leave to white abodes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Let it suffice, (for weary is the night,)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That late across the mighty lake I came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seeking protection here of brethren white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From those pale chiefs who had, with scourge and flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Driven them as me o’er sea in dangerous flight;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our wrongs, as our offenses, were the same:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God we had worshipped as to us seemed right,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And roused the vengeance of our men of might.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="65">LXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My brethren then had persecution fled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And much I hoped with them a home to find;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to our common God whene’er we prayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My honest worship did not suit their mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It differed greatly from their own, they said;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their anger kindled, and, with speech unkind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They drove me from my family and home,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An exile in this dreadful storm to roam.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.66" id="ENref_1.66"><abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And now, my brother, through the wilds I go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seek some far—some lone sequestered glen—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where burning fagot nevermore shall glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fired by the wrath of persecuting men;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[p. 20]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Where all may worship, as their gods they know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or conscience lights and leads their varying ken;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where ages after ages still may bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from free hearts free orisons may flow.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="67">LXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban a while mused on our Founder’s tale,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And silent sate in meditative mood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For much he wondered why his brothers pale</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For differing worship sought their kindred’s blood.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last he thought that they must surely fail</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know the Great Spirit as a father good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or Chepian<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> was their god, and had inclined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Them to indulge a fell and cruel mind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> The name of the Indian devil.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="68">LXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then pity blended with his wonder grew;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here was a victim of that Evil One,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who from him and his angry servants flew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seek a shelter in the forest lone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” he said, “thy brother much doth rue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(Hearing thy tales,) that thou art forced to shun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy well-framed wigwam—thy familiar fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sleep so far amid this tempest dire.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.69" id="ENref_1.69"><abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now, brother, hear, what Waban has to say:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The night is cold, and fast the snows descend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still round thy sleep will howl the beasts of prey;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will not my brother to my wigwam wend?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It smokes well-sheltered and not far away;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There may my brother this drear season spend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shun the wrath of Chepian’s angry men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until Sowaniu’s breezes scatter flowers again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[p. 21]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Right welcome to the red man’s lodge shall be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His pale-faced brother, safe from Sachems pale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban’s nausamp and venison shall be free</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When hunger craves, and, when his store shall fail,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His dart is true, and swift and far will he</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pursue the bounding deer o’er hill and dale;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When melts the snow we may together raise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Seekonk’s banks, our common field of maize.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="71">LXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams replied, “My brother sure is kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But his red friends are doubtless with him here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they may teach my kindred, left behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To track my footsteps through the forest drear;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To journey homeward I have little mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My course is with the sun to wilds less near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where I would form, if granted the domain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A tribe which never should the soul enchain.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alone is Waban,” was the sad reply;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“His wife and child have to that country gone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where go our spirits when our bodies die,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And left thy brother in his lodge alone:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He goes by day to catch the beavers shy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sits by night in his still house to moan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And much ’twould please him should the wanderer come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tell him where the loved ones’ spirits roam.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="73">LXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, I thank thee—thou art kind indeed,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Founder said—“and with thee I will go;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would that my brethren of the Christian creed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did half thy charity and goodness know!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[p. 22]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban, thou wilt thy brother’s purpose speed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the boundaries of those countries show</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which lie adjoining Narraganset’s bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And name the chiefs, and count the tribes they sway.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="74">LXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban can do it”—was the quick reply,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Williams followed him, as fast he led</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through bush and brake with blazing brand held high;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wolves around them gathered as they sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Waban often raised the mimic cry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the fierce panther, and as oft they fled;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the path descending swiftly steep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Led to his wigwam in the valley deep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="75">LXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Williams noted, through the deepest night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sparkles rising from the roof unseen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, by the glancing of the firebrand’s light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Above him marked the thickening branches’ screen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For denser here, and of a loftier height,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pines and cedars arched their sombre green,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With boughs deprest beneath the burden hoar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And further off did seem the tempest’s roar.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="76">LXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">An undressed deerskin closed the entrance rude</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the frail mansion of our Founder’s friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” he said, “this is my poor abode,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But thou art welcome—it will well defend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thee from the bitter tempest,” and he showed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The open pass. Beneath its arch they bend:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From mid the room the blazing fagots sent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The smoke and sparkles through the vault’s low vent,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[p. 23]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="77">LXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, shining round, did for the ceiling show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The braided mat of many colors made,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Veiled here and there, where, hanging in a row,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The beavers’ hides their silvery coats displayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here and there were antlers, from the brow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of bounding buck, around the room arrayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And also, hung among the hunter’s gear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusky haunches of the moose and deer.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="78">LXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hard-by the blazing hearth, raised from the ground</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Three braided pallets stood, with furs bespread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where once red Waban, wife and child had found</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The humble settle, and still humbler bed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now, alas! beneath the grassy mound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two of the three sate with the silent dead;<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wampum girdle, that his spouse once wore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gleamed on her garb of furs the settle o’er.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> The Indians bury their dead in a sitting posture.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="79">LXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The room was warm, and plenteous the cheer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which Waban then did to our Founder bring;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In trays the nocake,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and the joints of deer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And in the gourd-shell water from the spring;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, all the while, kept pouring in his ear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How he had pierced the wild duck on the wing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And westward lately had the moose pursued</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Afar, and struck him in Mooshausick’s wood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> A corruption of the Indian Nokehick—parched meal.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_1.80" id="ENref_1.80"><abbr title="80">LXXX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Slightly our Founder tasted of the fare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For toil and chill much more than hunger prest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This Waban noted, and with tender care,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The vacant pallet showed, and urged him rest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban he said, would still the fire repair,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[p. 24]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And still in comfort keep his pale-faced guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And may the Manittoo of dreams,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The happiest visions on thy slumbers shed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="81">LXXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Upon this pallet she was wont to lay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Herself to sleep whose spirit now is gone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And may that spirit to thy visions say</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where now she dwells, and where my little son;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whether on that blest island far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er the blue hills beyond the setting sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They with their kindred joy, or nearer home,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still lingering, wait until the father come.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="82">LXXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams replied, that he would speak at morn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of that far journey which the spirit takes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And name the Guide, who never soul forlorn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst passing through death’s gloomy night, forsakes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His brother, then, on fitting day in turn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would name the bounds, by rivers, bays, and lakes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of neighboring chiefs, and say what Sachems might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His mission threaten, or its hopes invite.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="83">LXXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder slept; and on that night, I ween,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Deep was the slumber of that pallet low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calm were its dreams as was his breast serene—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such sleep can persecutors never know;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He slept, until the dawning light was seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Down through the dome to shine upon his brow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Waban woke him to his simple cheer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the pure fount, nausamp,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and savory deer.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> The word <i>samp</i> is a corruption of the Indian <i>nausamp</i>, and has the same -meaning.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[p. 25]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO SECOND.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> The Wigwam—The Wilderness—Pawtucket Falls—Seekonk’s -Meads—The Wigwam.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">It</span> was the morning of a Sabbath day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Williams rose to Waban’s simple cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But knew not where, save that vast forests lay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Betwixt his home and the lone wigwam here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet ’twas a place of peace; no thing of clay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twixt God and conscience in communion near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came, with profane and impious control,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To check the heavenward wanderings of his soul.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">God loves the wilderness; in deserts lone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where all is silent, where no living thing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mars the hushed solitudes, where Heaven looks down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Earth looks up, each as if marvelling</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That aught should be; and, through the vast unknown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thought-breathing silence seems as uttering</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The present God,—there does He rear his throne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, tranced in boundless thoughts, the soul doth own</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And feel his strength within.—This day once more,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In place thus sacred, did our Founder keep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None, save the Deity he bent before,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Marked the devotions of his feelings deep.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None, do I say? yet there was Waban poor;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alas! his mind in utter night did sleep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw our Founder at his earnest prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But knew not what his supplications were.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[p. 26]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet earnestly the pious man besought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Heaven would deign to shed the Gospel light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On the kind pagan’s soul, as yet untaught</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Save in the dreams of her primordial night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And much he prayed, that to the truth when brought,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cleansed of his sins in garments pure and white,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He might subdue the fierceness of his clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gain man refuge from intolerant man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams the task of goodness now essayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To win the wanderer to a worship new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The utter darkness that his soul arrayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Concealed her workings from our Founder’s view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save when some question, rare and strange, betrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His dream-bewildered glimpses of the true.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long was the task; and Williams back began,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At earth’s creation and the fall of man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He told how God from nothing formed the earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave each creature shape surpassing fair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How He in Eden, at their happy birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Placed with His blessing the first human pair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, disobeying, they were driven forth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they, and theirs, consigned to sad despair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until, incarnate, God in pity gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Himself for man, and made it just to save.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He then told how the blessed martyrs bore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The chains of dungeons, and the fagot’s flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glad that their sufferings might attest the more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their perfect faith in their Redeemer’s name;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[p. 27]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">How His disciples past from shore to shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Salvation’s joyful tidings to proclaim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How hither now they brought the Gospel’s light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To cheer the red men wrapt in pagan night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban attentive listened to the strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And at its close for long in silence sate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His visage did a graver cast attain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all his heart’s deep feelings indicate.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length he uttered thus the mental train:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Weak is my soul, and dark is her estate!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No book has she to tell of Manit high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Except this outstretched earth and starry sky.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Great news Awanux brings the red men here—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">News that their legends old doth much excel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet give to Waban the attentive ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the traditions of his sires he’ll tell.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From days afar, down many a rolling year—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Down to thy brothers red—their fathers’ tale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Comes to inform them, in their mortal state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What powers they should revere—what deprecate.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here Waban paused, and sitting mused a space,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As pondering gravely on the mighty theme;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep thought was graven on his earnest face,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And still his groping memory did seem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To gather up the legends of his race.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At length he roused, as from a passing dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from his mat, majestically slow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rearing his form, began in accents low:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[p. 28]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, that time is distant—far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When Heaven or Earth or living thing was not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save our great God, Cawtantowit, who lay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Extended through immensity, where naught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But shoreless waters were—and dead were they;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No living thing did on their bosom float,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And silentness the boundless space did fill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For the Great Spirit slept—and all was still.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But though he slept, yet, as the human soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To this small frame, his being did pervade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The universal space, and ruled the whole;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">E’en as the soul, when in deep slumber laid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doth her wild dreams and fantasies control,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And give them action, color, shape and shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just as she wills. But the Great Spirit broke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His sleep at last, and all the boundless shook.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.13" id="ENref_2.13"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fire in his eye lit all immensity,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst his majestically gliding wing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trembled hoarse thunders to the shuddering sea;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, through their utmost limit quivering,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The conscious waters felt their Manittoo,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And life, at once, their deepest regions knew.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The mountain whale came spouting from below,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The porpoise plunged along the foaming main,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The smaller fry in sporting myriads go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With glancing backs above the liquid plain;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[p. 29]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet still refused her giant form to show—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ay, sullenly below did yet remain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth-bearing Tortoise, the <i>Unamis</i> vast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er her still the loftly billows past.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then great Cawtantowit in his anger spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And from his flaming eyes the lightnings past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from his wings the tenfold thunders broke.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sullen Tortoise heard his words at last—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And slowly she her rocky grasp forsook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And her huge back of woods and mountains vast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the far depths tow’rd upper light began</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slowly to heave.—The affrighted waters ran</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hither and thither, tumultous and far;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But still Unamis, heaving from below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The full formed earth, first, through the waves did rear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fast sky-climbing Alleghany’s brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dark, huge and craggy; from its summits bare</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rolling billows fell, and rising now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All its broad forest to the breezy air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came out of Ocean, and, from verdure fair,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Shed the salt showers. Far o’er the deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hills after hills still lift their clustered trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wild down the rising slopes the waters leap,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then from the up-surging plain the ocean flees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till lifted from the flood, in vale and steep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rock, and forest waving to the breeze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth, on the Tortoise borne, frowned ocean o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spurned the billows from her thundering shore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[p. 30]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But great Cawtantowit, on his pinions still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er the lone earth majestically sprung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whispered to the mountain, vale and hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with new life the teeming regions rung;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The feathered songsters tune their carols shrill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Herds upon herds the plain and mountain throng;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the still pools the cunning beavers toil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the armed seseks<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> their strong folds uncoil.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> Sesek—rattlesnake.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.19" id="ENref_2.19"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet man was not.—Then great Cawtantowit spoke</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the hard mountain crags and called for man:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sculptured, breathing, from the cleaving rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sprang the armed warrior, and a strife began</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With living things.—Hard as his native block,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was his stone heart, and through it ran</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blood cold as ice—and the Great Spirit struck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This cruel man, and him to atoms broke.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then He the oak, of fibre hard and fine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the first red man’s soul and form endowed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And woman made he of the tapering pine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which ’neath that oak in peaceful beauty bowed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She on the red man’s bosom did recline,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like the bright rainbow on the thunder-cloud.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the Great Spirit saw his work divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the pair let fall His smile benign.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He gave them all these forests far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The forms that fly, and those that creeping go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The healthful fountains, and the rivers clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the broods that sport the waves below;</div> - <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[p. 31]</span></p><div class="verse indent0">Then gave he man the swiftness of the deer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And armed his hands with arrows and the bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade him shelter still his consort dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tread his large domain without a peer.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.22" id="ENref_2.22"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then did he send Yotaanit on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For Gods he fashioned as he formed the land,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade him star with fires the azure sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And kindle the round blaze of Keesuckquand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, to cheer by night the hunter’s eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bright Nanapaushat sprung from Wamponand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus with his will the manittoos comply,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every region knows its deity.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_2.22">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.23" id="ENref_2.23"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“All things thus were formed from what was good,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the foul refuse every evil had;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But it had felt the influence of the God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(How should it not?) and a black demon, sad</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stern and cruel, loving strife and blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filled with all malice, and with fury mad,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sprang into life:—such was fell Chepian’s birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hate of gods, and terror of the earth.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then to the south-west the Great Spirit flew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whence the soft breezes of the summer come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from the depths Sowaniu’s<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> island drew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bade its fields with lasting verdure bloom.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er it he bent another welkin blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which never night nor clouds nor tempests gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And kindled suns the lofty arches through,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade them shine with glory ever new.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> Sowaniu—here of three syllables—was written by Williams, -“Sowwainiu.”</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[p. 32]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“When thus Cawtantowit had finished all,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No more did he on eagle’s pinions roam,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There did he limits to his works install,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And centre there his everlasting home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There did he cast the eagle and recall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His pristine shape, and manit-man become;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There still he dwells, the all-pervading soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of men and manittoos—yea, of creation’s whole.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“All that is good does from Cawtantowit flow;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All that is evil Chepian doth supply;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Praying for good we to Cawtantowit bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shunning evil we to Chepian cry;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To other manittoos we offerings owe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dwell they in mountain, flood, or lofty sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft they aid us when we hunting go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or in fierce battle rush upon the foe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.27" id="ENref_2.27"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And manittoos, that never death shall fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do likewise in this mortal form abide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What else, my brother, is there beating here?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What heaves this breast—what rolls its crimson tide?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst, like Cawtantowit, doth the soul appear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To live through all and over all preside;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when her mortal mansion here decays,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She to Sowaniu’s blessed island strays,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.28" id="ENref_2.28"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“There aye to joy; if, whilst she dwelt with men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She wisely counseled and did bravely fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or watchful caught the beavers in the glen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or nimbly followed far the moose’s flight;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[p. 33]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But if a sluggard and a coward, then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To rove all wretched in the glooms of night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Misled by Chepian, a poor wandering ghost,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In swamps and fens and bogs and brambles lost.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And now, my brother, rightly worship we,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When to Cawtantowit we make our prayer?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or when for help to Chepian we flee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And pray that us from every harm he spare?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For every harm is all his own, we see,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And good Cawtantowit has ne’er a share—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then why should not I Chepian sue to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much sparing of his harm to mine and me?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams made answer, “When red warriors brave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fight’s dark tempest and for glory die,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does Waban tremble whilst the battles rave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And at the hurtling arrows wink his eye?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, basely cowering, does he mercy crave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the red hatchet o’er him lifted high?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who prays to Chepian is a cringing slave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, dying, fills at last a coward’s grave.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Strongly these words to Waban’s pride appealed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet back upon him did the memory rush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of by-gone ages, and of many a field</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where fought his fathers, who with victory flush,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not to Cawtantowit, but to Chepian kneeled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thanked his aid.—They cowards! and the blush,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That in their worship fear should seem revealed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was scantly by his tawny hue concealed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[p. 34]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last he said, “My brother doubtless knows—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He has a book which his Great Spirit wrote:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brave were my fathers, yet did they repose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With hope in Chepian, and his aid besought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When forth they marched to shed the blood of foes;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But maybe they, like Waban, never thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they were cowards, when they fiercely prayed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Evil One to give their vengeance aid.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban will think, and should it seem like fear—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Waban ne’er shrunk when round him battle roared,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at the stake when bound, his torturers near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Among the clouds thy brother’s spirit soared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scorned her foes—but should it seem like fear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To worship Chepian, whom his sires adored,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He will no more be that dread demon’s slave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For ne’er will Waban fill a coward’s grave.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus in grave converse did they pass the day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till night returning brought them slumbers sweet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, with the morrow, shone the sun’s broad ray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Serenely down on Waban’s lone retreat.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Williams might have journeyed on his way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But doubt and darkness still restrained his feet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so with Waban made he further stay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To learn about the tribes that round him lay.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hence may he secretly to Salem write,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And friends approving, still his plans arrange;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For Waban soon will bear his peltry light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Salem’s mart, and there may interchange</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[p. 35]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The mute epistles, meant for friendly sight,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unseen of eyes inimical or strange,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest rumor of them reach the bigot’s ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And persecution find him even here.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the several tribes around to go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sound the feelings of each different clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seemed not unmeet; but little did he know</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How they might treat a pale-faced outlawed man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Friendless and homeless, wandering to and fro,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flying from his own white brethren’s ban;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They, for a price, might strike the fatal blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or bear him captive to his ruthless foe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Better it were, so deemed our Father well,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seek and win the savage by degrees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since to his lot the dangerous duty fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For such did seem high Heaven’s all-wise decrees),</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To found unarmed a State where rung the yell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of barbarous nations on the midnight breeze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the scalping-knife with no defence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or safeguard but his heart’s benevolence.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.38" id="ENref_2.38"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With only this, his buckler and his brand—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This, yet unproved and doubted by the best,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In cheerless wilds, mid many a savage band,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spurned from his home, by Christian men opprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must he the warrior’s weapon turn, his hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unnerve, and gently o’er his rugged breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gain mastery. The panther by the hare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must be approached and softened in his lair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[p. 36]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">That night, returning from the accustomed pool,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came Waban laden with the beavers’ spoils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And joy seemed dancing in his very soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As he displayed the produce of his toils;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much he rejoiced, and Williams heard the whole,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How long he watched, how many were his foils;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then how the cunning beasts were captured all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As through the fractured ice they sought to crawl.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Bravely,” said Williams, “has my brother done,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No more the cunning wights will mock his skill.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban is rich; will he not hie him soon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the pale wigwams, and his girdle fill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the bright wampum?—Ere to-morrow’s sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall hide behind the crest of yonder hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban may gain the pale-faced stranger’s town,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in his brother’s wigwam sit him down.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The hunter goes,” said Waban in reply;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then fired his calumet and curled its smoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And silent sate in all the dignity</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which conscious worth can give the human look.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when the fragrant clouds to mount on high</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had ceased, he from the bowl the embers shook,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spread on earth the brown deer’s rustling hide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Expanding to the eye its naked side.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then thus he spake: “My brother doth require</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Waban to show where neighboring Sachems reign;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doubtless he seeks to light his council fire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within some good and valiant chief’s domain,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[p. 37]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That he may shun the persecutor’s ire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And pray his God without the fear of men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Waban’s words my brother may repose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst these far feet imprint the distant snows.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then from the hearth a quenchéd brand he took,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And on the skin traced many a curving line;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here rolled the river, there the winding brook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here rose the hills, and there the vales decline,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here spreads the bay, and there the ocean broke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Along red Waban’s map of rude design.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The work now finished, he to Williams spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here, brother, on the red man’s country look.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here’s Waban’s lodge, thou seest it smokes between</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dark rolling Seekonk and Cohannet’s wave;<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both floods on-flowing through their borders green,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Narraganset’s basin find their grave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er all the country ’twixt those waters sheen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Reigns Massasoit, Sachem good and brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet he has subject Keenomps far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who bring him tribute of the slaughtered deer,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> Cohannet, the Indian name for Taunton, is here applied to the river.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.45" id="ENref_2.45"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And bend his battle bow.—Strong is he now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But has been stronger. Ere dark pestilence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devoured his warriors—laid his hundreds low,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three thousand bow-men; and he still can show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A mighty force, whene’er the kindling sense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of common wrong does in the bosom glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And prompts to battle with the offending foe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[p. 38]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.46" id="ENref_2.46"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“His highest chief is Corbitant the stern;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He ’gainst Awanux does in secret turn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sharps his keen knife, and points his thirsty dart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His council fires in Mattapoiset<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> burn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Pokanoket’s woods his licensed part.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cruel he is, and terrible his train—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Light not your fires within that wolf’s domain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> Mattapoiset, now Swansey.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.47" id="ENref_2.47"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here, tow’rd the winter, where the fountains feed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These rolling rivers, do the Nipnets dwell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They Massasoit bring the skin and bead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rush to war when rings his battle yell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Valiant are they, yet oft their children bleed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When the far West sends down her Maquas fell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.48" id="ENref_2.48"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There Massasoit spends his seasons cold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The warriors there are led by Annawan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of open hand and of a bosom bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Apannow’s hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bowmen there tread Massasoit’s land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en to Seconnet’s billow-beaten strand.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Still tow’rd the rising sun might Waban show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And count each tribe, and each brave Keenomp name;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then his brother does not wish to go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nearer the pale-face and the fagot’s flame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[p. 39]</span>But rather tow’rd the tomahawk and bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And would the friendship of the red man claim:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Therefore will Waban, on the western shores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Count Narraganset’s men and sagamores.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.50" id="ENref_2.50"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Two mighty chiefs—one cautious, wise and old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One young and strong, and terrible in fight—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All Narraganset and Coweset hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One lodge they build, one council fire they light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One sways in peace, and one in battle bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This is Miantonomi, strong and brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that Canonicus, his uncle grave.<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_2.50">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.51" id="ENref_2.51"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence sweeping down the bay, their forests wide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spread their dark foliage to the billowy main;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence tow’rd the setting sun by ocean’s side,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stretches their realm to where the rebel train,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ruled by grim Uncas, with their hatchets dyed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In brother’s blood, on Pequot stream abide.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_2.51">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Canonicus is as the beaver wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Miantonomi as the panther bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But tow’rd the faces pale their watchful eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are oft in awful thinking silence rolled;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And often in their heaving bosoms rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thoughts that to none but Keenomps they have told;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They seem two buffaloes the herds that lead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scenting the hunters gathering round their mead.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[p. 40]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.53" id="ENref_2.53"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“When first his fire Awanux kindled here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haup’s<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> chief was weak, and broken was his heart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Disease had swept his warriors far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And at his breast looked Narraganset’s dart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awanux gave him strength, and with strange fear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did M’antonomi at the big guns start;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He dropt his hatchet; but his hate remains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And only counsel wise his wrath restrains.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Haup, or Mount Hope, the summer residence of Massasoit.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He sees the strangers spreading far around,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And earth turn pale as fast their numbers grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fiercely would he to the battle bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for his country strike the deadly blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But that behind the Pequot’s yells resound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And on his left the Nipnet bends the bow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And even thus his hatchet scarcely sleeps,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It dreams of Haup, and in its slumber leaps.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, brother, still Miantonomi is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A valiant Sachem—yea, and generous too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gray Canonicus is just and wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hands are ever to his tongue most true;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If from their lands my brother’s smoke should rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whate’er those Sachems promise, they will do;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Waban still doth not his friend advise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To cross the Seekonk where their country lies.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, attend and hear the reasons why;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There at Mooshausick dwells a dark pawaw,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who hates Awanux, doth his God defy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Chepian worships with the deepest awe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He’ll give my brother’s town a cloudy sky,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[p. 41]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to his councils under-sachems draw;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en now he whets the Narraganset knife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Points at our clan, and thirsts for human life.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Safer on Seekonk’s hither border may</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My brother build, and wake his council blaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clear are the meads—the trees are swept away</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By mighty burnings in our fathers’ days.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There early verdure spring and flow’rets gay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long grows the grass, and thrifty is the maize;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And good old Massasoit’s sheltering wing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will shield thy weakness from each harmful thing.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, I thank thee,” said our Founder here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Oft have I seen thy chief on Plymouth’s shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I will to-morrow seek those meadows clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thy fair Seekonk’s hither banks explore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But will not Waban pass Namasket near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where oft that wise and good old Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brave Massasoit, spends the season drear?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“He will, my brother”—“Then let Waban hear:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Tell thou that Sachem, generous and wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Williams lingers in thy cabin low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he his children and his country flies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To shun the anger of a Christian foe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that to him his pale friend lifts his eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And asks protection.—Tell him that his woe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Springs from this thought, and from this thought alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God can be worshipped but as God is known.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[p. 42]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A pause ensued, and Waban silent sate;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet to himself his lips repeating were;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length he answering broke the pause sedate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Waban remembers, and the talk will bear.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then he in silence fired his calumet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave its vapors to the wigwam’s air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst Williams wrote, with stationery rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His first epistle from the lonely wood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas on the inner bark stript from the pine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Father penciled this epistle rare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Two blazing pine-knots did his torches shine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two braided pallets formed his desk and chair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He wrote his wife the brief familiar line,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How he had journeyed, and his roof now where;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that poor Waban was his host benign,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade her cheer and gave him blankets fine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bade her send the Indian presents, bought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When first they suffered persecution’s thrall,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strings of wampum, and the scarlet coat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tinseled belt and jeweled coronal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pocket Bible, which his haste forgot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For he had cheering hopes of Waban’s soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then gave her solace to the bad unknown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That God o’errules and still protects his own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And to the hunter Williams now presents</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The secret charge, with all directions meet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For Waban means to take his journey hence</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere dawns the day upon his lone retreat;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[p. 43]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And then once more did sleep our Founder’s sense</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And knowledge steal away till morn complete;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When he awoke and found his host was gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lodge all silent, and himself alone.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His fast he broke with the accustomed prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And trimmed him for his walk to Seekonk’s side;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Calm was the morn, and pure the winter air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As from the wigwam forth our Founder hied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So tall the pines—so thick the branches were,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That, through their screens, the heavens were scarce espied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But melting snows and dripping foliage prove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The South blows warmer in the fields above.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="65">LXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now from the swamp to upland woods he past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where leafless boughs branched thinner overhead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saw the welkin by no cloud o’ercast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And felt the settled snows give firmer tread.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now all was calm, no wild and thundering blast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mixed earth with heaven, as through the boughs it sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And far as eye the boundless forest traced,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glimmered the snow and stretched the lonely waste.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Onward he went, the magnet still his guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And through the wood his course due westward took;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Across his path, with antlers branching wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The red deer often from the thicket broke;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The timid partridge, at his rapid stride,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On whirring wings the sheltering bush forsook,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the wild turkey foot and pinion plied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or from her lofty bough uncouthly cried.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[p. 44]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="67">LXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last a sound like murmurs from the shore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of far-off ocean, when the storm is bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grows on his ear, increasing more and more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As he advances, till the woods resound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seem to tremble with the constant roar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of many waters—Ay, the very ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath him quivers,—and, through arching trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bright glimmering and gliding on, he sees</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="68">LXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The river flowing to its dizzy steep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twixt fringing forests, from so far as sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can track its course, and, rushing, oversweep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rocky precipice all frothy white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With noise like thunder in its headlong leap,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And springing sun-bows o’er its showery flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bursting into foam, tumultuous go</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down the deep chasm, to smoke and boil below.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence, hurrying onward through the narrow bound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of banks precipitous, its torrents go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till by the jutting cliffs half wheeling round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They pass from sight among the hills below.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There paused our Father, ravished with the sound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the wild waters, and their rapid flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there, alone, rejoiced that he had found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy Falls, Pawtucket, and where Seekonk wound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And as he dallied on its margin still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His restless thought did on the future pause:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here might his children drive the busy mill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here whirl the stones, here clash the riving saws;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[p. 45]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But little did he think the torrent’s will</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would ever yield so far to human laws,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As from the maid the spindle to receive</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spin for her, and her fair raiment weave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="71">LXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Reluctantly he left the scene, and fast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Down Seekonk’s eastern bank pursued his way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seeking for Waban’s meads; yet often cast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His glances o’er the river, where the gray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Primeval giants, meet for keel or mast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stood, towering and distinct, in proud array;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wore to his presaging eyes the air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of lofty ships and stately mansions fair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Still onward, by the eastern bank he sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here stretched the thicket deep, there swampy fen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here sunk the vale, there rose the hillock’s head;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oaks crowned the mound, and cedars gloomed the glen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where’er he moved;—at length his footsteps led</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where a bright fountain, sparkling like a gem,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Burst from the caverned cliff, and, glittering, wound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its copious streamlet, with a murmuring sound,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="73">LXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Far down the glade; and groves of cedars green,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With woven branches on the winter side,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repelled the northern storm, whilst clear and sheen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crisped by its pebbly bed, the glancing tide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gleamed in the sun, or darkened where the screen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of boughs o’erhung its music-murmuring glide;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It laughed along;—and its broad Southern glade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was bordered deep by woods of massy shade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[p. 46]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_2.74" id="ENref_2.74"><abbr title="74">LXXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Charmed with the scene, our sire explored the place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And penetrated deep the thickets round;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length his vision opened on a space</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Level and broad, and stretching without bound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Southward afar; nor rose o’er all its face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tree, or shrub, or rock, or swelling mound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, in large herds dotting the snows, appear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With antic gambols, the far bounding deer;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="75">LXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, further down, the Narraganset flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unfurrowed yet by keel—its fretted blue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With isles begemmed, and skirted by the wood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of far Coweset,—opens on his view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So long he had beneath the forest trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That, when the prospect on his vision grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His soul as from a prison seemed to fly</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And range in thought through an immensity.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="76">LXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Raptured he paused.—Here then was Waban’s mead;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In yonder little glen, the fountain by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He’d rear his shelter—here his flocks should feed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cropping the grass beneath the summer sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There by his cot he’d sow the foodful seed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And round his garden raise a paling high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there at twilight, should his herds be seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Following the tinkling bell from pastures green.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="77">LXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, here, in fancy, did he almost see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A lovely hamlet in the future blest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Christians all might mutually agree</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To leave their God to judge the human breast;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[p. 47]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A place of refuge whitherto might flee</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hapless exile for his faith opprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And find his lately trammelled conscience free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for the scourge and gibbet—charity.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="78">LXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He thought he saw the various spires ascending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of many churches, all of different kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And heard the Sabbath bells harmonious blending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their calls to worshippers of various mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saw the people as harmonious wending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To several worships, as their faith inclined;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And felt that Deity might bend the ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such harmony from various chords to hear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="79">LXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But still across his mind a shadow came—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A doubt that seemed a superstitious fear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For yet no Indian throng, with loud acclaim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had bid the welcome of Whatcheer! Whatcheer!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till when he should be tossed;—as did proclaim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That nameless stranger—that mysterious seer;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But from Haup’s Sachem he a grant will gain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such were best welcome from that Sachem’s train.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="80">LXXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Full of this thought, he turned at close of day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gained the humble lodge as night came down;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he could scarcely brook the short delay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till Waban, coming from the white man’s town,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should from Namasket, where the Sachem lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cheering welcome bring, or blasting frown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For thou, Soul-Liberty, couldst then no more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than build thy hopes on that rude sagamore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[p. 48]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO THIRD.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> The Wigwam—Massasoit and other Chiefs—The Wilderness—A -Night in the Wilderness—The Narraganset or Coweset Country—Coweset -Height.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">No</span> pain is keener to the ardent mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filled with sublime and glorious intents,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than when strict judgment checks the impulse blind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bids to watch the pace of slow events</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To time the action;—for it seems to bind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ethereal soul upon a fire intense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lit by herself within the kindling breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prompting to act, while she restrains to rest.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Two nights had passed, and, Waban lingering still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Williams began to doubt his steadfast faith;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quick was his foot o’er forest, vale and hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His swerveless eyes aye keeping true his path.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why does he tarry? and the doubts instil</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Suspicions in our Sire of waking wrath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against his purpose in the barbarous clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose fears e’en then on future dangers ran.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But on the morrow’s morn, while Williams mused,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Anxious and wondering at the long delay,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wigwam’s entrance, by the deer-skin closed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Abruptly opened, and a warrior gay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glided within it. To the sight unused</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Keenomp trimmed as for the battle fray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams, recoiling, gazed with fixed surprise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On the fierce savage and his fearful guise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[p. 49]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The eagle’s plumes waved round his hair of jet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose crest-like lock played lightly o’er his head;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On breast and face the war-paints harshly met,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Down from his shoulders hung his blanket red,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With seeming blood his hatchet haft was wet,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its edge of death was by his girdle stayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bright flashed his eyes, and, ready for the strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gleamed in his hand the dreadful scalping-knife.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He placed a packet, bound, in Williams’ hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fired his pipe, and sitting, curled its smoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while our Founder broke the hempen bands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave the contents an exploring look.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There found he, answered, all his late commands</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Waban, ere the wigwam he forsook;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from his wife a brief epistle too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which told her sorrows since their last adieu:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How came the messengers with arméd men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To search her mansion for “the heretic;”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How his escape provoked their wrath—and then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How they condemned him for his feigning sick;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But with the thought consoled themselves again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That he had perished in the tempest thick;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s righteous retribution, setting free</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their Israel from his heinous heresy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.7" id="ENref_3.7"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But, as he reads, the warrior starting cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“War! war! my brother.”—Williams drops his hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at the voice perceives, in altered guise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till now unknown, the generous Waban stand</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[p. 50]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Erect and tall, with fiercely flashing eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The while he pressed the hatchet in its band;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, there’s war!” “With whom?” our Founder said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Have I not friends among my brothers red?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.8" id="ENref_3.8"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Haup’s valiant Sachem is my brother’s friend,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Red Waban answered; “and I come before</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him, and the train of Keenomps who attend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him, coming here—our mightiest Sagamore—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To ask my brother that his aid he lend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Gainst Narraganset’s hatchet stained with gore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gives the loud whoop, and names our valiant dead.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No time there was for Williams to reply</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere near the lodge there rose a trampling sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And warriors entered, stained with every dye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crested and plumed, with—to their girdles bound—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The knife and hatchet; whilst the battle cry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burst from the crowds that flocked the lodge around,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lighted up, in every Keenomp’s eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That stared within, a dreadful sympathy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the train came Massasoit old,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But not too old for direst battle fray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strong was his arm as was his spirit bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His judgment, bettered by experience gray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wildest passions of his tribe controlled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And checked their fury in its headlong way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still with the whites his peace he had maintained,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The terror of whose aid his foes restrained.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[p. 51]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.11" id="ENref_3.11"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There too came Corbitant, austere of mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Annawan, who saw, in after times,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And strong Appanow, of Pocasset’s wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And other chiefs of names unmeet for rhymes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And round our Father, in the fearful trim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of savage war, they gathered, wroth and grim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Each fired his pipe, and seat in silence took;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Around the room a dreadful ring they made;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their eyes stared fiercely through the wreathing smoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And luridly their gaudy plumage played,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while, obscured, they did scarce earthly look,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But seemed like fiends in their infernal shade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still the vapors rose and naught they spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till Massasoit thus the silence broke:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And is my brother here? What does he seek?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tow’rd Wamponand, upon the passing wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A singing bird there went; its opening beak</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was by Namasket’s wigwam heard to sing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That thou art friendless, homeless, poor and weak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seeking protection from an Indian King.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do the white Sagamores their vengeance wreak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en as the red ones, on their brethren?—Speak.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sire Williams answered: “’Twas no idle song</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sung by that bird which passed Namasket near;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am an exile these drear wilds among,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hope for kindness from the red men here.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[p. 52]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft had thy friendship to the pale-faced throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That first Patuxet<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> peopled, reached my ear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a whisper told me thou wouldst still be kind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To those who fly, and leave their all behind.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> Patuxet is the Indian name for Plymouth.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then rose the tawny monarch of the wood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To speak his memory, as became a chief;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And back he cast his crimson robes, and stood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With naked arm outstretched a moment brief;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Commanding silence by that attitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to his words attention and belief.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Often he paused, his eyes on Williams fixt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst rang applause his weighty words betwixt.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” he said, “full many a rolling year</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has cast its leaves and fruitage on the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And many a Keenomp, to his country dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has sate in death beneath his grassy mound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since first the pale Awanux kindled here</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His council blaze, and so began to found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His tribes and villages, and far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With thundering arms, to wake the red man’s fear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, attend! When first Awanux came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He was a child, not higher than my knee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hunger and cold consumed and pinched his frame;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Houseless on yonder naked shore was he;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waves roared between him and his corn and game,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Snows clad the wilds, and winter vexed the sea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His big canoe shrunk from the angry flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And death was on the barren strand he trod.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[p. 53]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, attend! I gave the infant food;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My lodge was open and my fire was warm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He gathered strength, and felt a richer blood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Renew the vigor of his wasted arm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He grew—waxed strong—the trees began to bud;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He asked for lands a little town to form;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I gave him lands, and taught him how to plant,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fish and hunt,—for he was ignorant.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.19" id="ENref_3.19"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, attend! Still did Awanux grow;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still did he ask for land;—I gave him more—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And more—and more, till now his hatchet’s blow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is at Namasket heard, with crash and roar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of falling oaks, and, like the whit’ning snow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His growing numbers spread my borders o’er;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where we may spread the blanket of our race.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here paused the chief, as if to ask reply;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of thankless guests he spoke, and seemed to say</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That the white strangers grasped too eagerly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor heeded aught their benefactor’s sway.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er to the Indian did our Sire deny</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His share of Heaven’s free gifts; and, to allay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ominous mistrust, he answered mild</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusky king of Pokanoket’s wild:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother, I know that all these lands are thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These rolling rivers, and these waving trees,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the Great Spirit came the gift divine;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And who would trespass upon boons like these?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[p. 54]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I would take nothing, if the power were mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of all thy lands, lest it should Him displease;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But for just meed shouldst thou some part resign,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would the Great Spirit blame the deed benign?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.22" id="ENref_3.22"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis not the peäg,” said the sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to my friend I give, and take no more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than to his generous bosom seemeth good;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still we pass the belt, and for the lands,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He strengthens mine, and I make strong his hands.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Weak is my hand, brave chief,” our Sire replied;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Aid do I need, but none can I bestow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet on the vacant plain, by Seekonk’s tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I fain would build, and peaceful neighbors know;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if my brother has that plain denied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far tow’rds the setting sun will Williams go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the lands of other chiefs abide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose blankets are with ampler room supplied.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As thus our Founder spake, this murmur low</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Circled that savage group of warriors round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The stranger will to Narraganset go!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“A hungry wolf shall in his path be found!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rejoined stern Corbitant, whose eyes did glow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With kindling wrath;—then from his belt unbound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His hatchet and beneath his blanket hid;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warrior to warrior glanced, as this he did.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[p. 55]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Again Haup’s Sachem broke the fearful pause:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Brother, be wise; I gave thy brethren lands;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They smoked my pipe, and they espoused my cause;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They made me strong; and all the neighboring bands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forsook the Narraganset Sachem’s laws<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And mine obeyed.—We weakened hostile hands;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All dropt their arms and looked, but looked in vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For my white friends to measure back the main.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> See <a href="#Canto_4_notes" id="ENref_4">notes to Canto Fourth</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This leaf, which budded of their hope, now dies;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Narraganset warriors crest their hair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their hatchets keen from troubled slumber rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And through Coweset make their edges glare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chiefs strike the war-post,—blood is in their cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fierce their yells cleave Pokanoket’s air;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They count already with revengeful eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The future scalps of vanquished enemies;—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And all for Wampanoag’s life-blood crave.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On Seekonk’s marge the storm of war will burst;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lands might I give thee there but that the wave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will there run red with human slaughter first.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet my brother and his friends are brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His bulwarks there with guardian thunders pierced,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might frown on harm;—for surely he would fight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both for his own and for the giver’s right.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And when the Narragansets by our arms</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are from the Seekonk driven far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No more molested by the wild alarms</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of scalping knife and tomahawk’s affray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We may together sit, secure from harms,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[p. 56]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And smoke the calumet from day to day;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And our descendants, all the years to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have but one fire—one undivided home.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” said Williams, “these thou seëst are</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hands that the blood of man ne’er crimsoned yet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft do I lift them to the God of prayer—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah! how unseemly if with slaughter wet!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But to the hostile Sachems I could bear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pipe of peace, thy snow-white calumet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And quench the flame of strife—how better far</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than win thy lands by all-devouring war!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“With Waban for my guide, in friendly guise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sachem, I would the arduous task essay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To heal those ancient feuds by counsel wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And quell the wrath begotten long away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were this not better than the sacrifice</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of armies slain in many a bloody fray?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then may I plant, and, in each neighboring clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meet with a friend where’er I meet a man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ha! Yengee,” said the Sachem, “wouldst thou go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To soothe the hungry panther scenting blood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say, canst thou bid Pawtucket’s downward flow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turn and run backward to Woonsocket’s wood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The path to peace is shut;—the eager foe</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sharpens his darts, and treads his dances rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And through the trembling groves the war-whoop trills</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From bleak Manisses<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> to the Nipnet hills.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> Manisses—Block Island.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[p. 57]</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yengee! thou seest these Wampanoags brave—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They are my Keenomps in the battle fray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would it become Haup’s sagamore to crave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Inglorious rest for warriors strong as they?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They shrink from nothing but a dastard’s grave:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bound to the stake, upon their lips would play</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The smile of scorn. How can they crouch and cry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For peace?”—he said; and Williams made reply:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The Great Spirit, almighty o’er the Whole,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wields earth at will and moulds the hearts of men;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At his command torrents may backward roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hare may gambol in the panther’s den;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In Him I trust, and in His strength my soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is more than armies.—Let your brother then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ask for himself, if not for thee or thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That on these lands the sky of peace may shine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How could your brother plant, where all around</div> - <div class="verse indent2">War’s tempest raging pours its showers of blood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where from each thicket bursts the war-whoop’s sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And death in ambush lurks in every wood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When would the feet of his dear friends be found</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To pass along the blood-stained solitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bring their all—their dearer far than life—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath uplifted axe and scalping knife?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon our Father’s words to meditate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That wise old chief kept silence for a space;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus far he had prolonged the shrewd debate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And inly striven his bounties to retrace—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[p. 58]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Not, as it seemed at first, from growing hate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But so to magnify his purposed grace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That what he gave should be right worthy thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the much needed succor that he sought.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Keenomps!” at length thus spake the Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Shall our white brother, not for me or mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But for himself, seek Narraganset’s shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Disperse the clouds, and let the sunlight shine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the blue sky of peace?—Our wounds are sore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But hatchets none too keen; and our design</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May profit by delay, if he will light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His council fire and gathering friends invite.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“His bow’s now broken, and his knife now dull,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when his warriors shall around him throng—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its sharpened edge will thirst to peel the skull</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Narraganset foe;—and he, more strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will wield a mightier weapon, and, more full</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of valor, help us guard ourselves from wrong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst many a soul he sends to join the ghosts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That cry for vengeance round Sowaniu’s coasts.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“On Seekonk’s marge—our battle-stained frontier—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His town will rise, and warlike will he feel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The foe must pass him if he strike us here;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our brother then will hang upon his heel,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hinder his progress, and salute his ear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With the big thunders and the muskets’ peal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo! from the east the Tarrateen no more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dare pass the Yengee by the ocean shore.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[p. 59]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As ceased the chief, a fierce smile lit the eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And curled the muscles of those men of blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They feared the number of their enemies;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This hope was cheering, and all answered—good!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All save stern Corbitant, whose visage is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dark and portentous as a slumbering flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose silent bosom holds the imaged storm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seems the tempest that the skies deform.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then rose each Keenomp, in his turn, and spake:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each said his knife was sharp, his hands were strong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still such counsel as his chief might take</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He should deem wise, and so advise his throng.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length stern Corbitant did silence break;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But first unloosened from its leathern thong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His scalping knife, and then a circle true</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With its bare point upon the earth he drew.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“So move the hunters,” the grim sachem said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then near the centre made of scores a few;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here do the moose and deer the thickets thread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To certain death from them whose feet pursue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not the Yengees thus around us spread?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are we not hunted thus our forests through?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will Haup’s brave Sachem yield Awanux aid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While weep the spirits of his kindred dead?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Go! thou dark Corbitant!” the old chief cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Unarmed, the stranger seeks our vacant land,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far from his friends would plant by Seekonk’s tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His blood within the hollow of our hand.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[p. 60]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When to the stranger has a chief denied</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Food, fire, and space his blanket to expand?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hunted by him!—when come his friends he may,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If timid deer we are, turn off the beasts of prey.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He goes, and goes but for himself alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To ask that peace between the nations be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if the belt of Narraganset won</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He bring to Haup, ’twill be received by me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now do I charge you, Keenomps, all as one,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That on his path no lurking wolves ye be.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who dares with purpose fell his way to haunt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dies by this hand—e’en were he Corbitant.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Do thou, swift Waban, with the Yengee go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And point the way to Narraganset’s clan;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thou dar’st walk before the bended bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bring back the talks, that we the words may scan;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all things else to him obedience show—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He is thy sachem—be thou Winiams’<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But it were safe that thou the pipe should’st bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without that painted face and pluméd hair.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> The Wampanoags could not say <i>l</i>, but used <i>n</i> in place of it.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Williams brought his strings of wampum bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to the Keenomps each a present made,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which each received, and, mimicking the white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His thanks returned, and uncouth bow essayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Corbitant’s grim visage seemed to light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With something like a smile that o’er it strayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To see the wampum wreath our Founder flung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where glittering on his breast the bauble hung.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[p. 61]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Haup’s old chief a belt, with tinselry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Enchased, he gave, and trimmed with gilded wire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which when he donned, the warriors gazed in glee</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon their Sachem in such brave attire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then filing singly, each in his degree,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They leave the lodge, and through the woods retire;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chief appointing Haup, whereat to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hear the issue of the embassy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban and Williams only tarried there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for the journey soon began to trim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The red man doft his plumes, and loosed his hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cleansed his visage of its colors grim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder chose his Indian gifts to bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And pipe of peace, as well becoming him;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forth they sallied, as from middle sky</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun looked down between the branches high.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban went foremost, upon nimble feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through ancient grove and over woodland glade;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His long black hair and blanket red, so fleet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He went, streamed backward in the breeze he made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Often his form did out of sight retreat</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behind the crag—behind the thicket’s shade—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then his voice, along the echoing wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Told when he paused, or where his way pursued.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At length upon Pawtucket’s marge they stood;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They heard the thunder of his falls below;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though narrow was the pass, yet deep the flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And frail the ice to bridge its dangerous flow;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[p. 62]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But on the bank a giant of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A towering hemlock, waved its lofty bough;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban his keen-edged hatchet promptly plied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It bowed, it fell, and bridged the sounding tide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Upstayed thereon from bank to bank they past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And now they travel under hostile sway:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The night around them gathers thick and fast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till, as more doubtful grows their devious way.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their blankets on the frozen earth they cast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And light the fire, and wait the coming day;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When safely they their journey may pursue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And greet the chiefs they seek in season due.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams that night lay on the snow-clad ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With nothing o’er him but the starry blue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In parchéd maize and water pure he found</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sweet repast, that woke devotion true;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For while he saw the soul constrained and bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With wings enthralled, but not her eagle view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One pious prayer made every suffering light,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he might free and speed her heavenward flight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The red man smoked his pipe, or trimmed the fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to our Father many a story told</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of barbarous battles and of slaughter dire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That on Pawtucket’s marge befell of old;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How always son inherited from sire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The same fierce passions in like bosom bold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wondered that his pale-faced chief could dare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pipe between such angry Sachems bear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[p. 63]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ten summers since, on yonder margin green,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He thus continued in a sadder tone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“A strong old hunter—Keenomp he had been</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of many deeds—dwelt with his daughter lone:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She, like the bright-eyed fawn, whose beauteous mien</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So charms the hunter that he stands like stone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He, like the brawny stag, with burning eye</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And antlers broad, and sinews that defy</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The well-aimed shaft. Then Waban was a boy;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, lonely, loved to go, by moonlight dim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or dewy morn, to see, all life and joy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Bright-Eyed Fawn. But ah! it chanced to him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One morn to seek her at her home’s employ—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, O! what havoc there!—what horrors grim!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The old man lay in gore!—his daughter gone!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His lodge in ashes! But the dewy lawn</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Showed prints of hostile feet. Waban is true—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He followed on the trail—a devious route;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far up the winding stream the morning dew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Betrayed their steps, and hers with theirs; here out</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They turned—leaping from rock to rock, they drew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still onward far, until a thrilling shout,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From far Woonsocket, died on Waban’s ears:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He pauses—listens—and again he hears—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The <em>Pequot’s</em> yell! My Sachem sure has seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The well-drawn arrow leave the red man’s bow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So Waban went—the steps he made between</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him and his foes no memory left—e’en now</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[p. 64]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban is there; and, from behind a screen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Formed by the leaf of bush and bending bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw the Bright-Eyed Fawn, bound to the stake—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fagots heaped around—the flames awake!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Two warriors, standing, mock her cries, and four,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the fire-water drenched, lie here and there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In slumber deep, from which they woke no more.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One arrow Waban sent;—through shoulder bare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transfixed, one scoffer fell, and quenched in gore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His kindling brand. Then, springing from his lair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As panther springs, with the bright glancing knife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did Waban dart, and, hand to hand in strife,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Cleft down the second, who, with wild amaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But faintly fought;—straight from the Bright-Eyed Fawn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bands were cut, and from the rising blaze</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She springs unscathed. The slumberers on the lawn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were not forgot: they slept—they sleep—yet gaze</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(If gaze that be which is all sightless); dawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Noon, and night, are one. Broad Antler’s ghost</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wandered not long upon Sowaniu’s coast;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fully avenged, he sought the spirit band</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of his brave fathers, whilst the daughter, won</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Waban from the cruel Pequot’s hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dwelt in his lodge, the mother of his son.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All now are gone—gone to the spirit land,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Waban’s left all desolate and lone.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such tales the evening hours beguiled, and filled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With breathless zest, or with blank horror chilled.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[p. 65]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They slept at last, though piercing cold the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And round them howled the hungry beasts of prey;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor broke their slumber, till the dawning light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gleamed in the east,—when they resumed their way.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Encrusted hard and flashing far and bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The snow sent back the rising solar ray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mooshausick’s wave was bridged from shore to shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And safe they passed the solid water o’er.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.61" id="ENref_3.61"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Westward till now his course did Waban draw;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where dwelt dark Chepian’s priest, that grim Pawaw,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who well he knew the Yengee’s faith abhorred,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And who, perchance, if he our Founder saw</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bearing the pipe of peace, might ill accord</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With such kind purpose, and, on evil wing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Narraganset’s host strange omens bring.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.62" id="ENref_3.62"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now down the western bank their course they speed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Passing Pawtuxet in their onward way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fast doth Indian town to town succeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some large, some small, in populous array;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here and there was many an ample mead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where green the maize had grown in summer’s ray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forth there poured, where’er they passed along,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of naked children many a gazing throng.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Their small sunk eyes, like sparks from burning coal,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the white stranger stared; but when they spied</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Wampanoag, they began to roll</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With all the fury—mimicking the pride—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[p. 66]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of their fierce fathers; and the savage soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nursed e’en in youth on thoughts in carnage dyed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Instinctively, with simultaneous swell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sent from their lips the unfledged battle yell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_3.64" id="ENref_3.64"><abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Their little bows they twanged with threatening mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their little war-clubs shook to tell their ires;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their mimic scalping-knives they brandished keen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And acted o’er the stories of their sires;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And had their fathers at this moment seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires),</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder’s guide, they might have caught the tone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of their young urchins, and the hatchet thrown.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="65">LXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Still village after village smoked; the woods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All swarmed with life as forward still they fared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For numbers great, but not for multitudes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So numberless, had Williams been prepared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was it for him to tamper with the moods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of these fierce savages, whose arms were bared,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose souls were ripe, and stalwart bodies trim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For the wild revelry of slaughter grim?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How could he hope a safe abiding place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far in these forests, and his friends so few—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among a wild and blood-besotted race,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That naught of laws divine or human knew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their wars proceeding oft from mad caprice,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their hearts as hard ’s the tomahawks they threw:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would his temerity by Heaven be blest?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would God nurse zephyrs on the whirlwind’s breast?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[p. 67]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="67">LXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst musing thus, and onward moving still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His soul o’ershadowed with suspicious fears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He gained the summit of a towering hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And downward gazed.—Far stretched beneath appears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A woodland plain; and murmurs harsh and shrill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As from accordant voices, on his ears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rise from the midmost groves, and o’er the trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hundred smokes curl on the morning breeze.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="68">LXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now to sight, through leafless boughs revealed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now hid where thicker branches wove their screen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bounding and glancing, in swift circles wheeled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Men painted, plumed, and armed with weapons sheen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And flashing clear or by the trees concealed,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Glimmering again and waved with threatening mien,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lifted tomahawks and lances bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seemed to forestall the frenzied joy of fight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mixed with the sound of voices and of feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alternate slow and fast, the hollow drum</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its measured rote or rolling numbers beat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ruled in various mood the general hum;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now slow the sounds, now rapid their repeat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till at a sudden pause, did thrilling come</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That tremulous far undulating swell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From out a thousand lips, the warrior’s yell;—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As ’twere from frantic demons. And the face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Waban paled—then darkened as he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The Narragansets there their war-dance trace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They count our scalps, and name our kindred dead;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[p. 68]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">This heart grows big—it cannot ask for peace;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twould rather rot upon a gory bed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than hear the spirits of its sires complain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And call for blood,—but ever call in vain.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="71">LXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” said Williams, “dost thou fear to go?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wilt thou thy Yengee sachem leave alone?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How will thy Sagamore the speeches know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If homeward now his messenger should run?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not thou, but I will ask the haughty foe</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To quench his fires, and quell the dance begun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But for thy safety, thou the calumet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shalt bear beside me, till the chiefs are met.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” he answered, “never shook with fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor left his Sachem when he needed friends;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is the thought of many a by-gone year</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That kindles wrath within my breast, and sends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all this frame, my boiling blood on fire!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still Waban on his pale-faced chief attends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But bears no pipe;—the Wampanoag’s pride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bids him to die, as his brave fathers died.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="73">LXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban, at least, will smoke the pipe awhile?”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Williams gravely to his moody guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Its fragrant breath is as on billows oil;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It calms the troubled waves of memory’s tide.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The grateful offer seemed to reconcile</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The peaceful emblem to the warrior’s pride:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He fills the bowl—he wakes the kindling fire—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er his head the curling clouds aspire.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[p. 69]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="74">LXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And whilst he sits, the sylvan muse will string</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her rustic harp to wake no gentle strain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of barbarous camps, and savage chiefs who sing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The song of vengeance to their raptured train;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of councils, and of wizard priests that bring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Strange omens, dark dominion to maintain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of incantations dire, and of that spell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Sesek wrought—which seemed the feat of Hell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[p. 70]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO FOURTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scene.</span> The Narraganset Camp at Potowomet.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">The</span> twain have left the height, and sought the glade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the red warriors wheel the martial dance;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A while the thick young cedars round them made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A cover that concealed their still advance;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But passing quickly through the denser shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sire Williams sent abroad his searching glance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er the rude camp, and saw, on every side,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around the blazing fires the dancers glide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.2" id="ENref_4.2"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hundreds on hundreds thronged the glade, I ween,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With painted visages and pluméd hair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There bristled darts, there glittered lances sheen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And brandished knives upon the ambient air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Carved fiery circles—whilst, with threatening mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their dark locks streaming and their muscles bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dancers circled o’er the thundering ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leaping, breathed the hard, harsh, aspirated sound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But chiefly tow’rd the centre pressed the throngs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where plied the bravest chiefs their dances rude:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There listened to their Sachem’s battle songs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when he ceased, in leaps his lance pursued;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while the tumult swelled until their lungs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrung to the highest effort, filled the wood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the wild war-whoop, tremulous and shrill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then hushed itself and suddenly was still;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[p. 71]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Till from the groups another Sachem sprung,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To tell his deeds, and count his foemen slain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lancing the war-post as his numbers rung,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As if he slew his vanquished foe again;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst on his words the listening warriors hung,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And drank with greedy ears the bloody strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheering at times with plaudits loud and long,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The butcheries numbered in the martial song.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the tumult of this boisterous rout,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Williams, unmarked, had gained the central glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When all at once an unaccustomed shout</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Startled the groups around the fires arrayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And staring eyes, and pointing hands about,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Proclaimed the strangers to their view betrayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then died that hum, like the past whirlwind’s roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the dust rises on the distant shore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And all were hushed, while round them, man to man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They glanced, and wonder in their faces grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till through the camp the sullen rumor ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Pale-faced Awanux! Wampanoag too!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And warriors, kindling at the words, began</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To grasp their weapons all that gathering through;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, lo! they opened like a parting tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And once again their murmurs lulled and died.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams paused; for, from the severed crowd,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A chief advancing trod the breathing plain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bold was his port, his bearing high and proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A lance of length did his right hand sustain;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[p. 72]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The glittering wampum did his brows enshroud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His nodding plumage wore a crimson stain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His armlets gleamed—his belt, with figures traced,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Supported skirts with purple pëag laced.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His naked limbs were stained a sable hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His naked chest and face a crimson red;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Streamed backward from his brow two ribbons blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with his long black hair wild dalliance made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Suspended from his belt, half sheathed from view,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His scalping knife and tomahawk were stayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His eyes below his lowering forehead glowed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like two bright stars beneath a thunder cloud.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With strong majestic stride and lofty gait,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He neared our Founder and his dusky guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who, in half tone, could but ejaculate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Miantonomi!” when his Indian pride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Choked further utterance, though still elate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grasping his axe, with nostrils spreading wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Self-poised he stood; appearing to await</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The approaching chief, who glanced disdainful hate.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder chid his guide, and high displayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The calumet in one white hand, the while</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He raised the other, and mild gesture made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bespeaking peace. Well did the act beguile</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soothe the Sachem’s passion, and he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turning from Waban, with a scornful smile:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Has, then, Awanux come to hear the song?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our darts are thirsty, and our arms are strong!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[p. 73]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Williams: “Sachem, in the cause of Him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The great Good Spirit whom we all adore—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who smiles not on the contests fierce and grim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of his red children in the field of gore—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I have come hither, in unwarlike trim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To crave thy friendship, and of thee implore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That these black clouds portending bloody rain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May go, and let the sky shine out again.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So answering, the calumet of peace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He tendered to that warlike Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who clenched his hands, and backward stept a pace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Nay! Nay, Awanux! Wampanoag gore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will M’antonomi’s feet in battle trace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere dies another moon. He hears no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis not for him, amid these Keenomps bold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To talk of peace—that suits his uncle old.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams to this: “Then the gray chief is wise;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His glance is forward, and around him turns;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But o’er the young chief clouds of anger rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sees but backward, and his vengeance burns;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Show me to him who looks with wisdom’s eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the nations, and most truly learns,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From by-gone toils and dangers of his life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To prize the pipe above the scalping-knife.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At this his bosom the young Sachem struck,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And braced his frame, and flashed his kindling eye—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This breast is generous,” he proudly spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Of like for like abundant its supply;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[p. 74]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of good and bad it hath an ample stock;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It cheers its friend, it blasts its enemy—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten favors does it for each favor done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ten darts sends for every hostile one.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Follow the war-chief;—mid yon heavy cloud</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of warriors grim in arms and martial dyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sits the gray Sachem in his numbers proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But prouder still in counsels old and wise.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So spake he, striding tow’rd the lowering crowd.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Williams to calmness did his guide advise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And both with cautious step and slow pursued</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Sachem tow’rd that fearful multitude.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not more horrific gleams the glistering snake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where coiled on glowing rocks he basking lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, at the approaching step his rattles shake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flickers his forky tongue, and burn his eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than glared that crowd of warriors round the stake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Arrayed in murderous arms and martial guise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their turbulent murmurs kindling through the whole</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sympathetic wrath of one inspiring soul.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But when the Sachem, coming, near them trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He raised his open hand, and, pausing, spoke:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Keenomps! Awanux, prompted by his God,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brings back the pipe the Wampanoag broke.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our fathers ever answered good with good,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for the bearer of the pipe ne’er woke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The storm of vengeance;—list ye to his talk;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He brings no message from the tomahawk.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[p. 75]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As thus he spake, the sullen murmurs died,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, hushed and listening, all the warriors stood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again he moved—and at his onward stride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The deep mass parted like a severing flood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, yielding either way, the living tide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Left clear the space through which our Founder trod:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their breath alone he heard—like the hoarse breeze</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Foreboding tempests to the shuddering trees.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last he came where the old Sachems sate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who formed the Narraganset senate grave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Renownéd were they once, in fierce debate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of battle dire, as bravest of the brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now, as guardians of their little state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To younger hands they prudent counsel gave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their youth was gone, but their experience sage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had thrice its value in a wise old age.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.20" id="ENref_4.20"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">On settles, raised around the mounting blaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he who most attracts our Founder’s gaze</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is sage Canonicus, whose tresses hoar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Float on the passing breeze; whose brow displays</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The care-worn soul in many a furrowed score;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But whose bright eyes, that underneath it glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still show the chief of sixty years ago.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.21" id="ENref_4.21"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside him lay the calumet of peace—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It was his sceptre mid the din of arms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No martial dyes did on his visage trace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lines of wrath—for him they had no charms;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[p. 76]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The neyhom’s<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> mantle did his shoulders grace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With ample folds that stayed the winter’s harms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At every movement, changing in the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From plume to plume its glistering glories run.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> The neyhom, or wild turkey. See <a href="#Endnote_4.21">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Mute were the chiefs and seemed to meditate;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor turned their heads, nor cast a glance aside,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When on the offered mat our Founder sate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And close behind him came his watchful guide.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spread the warriors round in circle great,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And did the earth beneath their numbers hide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They sit, kneel, stand, or climb the forest boughs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all around the live enclosure grows.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When ceased the crowd to stir, and died their hum,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Long on our Sire the old chief kept his gaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length he said: “And has Awanux come?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He’s welcome to the red man’s council blaze.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What news brings he from the pale stranger’s home?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or from the dog that near his wigwam strays?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our young men see the pipe—what does it seek?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our ears are open—let Awanux speak.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sire Williams rose;—a thousand staring eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were on him fixed; a thousand ears were spread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To catch his words, whilst all around him lies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That mass of life hushed in a calmness dread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like that of dark Ontario, when the skies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are mustering their tempests overhead;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the round moon looks through the gathering storm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, glassed mid tempest shapes, beholds her form.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[p. 77]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He paused a while; at last he thus began:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Sachem of many moons, and wise as gray!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Well knowest thou how short the life of man;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These aged oaks have witnessed the decay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of many a generation of thy clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which flourished like their leaves, and past away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why war ye, then, upon a life so brief!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why fill its little span with wretchedness and grief?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But they who seek the pure unmingled goods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That last for aye,—to strenuous duty true,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Count freedom of the soul, in her high moods,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The first of gifts from the Great Manittoo:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this I wander to these distant woods;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For this from persecution’s brands I flew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And left my friends, my kindred, and my home,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through stormy skies and snowy wilds to roam.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Some thoughts of mine, that the Great Spirit might</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rule better His own kingdom than frail men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awoke the anger of my brothers white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sent me forth to seek some far-off glen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where I, unharmed, my council fire might light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And share its freedom with my kindred, when</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Under the tree of peace, the red men should</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Smoke the white pipe in friendly neighborhood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“On Seekonk’s eastern marge I chose a glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fertile and fair, with hope to plant thereon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Wampanoag would the grant have made,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But, momently, the startling rumor run</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[p. 78]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That all Coweset was in arms arrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against that chief, and, had the dance begun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then paused your brother—for he would not bring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His friends to sit beneath the hatchet’s swing.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then did he take Haup’s calumet to crave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That peace between the hostile nations be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not that the Wampanoag warriors brave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sought from the Narraganset storm to flee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But that no guilty stain, on Seekonk’s wave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rebuke the Pokanoket Chief or thee,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The work, perchance, of darts from heedless bows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Confounding pale-faced friends with warring foes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My motives these; now let the wise chief tell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What wrongs he suffers; what redress he seeks.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not his buried kindred slumber well?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What murdered victim’s ghost for vengeance shrieks—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sends through the echoing woods the warrior’s yell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And from its iron sleep the hatchet wakes?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or does some impious tongue his anger brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By speaking names made sacred by the grave?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then passed a murmur through that concourse wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And man on man cast the inquiring eye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length the old chief laid his pipe aside,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, musing, sate, as pondering his reply;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then slowly rose, and drew the pluméd hide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From his right shoulder, and, with stature high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stretched forth his long bare arm and shriveled hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pointing round the sky-encircled land;—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[p. 79]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“As far,” he said, and solemn was his tone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“As from Coweset’s hill the hunter’s sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Goes tow’rd the Nipnet—tow’rd the rising sun—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And o’er the mighty billows, foaming bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where bleak Manisses’ shores they thunder on,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Moved Narraganset warriors,—till the White</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came from the east, and o’er the waters blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brought his loud thunders in the big canoe:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.33" id="ENref_4.33"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did at our bidding come to fight the foe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rushed with swift foot to bend our battle bow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then we were strong—we fought the Maquas fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And laughed to hear the bordering Pequot’s yell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, Yengee, hear: The pale-faced strangers came;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No runners told us that they trod our shores;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Near the big waters rose their council flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to it ran our eastern Sagamores;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Haup’s dog forgot the Narraganset name,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ate the offal cast from white men’s doors,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moved at their heels, and after him he drew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The strong Pocassets, and the Nipnets too.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.35" id="ENref_4.35"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then the fierce Pequots on our borders broke,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We sent the belt to claim the accustomed aid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rebel chiefs the angry hatchet shook—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[p. 80]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">We stood alone; and, like a steadfast rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Turned back the torrent to its fountain head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which else had swept those sluggard tribes away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That by Awanux’ wigwam slumbering lay.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“These are our wrongs, and who can ever mend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The belt thus broken by the rebel train?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The falling waters with earth’s bosom blend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And who shall hold them in his palm again?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the common foe our warriors spend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their blood like rivers—who can wake the slain?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heal up the wounds for other men endured—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Give back the blood which has their rest secured?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.37" id="ENref_4.37"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Sachem ceased, and mingled murmurs ran</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through all that crowd—“He speaks a manittoo!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Base Wampanoag! we’ll devour that clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And drive the Yengees back o’er ocean blue!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And through the concourse motions mixed began,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With clash of arms, and twanging of the yew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when they saw our Founder rise again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mute stillness hushed the murmurs of the train.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” said Williams, “thou art old and wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And know’st the pipe is better than the dart.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The barb can drink the blood of enemies;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But the pipe’s conquest is the foeman’s heart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It gives to us his strength and energies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And makes the Pequot from our path depart.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, to the good, gives triumph long and just—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, to the bad, a victory over dust.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[p. 81]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“If, then, my brother can subdue his foes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the white pipe, he will be very strong!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The offending chiefs once more will bend his bows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shout around his fire their battle song;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No more will Pequot harass his repose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or Maqua yells resound these hills among.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">See not my brothers whence all this distrust?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The belt between them and the Yengees rust.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hearken a space—Deem not the Yengee weak;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Betwixt him and Haup’s chief the chain is bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thou on him a finger’s vengeance wreak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The conscious chain will vibrate to the White,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, roused from slumber, will the big guns speak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flames will flash from every woodland height.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pause, brother, pause—and to the pale-faced train</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Extend thy friendship, and keep bright the chain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.41" id="ENref_4.41"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But hearken still—Thy brother knows no guile;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His tongue speaks truly what his heart conceives;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the Pequots do your bosoms boil,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their hands are laden with the white man’s spoil,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And crimsoned with the stain that murder leaves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon will the big guns to their nation speak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, in their aid, may’st thou just vengeance wreak.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thou would’st compel the Wampanoag’s aid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To guard thy borders, and chastise thy foes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will not my brothers let me them persuade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To get them warriors armed with more than bows?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[p. 82]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Even Awanux, in his strength arrayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose thunder roars and whose red lightning glows?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make him your friend and victory follows sure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Narraganset rests in peace secure.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The old chief downward gazed; the warriors round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some in stern silence sate of doubtful mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some gave a scornful smile, some fiercely frowned,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And others toiled to sharp their darts for blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length the Sachem, rising from the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With piercing eyes, full in the visage viewed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our anxious Founder.—“Thou dost speak,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The words of wisdom, but these ears are dead;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Dead to a Yengee’s voice. When did the tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the white stranger fail to speak most fair?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When did his actions not his speeches wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lay the falsehood of his bosom bare?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fain would I die in peace, and leave this throng</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To have their glory down the ages fare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still I feel the stranger’s grasping hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still he soothes me with his accents bland.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.45" id="ENref_4.45"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“If true he speak—that should his actions show;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May not his heart be darker than yon cloud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet his words white as its falling snow?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still, if his speech were true, and not a shroud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hide dark thought, these gray hairs yet might go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Down to the grave in peace—and of my blood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might all, whilst rivers roll, or rain descends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Live with the Yengee, kind and loving friends.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[p. 83]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas for our Founder now in turn to pause—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He felt his weakness at rebuff so stern;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The kid had leaped beneath the lion’s paws,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose fangs began to move, and eyes to burn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length he said, “What bold encroachment draws</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sachem’s mind into this deep concern?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How have the Yengees given thee offence?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What deeds of theirs have marred thy confidence?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.47" id="ENref_4.47"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At this, the Sachem from his girdle took</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His snow-white pipe, and snapt the stem in twain:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“They came intruders, and the pipe was broke,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said the stern Sachem, and it snapt again;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our subject chiefs their ruling chiefs forsook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And they were sheltered by the stranger’s train.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Filled with round thunders to our royal tent.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_4.48" id="ENref_4.48"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This shows, they raised their bulwarks high and proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And poised their big guns at our distant home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, when at Sowams<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> raged our battle loud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How their round thunders made that battle dumb.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, the fire-water how they have bestowed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with its madness have our youth o’ercome.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, how amid the Pequot nation they</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_4.33">note to stanza <span class="allsmcap"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></span></a></p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This, with the Maqua how a league they made,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And filled with arms his all-destroying hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, how they claim right over quick and dead—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our fathers’ buried bones, their children’s land.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This, how the earth grows pale, as fast they spread<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[p. 84]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">From glade to glade, like snow from Wamponand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When borne o’er ocean on the sounding gales,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It crowns the hills and whitens through the vales.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Take thou the fragments—count their numbers well—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten times complains our violated right;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They’ll help thy memory, and perchance will tell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten causes have we to distrust the White;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce can the grave our fathers’ spirits quell—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They come complaining in the dreams of night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten times the pipe was by the strangers broke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten times the hatchet from its slumbers woke.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams the fragments took, and, counting ten,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He promptly answered with this calm reply:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sachem, some charity is due to men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who tread upon thy pipe unwittingly.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long had the waters tossed those wanderers, when,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hungry and cold, they came thy borders nigh;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, Sachem, they were ignorant of thy race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They only sought a safe abiding place.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And this they found in that deserted strand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where slept the dead—where living men were not;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They knew no wrong in this—a rightful hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Appeared, and welcomed to the vacant spot;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each Sachem seemed as sovereign of his band—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They took his belt, for ’twas a token brought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of friendly greeting—who can this condemn?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They aid the Whites, the Whites in turn aid them.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[p. 85]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Bound in the skin of the great sachem snake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My brother sent his barbs—but to his foe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awanux took the challenge by mistake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And let his bullets for an answer go;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They deemed the Sachem angry, and did take</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some wise precaution ’gainst a secret blow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They raise their bulwarks, and their guns they poise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This was respect to sovereign brave and wise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No leagues have they with the fierce Maqua made,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor with the Pequot hostile is the race;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if my brothers, for the fight arrayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er Pokanoket’s borders speed their pace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I dare not say they would forego the aid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of any tribe that would thy battle face;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mohegans, Pequots, Tarrateens would fly</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To join their force, and swell their battle cry.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To these six fragments of the pipe I’ve spoke;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Take them again, if I have answered well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But those which tell me that the stem was broke</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By the fire-water, and of what befel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thee upon Haup—of claims thou canst not brook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made by those strangers from the nations pale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To these broad forests as their own domain—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These will I ask Awanux to explain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This fragment tells me that his numbers grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That they are spreading fast, from glade to glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If the Great Spirit does increase bestow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will the wise Sachem that great Power upbraid?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[p. 86]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The lands they take, well does my brother know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They fairly purchase of the nations red;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en thus would I on Seekonk’s marge abide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If peaceful nations dwelt on either side.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“On Seekonk’s bank, betwixt my brothers white</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the red nations I might friendly stand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And help them still to understand aright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whate’er was doubtful from each other’s hand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chain of friendship hold, and keep it bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And strengthen thus all Narraganset’s band;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till ’gainst our common foes we all unite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And conquer safety through resistless might.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This question seeks the Sachem’s plain reply:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Takes he the pipe—lays he the axe aside?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have I his peace, or does he peace deny,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor in my honest counsels aught confide?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still chooses he the doubtful strife to try,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And brave the Yengees with his foes allied?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say—can he listen to an exiled man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose words and deeds might still befriend his clan?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” the Sachem said in milder tone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Six fragments of the pipe, as well explained,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My willing hand receives—I ponder on</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The last in doubt—the three, thou hast retained,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Send to Awanux—may he answer soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And show our blindness has of them complained;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy heart seems open, and its speech is brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Queries of weight demand an answer grave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[p. 87]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Large is our regal lodge, and furnished well</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With skins of beaver, bear, and buffalo;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nausamp and venison is its royal meal;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And its warm fire is like the summer’s glow:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, with that Wampanoag shalt thou dwell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all our comforts in full safety know;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whilst, our old chiefs shall, in council great,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon thy questions gravely meditate.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here closed the long debate, and, from the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rose the thronged warriors, and hoarse murmurs past</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all that concourse, like the hollow sound</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Narraganset’s waters, when the blast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Begins to roll the tumbling billows round</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rock-bound cape, which had so lately glassed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its imaged self—its pendant crags and wood—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the calm bosom of the silent flood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[p. 88]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO FIFTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> A Sequestered Dale—Open Glade and Grand National Council—The -<span class="sc">Summit of Haup</span>.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">Deep</span> in the dale’s sequestered solitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Screened from the winter’s storm and chilling blast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By branching cedars and thick underwood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ever with their shadows overcast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Old Narraganset’s regal wigwam stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where dwelt her chief, while yet the cold did last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tempests, driving from the frozen north,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Detained his warriors from the work of wrath.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And near it rose an ample council hall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where oft the Narraganset senate sate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When came the wise men, at their Sachem’s call,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On schemes of high emprise to hold debate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the shade were shelters meet, for all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His grave advisers who should on him wait;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, with the red men just as with the white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such free provision did delays invite.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here Father Williams must a while remain.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, with apt converse born of feelings mild,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soothe the stern natures of the warlike train,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His destined neighbors in that barbarous wild;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Allay distrust and confidence obtain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until suspicion and fierce wrath, despoiled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all their terrors, leave the vanquished mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To generous friendship and full faith inclined.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[p. 89]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Day after day he passed from man to man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whome’er of note the mightier Sachems swayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, to the chieftains of each martial clan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In paints all grim—in horrid arms arrayed—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He talked of peace; then o’er the dangers ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were war against the Wampanoag made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then besought them that with friendly eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They would behold his smoke from Seekonk rise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Betwixt the tribes, on either side the stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still he the belt would hold—the pipe would bear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But never in his hand should lightning gleam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For either Sachem when he rushed to war;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with the Yengees still might it beseem</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him to promote an understanding fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till wide the tree of peace its branches spread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And white and red men smoked beneath its shade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But chiefly did he this free converse hold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With M’antonomi, Sachem young and brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And great Canonicus, sagacious, old</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And in his speech deliberate and grave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One eve they sate—the storm without was cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas ere the council their decision gave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus the talk went on among the three,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The questions simple and the answers free.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<p class="center sp05"><span class="sc">Miantonomi.</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Why will my brother dwell amid our foes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet seek from us a peaceful neighborhood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May we not think he’ll bend their battle bows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thirst like them for Narraganset’s blood?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[p. 90]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Why has he Seekonk’s eastern border chose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And not surveyed Mooshausick’s winding flood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its banks are green,—its forests waving fair,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its fountains cool, the deer abundant there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<p class="center sp05"><span class="sc">Williams.</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er will I dwell among my brother’s foes,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make them friends is now thy brother’s toil;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too weak I am to bend their battle bows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had I the heart for such unseemly broil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The forest fair that by Mooshausick grows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would long withstand the hardy woodman’s toil.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Seekonk’s marge will easy tillage yield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon the spiry maize will clothe its field.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<p class="center sp05"><span class="sc">Canonicus.</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How could my brother’s thoughts his friends offend?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Why flies he to the red from faces pale?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can he still the nations red befriend?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What can his speeches with his foes avail?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No arms he bears, no Yengees him attend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How dares his foot to print this distant vale?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The path was shut between the nations red,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How dared my brother on that path to tread?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<p class="center sp05"><span class="sc">Williams.</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The white man labors to enthrall the mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He will not let its thoughts of God be free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I come the soul’s hard bondage to unbind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And clear her access to the Deity;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[p. 91]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The pale-faced foes whom I have left behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would still accept a favor done by me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I trusted God would guard his servant’s head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Open all paths, and soothe my brothers red.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.11" id="ENref_5.11"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></a></p> -<p class="center sp05"><span class="sc">Canonicus.</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy generous confidence has on me won</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And oped my ears, to other Yengees deaf.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brother, the spirit of my son is gone—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thou art true I am not left alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some comfort is there for the gray-haired chief;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If to thy words the fitting deeds be done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The kindest reader would fatigued complain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should I recount each question and reply,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That passed between our Father and the train</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of barbarous warriors and their Sachems high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But though he languished o’er my humble strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till patience left or dullness closed his eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Williams it was not an idle song—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dull reality did days prolong.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They had their Corbitants of surly mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who scarce would yield obedience to their lord;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alike they thirsted for the Yengees’ blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Wampanoag’s and alike abhorred.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By gaudy gifts their anger he subdued,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or won their kindness by his soothing word;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But one there was who spurned all proffers kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose demon hate was to all goodness blind.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[p. 92]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It was the grim Pawaw.—He came in ire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From his proud dwelling by Mooshausick’s stream;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His was the voice of gods and omens dire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And loud he chanted his prophetic dream;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The white man’s gods had set the woods on fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Chepian vanished in its fearful gleam;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their fathers’ ghosts came from their hunting ground—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their children sought, and only ashes found.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Gravely attentive did the council hear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That crafty priest his awful omens sing.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The warriors, ruled by superstitious fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Half credence gave, and overawed the king.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In groups they thronged the forest, far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With gathered brows and surly muttering;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still the prophet through the kindling crowds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moved like a comet through night’s lowering clouds.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And as he passed, the varying rumors flew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of secret plans hatched by the Yengees’ hate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still their fears and doubts and wonder grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst on that dream the chiefs prolonged debate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For priest he was and politician too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And oft he meddled with affairs of state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wrought on the fears of superstition’s crew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the best counsels of the wise o’erthrew.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, when the senate dared resist his sway,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He still gained triumph with the multitude;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till now the chiefs, half yielding to dismay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet vexed and goaded by his rebel mood,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[p. 93]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Bade that the clans assemble on a day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Williams meet the prophet of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in their presence front and overthrow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His strange dominion, or all hope forego.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I will not say that devils did enlist</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To do the bidding of the grim Pawaw;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He may have been a wild ventriloquist,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Formed by rude nature; but the age which saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The marvels that he wrought, would aye insist</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His spells surpassed material nature’s law;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that the monarch of the infernal shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mustered his legions to the wizard’s aid.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Great was his fame; for wide the rumor went</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That all the demons were at his command,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fiends in rocks, and dens, and caverns pent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came to the beck of his black waving hand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The boldest Keenomps, on resistance bent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could not the terror of his charms withstand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still would shrink and shudder at the sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When spoke his viewless fiends in anger round.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And it was rumored that he daily held</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Communion strange with monsters of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Harked to their voices, and their meanings spelled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And muttered answers which they understood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he had filled with wisdom unexcelled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A cherished serpent of the sesek’s brood,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had taught his forky tongue to modulate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The voice of man, and speak impending fate.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[p. 94]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At length the morn of this stern trial rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And mustering towns poured forth their eager trains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From where wild Pawcatuck’s dark water flows,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To where Pawtucket cleaves the sounding plains;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From where Aquidnay’s blooming bosom throws</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ocean back, unto the far domains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the rude Nipnet, Narraganset’s wood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rendered in eager throngs the multitude.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Swarm upon swarm, far dark’ning all the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They gathered, and on Potowomet’s plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusky rabble filled the borders round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While near the centre stood the warrior train;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wild dance their plumes; fierce looks, fierce threats abound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With war of voices like the murmuring main,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherein these words continually prevail:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The priest of Chepian grim!—Awanux weak and pale!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The council formed upon the open glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sachems sate about the mounting blaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Five thousand warriors round that senate made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A dreadful ring, and stared with fixed amaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the senate, (so the chieftains bade,)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Apart sate Williams, obvious to their gaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And off a little, but confronting him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appeared the wizard in his hideous trim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.24" id="ENref_5.24"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From crown to heel stained black as night he rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All naked save his waist and heaving chest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sable fox-tail formed the nodding crest</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[p. 95]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Above his inky locks, which, dangling loose,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Half veiled his cheeks, and reached unto his breast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around that breast the same black fox’s hair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moved as he breathed, and seemed as growing there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tall was his form, and in his dexter hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He bore a barb with deadly venom fraught;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst in his left, supported by a band,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He held a casket, where the rabble thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A manittoo, awaiting his command,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Coiled in a serpent’s folds; and there was nought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That in brave warriors could awaken fright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save his dire glance and fascinating might.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For, strange to tell! e’en on the human kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That serpent ventured his mysterious charm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there were those who thought the subtle mind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Chepian’s self inspired his winding form.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All sought his omens.—He was aye enshrined,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through winter’s cold, in furs to keep him warm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And never issued to the open light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till famine roused his rage, or prey provoked his might.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, with strange terrors armed, the wizard stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And on the casket riveted his eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whispered for a while in ghastly mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until responses from it seemed to rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faintly distinct, whereat the vulgar blood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stayed its career, and even Sachems wise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heard with a thrill,—for these dread accents rose:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Count ye the sands—ye count your pale-faced foes.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[p. 96]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The prophet looked around, the throngs to scan;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And well he noted by the silence dread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The moment of effect, and then began,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beseeching first his fearful demon’s aid:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Chepian, thou power of evil! dread of man!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God of destruction! pouring on the head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of thy opposers, ruins, plagues, and pest,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let all thy might thy serpent form invest.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He said; then turning to the throngs he spoke:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Brothers! dark tempests overcast our sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The characters upon Cohannet’s rock</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Set bounds in vain; the stranger doth defy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And break our spells; dread Chepian feels the shock;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In wrath he sees the approaching deity</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the pale man—and, in his coming stride,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Feels scathe and death to his dominion wide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now hearken, brothers:—’twas a dismal night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And in his cave sate Tatoban alone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fading embers shed a dreary light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the big owl sent forth a hollow moan;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The god of tempests sped his rapid flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with his footsteps made the forest groan;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whilst he sate, out from the deepest gloom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did the dread form of awful Chepian come.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Sleeps Tatoban!’ the awful demon said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘Sleeps Tatoban! my Priest, my Prophet sleep!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does not a pale man my dominion tread?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With hostile gods has he not crossed the deep?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[p. 97]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Prophet! the spirits of your kindred dead</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Already o’er their children’s ashes weep;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arise! go forth, and by thy serpent quell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The daring stranger, and his gods expel!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.32" id="ENref_5.32"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet’s stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To curse the strangers every charm was tried?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, at your mutterings, the moon’s pale beam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Retired from Heaven, and backward rushed the tide?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How I appeared, and, by the embers’ gleam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To the hard rock my lance’s point applied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scored my mandate—saying to the foe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus far thy gods may come—no further go?<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_5.32">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Rouse, Prophet, rouse! A stranger now doth dare</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pass the charmed limits, and our peace invade!’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He said, and, resting on the casket there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Melted from sight into the sombre shade:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He chose my serpent for his earthly lair;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swelled his huge volumes, and inspired his head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And taught his tongue to speak the future well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And charms most wise that can the bravest quell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And dar’st thou, stranger, brave his glance of fire?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dar’st thou confront the terror of his charms?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Confront grim Chepian in the dread attire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the great Sesek, whose unearthly arms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wake fear in Sachems? O, thou fool! retire—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bear off thy gods; for robed in all their harms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou art unsafe.—No power we yield to thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or to thy gods; for Chepian rules by me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[p. 98]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams replied, “Thou Priest of Beelzebub!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Chepian, I mean, if that’s his better name—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I come not hither to assume thy robe</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pontifical, or emulate thy fame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or yet to trouble, with the warrior’s club,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such saints as thou and thy dark demon claim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For be but peaceful, and I let thee still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Worship thy manit dark, as suits thy will.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But here I sit, to prove thee to thy face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A foul impostor, and thy charms a cheat;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To ope the eyes of a deluded race,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Strangely misled by thine infernal feat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That in thy foe they confidence may place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And him, in friendship, as a neighbor greet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So try thy spells, thine utmost powers essay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if I blench, be thine the victor’s day.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Die, then!” he said, and down with fury cast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The magic casket, and wide open flew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its fur-lined cavern. Forth his volumes vast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fold following fold, the monstrous serpent drew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flashed on his burnished scales, the sunbeams past</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Along his flexuous form in many a hue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proud of his freedom, o’er the glade he rolled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mocked the rainbow in his hues of gold.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">High towered his head; in many an ample fold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He coiled his volumes, spires o’er spires ascending</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lessening as they rose and inward rolled;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His rustling scales, their various colors blending,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[p. 99]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Surpassed the hues of diamond and of gold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till, from the top pyramidal extending,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swam forth on crooked neck his eyes of flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rang his sharp buzz, and on he slowly came.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Shouted the crowds, as they beheld him rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The manittoo! The manittoo!” they cried.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In sooth, their demon, from his burning eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seemed looking forth, and his unlabored glide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce earthly seemed, the while his glistering dyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In mingling brilliance changed and multiplied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scarce the curves that moved him did untwist;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But o’er them floating, like a globe of mist,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His quivering rattles buzzed. With curious eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Williams beheld him gradually advance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then grasped a wand, then paused with fixed surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To see the gorgeous radiance, moving, glance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hues of heaven;—to see, now sink, now rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His bending spires,—his wavering colors dance;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at each change of that deep thrilling hum</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The motions change—the colors go and come.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.42" id="ENref_5.42"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">An odor, strange though not offensive, spread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About him, as he near and nearer drew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, piercing, keen, it filled our Founder’s head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Involved his brain, and passed his senses through;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Entranced he sate, while round him rose and played</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Celestial hues, and music strange and new;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heavens, the earth, to various radiance turned,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in a maze of mingling colors burned.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[p. 100]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The juggling sesek vanished from his sight;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No alien object did his trance confuse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So rang the hum, so danced the colors bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hues seemed music, and the music hues;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still swelled the sounds, still livelier flashed the light;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His limbs obedience to his will refuse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He strove to rise, he yielded to affright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like one be-nightmared in the dreams of night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whence this dread power that steals my strength away?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This creeping torpor, this Lethean dew?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This strange wild rapture mingling with dismay?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye dangerous beauties! vanish from my view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Creatures of Evil, come ye to betray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One victim more, and his sad soul subdue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unto the Tempter, whose infernal spell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brought death to Eden, and gave joy to hell?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And shall my labors thus inglorious end?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall my defeat give him a triumph new?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thought was fire, and did new vigor lend;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Back rushed his soul through every avenue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A seeming cloud did from his brain ascend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The magic colors vanished from his view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And at his feet, in many a supple sweep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The odious reptile coiled him for the leap.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift darts the tongue, the horrid jaws unfold;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Williams beheld—struck—cleft the head away:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In many a loosening coil the body rolled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Collapsed, grew still, and there extended lay,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[p. 101]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A headless reptile;—all its hues of gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And diamond deadened in its life’s decay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst the foiled wizard looked upon the slain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And choked and yelled, then choked with rage again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The crowds looked on ’twixt terror and surprise;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They gazed—they gaped with fixed astonishment;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their serpent manit braved—ay, slaughtered lies!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is it Awanux that is prevalent?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when they gave full credence to their eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wild wondering clamors through the masses went,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which closed in shouts that through the forest rolled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The wizard conquered by the Yengee bold!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ill could that juggler a white victor brook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Hell’s dark passions boiled through all his blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His eyes shot fire, and from his belt he took</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His deadly dart,—and in stern silence viewed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its poisoned barb, whose short and horrid crook</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The jaws of seseks armed,—jaws all imbued</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the keen venom gathered from the fangs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of such as died by self-inflicted pangs.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nothing he spake, but with a hideous yell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Raised his long dart, and, backward as he bent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From starting eye-balls shot the light of Hell;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At Williams’ breast the vengeful glance was sent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But as his muscles did the barb impel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Red Waban’s grasp obstructed their descent;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On earth the weapon falls and pants for blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lifted arm still threatening vengeance stood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[p. 102]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Miantonomi, who the scene surveyed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Too long had now his rising wrath concealed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mighty lance his better hand displayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And well he knew its haft of length to wield;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Backward its hilt the angry Sachem swayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ’neath its stroke the staggering wizard reeled;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till from a storm of blows he cringing fled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And madly howling through the forest sped.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Go, Priest of Chepian, go!” the Sachem said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Thy dreams are false—thy charms are all a cheat;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Go to thy manit—tell him that his aid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has failed thee once, and thou art sorely beat.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Us have thy prophecies too long betrayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And vacant in the council is thy seat.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When aid we need, we will to him apply</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who conquers thee, and slays thy deity.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A while the throngs sate as in deep amaze—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A while ’twas doubtful what might be their mood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At length wild shoutings they began to raise;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One transport filled the total multitude;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their Sachem’s boldness cheerly did they praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For long had they with dread the wizard viewed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor less admired our Founder’s courage true,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which did that juggler and his charms subdue.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then rose Canonicus, that shrewd old chief;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Brother!” he said, “much glory hast thou won;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy deeds this day will scantly gain belief</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With warriors red, from rise to set of sun:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[p. 103]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Great Chepian’s priest, within a moment brief,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou, with thy fearlessness, hast overdone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thou art greater than his manits are,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For they were vanquished in the combat fair.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother! we take thy calumet of peace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And throw the hatchet into quiet shade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Wampanoag’s terrors may surcease,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thou mayst plant on Seekonk’s eastern glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But hearken, brother!—better far would please</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy council fire if by Mooshausick made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But pass we that; for well our brother knows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To live our friend surrounded by our foes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother! thou wilt our belt of friendship take,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for us win the kindness of the White,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That when we war against the Pequot make,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hands may aid us, and his counsels light;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His thunders speak and all the forests shake,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His lightnings flash and spread a wild affright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through town and fortress, whereso’er we go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till not a Pequot lives to tell his nation’s woe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother! we grant thee quiet neighborhood,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tree of peace o’ershadows thee and me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thou mayst hunt in Narraganset’s wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And catch the fish that in our waters be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But thou must still promote the red man’s good,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Keep bright his belt, and make thy counsels free</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When danger darkens;—and if this be done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[p. 104]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce need I say, Sire Williams cheerly gave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pipe he bore and took the friendly belt;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That thanks he tendered to the Sachems brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That what he uttered he as deeply felt;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he repeated each assurance grave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of friendly favors, whilst he near them dwelt;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor pause I, now, the customs to describe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By which the truce was honored by the tribe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He took the Sachem’s friendly calumet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then scattered wampum mid the warriors all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Miantonomi’s lofty brow he set,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Round waving plumes, the jeweled coronal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scarlet coat the elder potentate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Most trimly graced, and gave delight withal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then ribbons gave he, various their hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To counsellors and Keenomps, bold and true.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His mission finished, Father Williams sped,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Waban guiding, through the forest lone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor cold nor hunger did he longer dread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or bore them cheerly now, his object won;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quickly to Haup did he the thickets thread—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Haup, so well to Pilgrim Father known—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found that Sachem, mid his warriors stern,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alarmed, but hoping still his safe return.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Gladly he heard from Waban’s faithful tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sire Williams’ speeches and the answers given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wildly shouted all that warrior throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To learn the dire enchanter’s spell was riven;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[p. 105]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And wilder shouts the echoing vales prolong,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hear that priest was from the council driven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The tree of peace” they cried, “will bloom again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wizard’s banished, and his manit slain.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to the elder chief our Father gave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Narraganset friendly calumet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And it was pleasant to behold the grave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stern old Sachem, whilst his eyes were wet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With tears of gratitude;—he could outbrave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The stake’s grim tortures, and could smiling sit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid surrounding foes; yet kindness could</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Subdue to tears this “stoic of the wood.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He clasped our Father by the hand and led</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him up, in silence, to the mountain’s crown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there, from snow-capt outlook at its head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They gazed o’er bay and isle and forest brown.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seemed a summer’s eve in winter bred;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sun in ruddy gold was going down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And calm and far the expanded waters lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clad in the glory of the dying day.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.63" id="ENref_5.63"><abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There stretched Aquidnay tow’rd the ocean blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In virgin wildness still of isles the queen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her forests glimmered with the western hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her vales and banks were decked with cedars green,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And southward far her swelling bosom drew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its lessening contours, in the distance seen;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till, wavering indistinctly, in the gray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Encroaching sea-mists they were hid away.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[p. 106]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath his feet, Aquidnay’s north extreme</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Displayed a cove, begemmed with islets gay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its silvery surface caught the setting beam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where’er the op’ning hemlocks gave it way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Young nature there, tranced in her earliest dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did all her whims in vital forms array;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her feathered tribes round beak and headland glide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her scaly broods leap from the glassy tide.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="65">LXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Out from Aquidnay tow’rd the setting sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spread the calm waters like a sea of gold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Studded with isles, till Narraganset dun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fringed the far west, and cape and headland bold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With forest shagged, cast their huge shadows down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And glassed them in the wave; while silence old</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resumed her reign, save that by times did rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On Williams’ ears, the sea-birds’ jangling cries.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Or the lone fowler, in his light canoe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Round jutting point all warily did glide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pause awhile to watch, with steadfast view,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the long-diving loon might break the tide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, noiseless, near the myriad seafowl drew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, baffled, saw them scur, with clangor wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up from the foamy flood, and, mounting high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Darken the day, and seek another sky.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="67">LXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then looking north, from far could he behold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bright bursting from his source through forests dun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like liquid silver, broad Cohannet rolled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tow’rd parent ocean;—there his currents run</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[p. 107]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Embrowned by fringing woods;—here molten gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gleaming and glittering in the setting sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They glance by Haup—there, eastward as they pour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They cleave Aquidnay from Pocasset’s shore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="68">LXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">That rude Pocasset—which, when Williams saw</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From towering Haup, did one broad forest shew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here, steep o’er steep, there, leaving Nature’s law,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hill, glade, and swamp,—presenting to the view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So mad a maze, that there, if hunter draw</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His sounding bow, and but a space pursue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wounded deer, he finds his guidance fail,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lost, halloos through tangled brake and dale.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet the rude wigwams smoked from many a glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where near the shore the oaks were branching wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where future gardens might invite the spade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or furrowing plough the fertile glebe divide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And where, still south, the hills retiring made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More ample meadows by the glassy tide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till far Seaconnet showed her rim of rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereon the ocean’s rolling billows broke.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.70" id="ENref_5.70"><abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But on Aquidnay dwelt our Founder’s gaze,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Enraptured still. “Would Seekonk’s mead compare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With yon wild Eden?” While he thus delays,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The old chief’s hand does on his bosom bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As he explains: “Another sachem sways</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The isle of peace. All Haup’s dominions are</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stretched tow’rd the God of frost—look there and choose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All thou hast won, and well a part mayst use.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[p. 108]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="71">LXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Turned by the words that gently woke his ears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before his eyes a boundless forest lay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mossy giants of a thousand years,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er hill and plain their mighty arms display;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mound after mound, far lessening north, appears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till in blue haze they seem to melt away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here Seekonk wedded with Mooshausick beamed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there Cohannet’s liquid silver gleamed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_5.72" id="ENref_5.72"><abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here Kikimuet left his woodland height,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bright in the clear, or dark beneath the shade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There Sowams gleamed,—if names the muse aright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till in the forest far his glories fade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While here and there, rose curling on his sight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The village smokes of many a sheltered glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, nearer, clustered at the mountain’s base,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The foremost town of Pokanoket’s race.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="73">LXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Embosomed there in massy shades it stood;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its frequent voices, up the silent steep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came on our Founder’s ear;—in cheerful mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tones of childhood shrill, and manhood deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Told him what sports, what toils were there pursued;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or, wild and clear, the melody would sweep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of girlish voices, warbling plaintive strains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Half chant, half music, over woods and plains.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="74">LXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah! how more lovely than the silence hushed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That lists in horror for the foeman’s tread!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A tender joy our Father’s bosom flushed,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The work was his that had these blessings spread;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[p. 109]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The storm, that else had o’er the nation rushed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had by his sufferings and his toils been stayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And as he mused, his hand the Sachem pressed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For like emotions swelled his rugged breast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="75">LXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And oh!” he cried, “what can the Sachem do?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How can he give to Winiams recompense?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our foes were many, and our warriors few,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But Winiams came, and he was our defence;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Go, brother, plant—go, plant our forest through—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All hast thou won by thy benevolence;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All hast thou saved from ruthless enemies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Take what thou wilt, and take what best may please.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="76">LXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Father answered—“give me bounds and deeds—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No lands I take but such as parchment names;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To future ages will I leave no seeds</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To yield a harvest of discordant claims;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If name I must, I name fair Seekonk’s meads—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What first I craved still satisfies my aims;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These and the friendship of my neighbors are</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reward too generous for my toil and care.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="77">LXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My brother gives with palm expanded wide,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Sachem said, “but with a closing hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our gifts are half received and half denied;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ha! was he born in the white stranger’s land?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My brother’s corn shall wave by Seekonk’s tide—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My brother’s town shall on its margin stand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the deer-skin, tested by my bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My painted voice shall talk, and to far ages go.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[p. 110]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="78">LXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">While thus they spake, the sun declining low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Narraganset’s shades, half veiled his light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On rapid pinions did the dark winged crow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And broad plumed eagle speed their homeward flight;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warned by the signs, the twain, descending slow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In converse grave, pass down the wooded height;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, in the Sachem’s sylvan palace, share</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Respite from hunger, toil, and present care.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[p. 111]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO SIXTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scene.</span> Seekonk’s Mead, or Place of the First Settlement.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">The</span> winds of March o’er Narraganset’s bay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Move in their strength—the waves with foam are white;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er Seekonk’s tide the tossing branches play,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The woods roar o’er resounding plain and height;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt sailing clouds, the sun’s inconstant ray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But glances on the scene—then fades from sight;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The frequent showers dash from the passing clouds;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hills are peeping through their wintry shrouds.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Dissolving snows each downward channel fill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each swollen brook a foaming torrent brawls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Old Seekonk murmurs, and from every hill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Answer aloud the coming waterfalls;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep-voiced Pawtucket thunders louder still,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To dark Mooshausick joyously he calls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who breaks his bondage, and through forests brown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Murmurs the hoarse response and rolls his tribute down.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_6.3" id="ENref_6.3"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But hark! that sound, above the cataracts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hollow winds in this wild solitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seems passing strange.—Who with the laboring axe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On Seekonk’s eastern marge, invades the wood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stroke follows stroke;—some sturdy hind attacks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yon ancient groves, which from their birth have stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unmarred by steel, and, startled at the sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wild deer snuffs the gales,—then, with a bound,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[p. 112]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Vaults o’er the thickets, and down yonder glen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His antlers vanish; on yon shaggy height</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sits the lone wolf, half-peering from his den,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And howls regardless of the morning light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unwonted sounds and a strange denizen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Vex his repose; soon, cowering with affright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He shrinks away, for with a crackling sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon hemlock bows and thunders to the ground.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Who on the prostrate trunk has risen now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And does with cleaving steel the blows renew?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Broad is the beaver on his manly brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His mantle gray, his hosen azure blue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His feet are dripping with dissolving snow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His garments sated with the morning dew;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder is he, and, though changed by long</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grievous suffering, steadfast still and strong.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hard by yon little fountain clear and sheen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose swollen streamlet murmurs down the glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where groves of hemlock and of cedars green</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oppose to northern storms a barricade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stands the first mansion of his rude demesne,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A slender wigwam by red Waban made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their common shelter from the wintry blast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And place of rest when daily toils are past.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet from the storm he seldom shrinks away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With his own hands he labors now to rear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mansion, where his wife and children may,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In happier days, partake the social cheer;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[p. 113]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And unrelenting bigot ne’er essay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make the free-born spirit quail with fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At threat of scourge, or banishment or death,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For free belief, the soul’s sustaining breath.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Day after day does he his toil renew;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From dawn till dark still doth his axe resound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And falling cedars still the valley strew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or cumber with their trunks the littered ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The solid beams and rafters does he hew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or labors hard to roll or heave them round;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or squares their sides, or shapes the joints aright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To match their fellows and the whole unite.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The beams now hewn, he frames the building square,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each joint adjusting to its counterpart—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tier over tier with labor does he bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Timber on timber closes every part,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Except where door or lattice to the air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A passage yields,—and from the walls now start</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rafters, matted over and between,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against the storm and cold,—with rushes green.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Long did this task his patient cares engage,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Twas labor strange to hands like his, I ween,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That had far oftener turned the sacred page</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than hewed the trunk or delved the grassy green;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But toils like these gave honors to the sage;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The axe and spade in no one’s hands are mean,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And least of all in thine, that toiled to clear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mind’s free march—Illustrious Pioneer!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[p. 114]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His cottage finished, he proceeds to rear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A strong rude paling round that verdant glade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His field and garden soon will flourish there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wild marauders may their fruits invade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His maize may be a banquet for the bear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And herds of deer may on his herbage tread;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But little thinks he that intruders worse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than these will enter and his labors curse.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now milder spring ushers its April showers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And up fair Seekonk woos the southern breeze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The birds are singing in their woodland bowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Green grows the ground and budding are the trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The purple violets and wild strawberry flowers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Invite the visits of the murmuring bees;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And down the glade the twittering swallow slips,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the stream her nimble pinions dips.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now, with vigor and redoubled haste,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Founder delves to plant the foodful maize;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He turns the glebe, does nature’s rankness waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The boscage burn, and noxious brambles raze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then o’er the seed, on earth’s brown bosom placed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fertile mould with careful hand he lays;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet content,—still labors, other whiles,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glade to gladden with a garden’s smiles.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then in the woods he carved the deep alcove,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And led the climbing vines from tree to tree;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But near the cottage left the birchen grove,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its tassels waving in the breezes free;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[p. 115]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While o’er the stream their boughs the cedars wove,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where wound a walk adown the murmuring lea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gadding vines embowered the fount’s bright flow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twixt banks of vernal flowers in bloom below.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er hatchet touched the overhanging bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whereon the robin built her wonted nest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About the borders did the wild rose grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For there the thrush might soothe her brood to rest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor would he banish from her dwelling low</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The long-eared rabbit, but her young caressed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fed from his hand they gambolled in the grove,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Caressed our Sire in turn, and mimicked human love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And these long toils had Waban’s faithful aid;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His twanging bow announced the early dawn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Boldly he pushed into the deepest shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or scanned the tracks upon the dewy lawn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With lusty arms he grappled on the glade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The growling bear, or caught the bounding fawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, with sure arrow and resounding bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brought down the turkey from her lofty bough.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sometimes he would the river’s bed explore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where with sure grasp the slippery eels he caught;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sometimes he delved along the sandy shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to the lodge the shelly tribute brought;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ever shared he with his Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For so to call our Founder he was taught,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The produce of his toils; and ’twas his care</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To parch the maize and spread the frugal fare.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[p. 116]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So for a while they two in quietude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With hopes auspicious, urged their task along,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lighter of heart; though Williams still would brood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And inly marvel, o’er the missing throng</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of friendly Indians, issuing from the wood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To greet him with “What-Cheer” in voices strong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft would wonder if perchance a vain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illusion had beguiled his troubled brain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But omens dark and dire appeared at last:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The grim Pawaw had seen the mansion rise,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had from Mooshausick’s highlands often cast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the advancing work his watchful eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And often, wafted on the passing blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Sire had heard that wizard’s warning cries:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet hoped that, baffled and chastised, his pride,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And courage too, had with his serpent died.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Vain hope! The close had scarce been made secure,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere Seekonk’s western marge was blazing bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And decked with horns, and furs, and paints impure,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The prophet with a comrade danced all night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Around the flame, and howling, did adjure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His manittoo that most abhorred the light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To give him aid, and, by or force or fraud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His hated neighbor drive once more abroad.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">War! war! he threatened:—and when morning came,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though quenched the fire,—upon the margin he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All trim for strife, bent his gigantic frame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er Seekonk’s severing flow, and toward the lea</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[p. 117]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Shook his ensanguined barb and smote the stream,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And muttered curses numbering three times three;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bent his bow, and sent across the flood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Darts armed with serpents’ fangs and red with blood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_6.22" id="ENref_6.22"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And brandishing his blade, he jeering said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It soon would eat, but eat in silence dread;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That if the red men all were turning white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He’d seek the white men that were turning red;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The path was open, and his foot was light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Shawmut<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> hunters would with greedy ear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear in what covert couched their stricken deer.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> The Indian name for Boston.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, with a hideous yell that rent the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He sternly turned and tow’rd Mooshausick flew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban who watched the scene with blazing eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Swift answer gave in shouts of valor true.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From threats like these our Sire might harm surmise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But that he deemed the wily wizard knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How heavy was Miantonomi’s spear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, if ’twere needful, might be made to fear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But, after this portentous morn, scarce sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Looked on that glade, but brought them fresh alarms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If Waban delved the shores or walked thereon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Missiles around him flew from hidden arms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His snares were plundered ere the morning shone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Clubs smeared with blood and threatening deadly harms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay in his path, and voices strangely broke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From viewless forms on shrub, or tree, or rock.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[p. 118]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft from the vacant air came bitter jeer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In gibberish strange, and oft from under ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hellish mockery smote the hunter’s ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And he would start; but if he glanced around</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams saw, he banished every fear;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For well he knew his Sachem could confound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such diabolic phantoms,—he who slew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In Potowomet’s glade, the serpent manittoo.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then taking courage he would seek the brake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cull the straight haft, and arm it with the bone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or tooth of beaver, and the plumage take</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From Neyhom wild to wing and guide it on</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Straight to its mark, or with nice handling make</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of sinewy deer the bowstring tough, or hone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His glittering scalping-knife, and grimly feel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How sharp its point, how keen its edge of steel.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At length, no longer heedful of disguise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the opposing bank the wizard stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With meet compeer—both armed; their battle cries</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And challenge fired brave Waban’s martial blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scorning all counsel, to the marge he flies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shoots his arrows o’er the severing flood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To taunts and jeers his bow alone replies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon their hostile missiles span the skies.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From tree to tree the champions fly and fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Driving or driven from the sheltering screen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each change, each movement, yielding to the sight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their swarthy members through the foliage green;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[p. 119]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereat their arrows follow, flight on flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With hideous yells at every pause between;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now down the stream—now at the tumbling falls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The petty battle raves, and wrath to vengeance calls.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hour after hour thus raged the doubtful fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until the combatants their shafts had spent;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to the river’s marge in peaceful plight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bearing the pipe with fumes all redolent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fraudful wizard came, as to invite</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across the stream to cheer quite innocent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And friendly league a neighbor and a friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, let the pipe,” he said, “the battle end.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban is brave, and Tatoban is brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hereafter let us live as neighbors kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And let thy arrows sleep; no more shall rave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This knife and hatchet; Tatoban was blind!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Go!” Waban cried, “thou and thy dastard slave!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go trap the Neyhom, or the foolish hind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But thinkest thou into thy open snare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To lure the cunning fox, and slay him there?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus closed the strife that day; another came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all was peace; another sun and still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Another rose and set, and still the same</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unbroken peace—no threatening sign of ill:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quite undisturbed red Waban trapped his game</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or delved the shore—no foe appeared; until</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Sire believed that he might safely bless</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His weary hours with earth’s best happiness.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[p. 120]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban, his only counsellor and friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Warrior and subject in this lone domain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did now the summons of his chief attend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, questioned by him, straightway answered plain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” said Williams, “do our battles end?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is the war over—have we peace again?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No more on yonder bank the prophet stands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wings his darts or whirls his blazing brands.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban replied, “Did ever noon-day light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On midnight break? Did ever tempest shed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just as it gathered, radiance mild and bright?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Heard not my Sachem what the prophet said,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That if the red men were all turning white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He’d seek such white men as were turning red?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance he goes, and Waban has a fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That to his cunning speech they’ll lend an ear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban, fear not; my pale-faced brethren are</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All Christians, or at least would such be thought;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dost thou think that Beelzebub, how fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Soe’er his speech may be, could move them aught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against their brother? It is better far,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If it be true such vengeance he have sought,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than that he lurk among the bushes here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fill our days with care and nights with fear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, Waban, I have now a task for thee;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Think not of him; but let thy mind be here.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst snows o’erspread the earth and ice the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I parted from my wife and children dear;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[p. 121]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas stormy night, the hunter sheltered me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave me in his lodge abundant cheer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then tow’rd the rising sun for me he sped,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saw the home from which the wanderer fled.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“There too he saw his little children play,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the white hand which gave the blanket red;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now that gloomy time seems far away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For much has happened, many a moon has sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lodge is built, the garden smiling gay;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will the swift foot once more the forest thread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And guide the children and the snow-white hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With watchful tendance, to this distant land?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban replied: “The nimble-foot will go;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But a gaunt wolf may haunt the hunter’s way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he will whet his darts, and string his bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gird his loins as for the battle fray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Priest of Chepian ne’er forgets a foe;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His vengeance lasts until a bloody day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doth feed the crows, or still a bloodier night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gives the gaunt wolf a feast ere dawning light.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God is our trust!” our pious Founder said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Arm, and go forth confiding in his might;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So far as e’er an exile’s foot dare tread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The ground forbidden him, thy sachem white</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will go to meet thee; and when morn has shed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Five times from eastern skies her golden light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will wait thee and his wife and children dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hidden in Salem woods till thou appear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[p. 122]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder then the brief epistle traced,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Entreating first that some kind Salem friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To aid his little Israel through the waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would for a while two well-trained palfreys lend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to his wife, with kind expression graced,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did meet directions for her guidance send;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Called her from Egypt, bade her cheerly dare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The desert pass, and find her Canaan there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The morrow dawned, and Waban stood prepared;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His knife well sharpened and his bow well strung—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He waited only till his chief declared</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His purpose full; then on his mantle flung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Girded his loins, his brawny arms he bared,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lightly through the rattling thickets sprung;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon the thunderings of the partridge tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where bounds his distant foot from dell to dell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[p. 123]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO SEVENTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> Seekonk’s Mead—The Wilderness—Salem—The Wilderness—The -Night at the Cavern—The New Home.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">Much</span> Williams dreaded that dark priest, I ween,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Albeit he hid his fears from Waban’s eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His threat’ning arrows and his savage mien</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would often now in midnight dreams arise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, rising, bring of blood a woful scene—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His Mary pale—his children’s wailing cries;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he would start, and marvel how a dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Delirium’s thought, should so substantial seem.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If in the lonely wilds, by evening dim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That vengeful savage should the path waylay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all the dearest earth contained for him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Those jewels of the heart, what power could stay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His thirst for blood—his fury wild and grim</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As is the tiger’s bounding on his prey?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft came obtrusive this appalling thought—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He shook it off—still it returned unsought.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not long he brooks this torturing delay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But soon tow’rd Salem through the forest goes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor will the Muse go with him on his way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sing in horrid shades each night’s repose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until she, shuddering, mingle with her lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And seem herself to bear her hero’s woes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let it suffice that on the third day’s dawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He gazed from Salem woods on Salem town.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[p. 124]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw the cottage he must tread no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sighed that man should be so stern to man;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Two harnessed palfreys stood beside the door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the windows busy movement ran;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then did his eyes the village downs explore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere yet the labors of the day began;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all still slept, save where the watch-dog bayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or lowed the kine and cropt the dewy glade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_7.5" id="ENref_7.5"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And many a field new traces of the plough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And many a roof its recent structure showed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the harbor many a sable prow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rocked by the billows, at her anchor rode;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, ah! he saw (to him no temple now)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lowly house where erst in prayer he bowed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And strove to lead his little flock to Heaven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His flock no more,—with strifes now sorely riven.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He turned his eyes again to that dear spot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where, by the door, the waiting palfreys stood:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, laden now, they bore what Mary thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tender exiles, in the lonely wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would need or miss the most, and likewise aught</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That would most cheer or comfort their abode;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With useful household wares, securely piled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But cumbersome for journeying through the wild.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw red Waban take each palfrey’s rein,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And slowly walk the laden beasts before;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw his Mary, with her little train</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of blooming children, issue from the door;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[p. 125]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw her loving neighbors them detain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Almighty’s blessing on them to implore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And heard the farewell hymn, a pensive strain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mingled voices as they trod the plain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Pleasant it was, and mournful was it too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To see the matron leading by the hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From all their joys to toils and dangers new,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That innocent and happy infant band;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For, hand in hand, did they their way pursue,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With childish wonder, toward the distant land;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As little witting of the ills that wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As that their labors were to found a State.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon Waban passed him where concealed he stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And slowly led his docile charge along;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Mary stept into the dusky wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still guiding, as she came, the prattling throng;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No longer viewless he his darlings viewed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But, wild with rapture, from the thicket sprung:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, father! father!” burst the children’s cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Mary claspt him in her ecstacy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But short the transport—soon must they resume</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The weary march, and from the dawning gray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hour after hour, to pensive evening’s gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through the lone forest wend their devious way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er river, vale, and steep, through brake and broom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rough ravine, with aching steps they stray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The father’s arms oft bore the lovely weight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or on the palfrey’s back the weariest sate.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[p. 126]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus they past o’er many a rapid flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Climbed many a hill—through many a valley wound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While wary Waban moved before them slow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for their feet the smoothest pathway found;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">River and fen and miry waste and low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The floods had swollen to their utmost bound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unbridged by frost, no passage do they show,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And far about the anxious wanderers go.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun from middle skies now downward bent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His course, and for a while on lofty ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They rested, and abroad their glances sent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far o’er the sea of forest that embrowned</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The landscape. The overarching firmament,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The woody waste enclaspt with azure round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yon bright sun, yon eagle soaring high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yon lone wigwam’s smoke, are all that cheer the eye.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At times the eagle’s scream trills from on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At times the pecker taps the mouldering bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or the far raven wakes her boding cry,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All else is hushed the vast expanses through:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, ah! they feel in the immensity</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of pathless wilds, around them and below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As in mid-ocean feels some shipwrecked crew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Borne wandering onward in the frail canoe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And something was there in red Waban’s mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which all the morn had drawn our Founder’s eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For still he spake not, and was often seen</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To bend his ear, or start as with surprise;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[p. 127]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And now he stood, and, through the thicket’s screen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The shadowy prospect seemed to scrutinize,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then paused, unmoving, till a far-off howl</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did, with long echoes, through the stillness roll.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It seemed a wolf’s, but Waban’s practised ear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could well the language of the forest tell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again he paused, till from the distance drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A faint response in dying cadence fell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spake in haste;—“Does not my sachem hear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The voice of vengeance in the breezes swell?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Come! Let us hasten to some friendly town,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For murder tracks us through the forest brown!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Comrade to comrade calls!—the demon’s priest</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is on our trail!”—No more the red man spoke;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this in Narraganset’s tongue exprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Mary nothing told, save as the look</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And earnest gesture may have stirred her breast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With vague alarm.—But these she soon mistook</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As native to him in his wonted mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seemed confirmed as she our Founder viewed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He, in like speech, thus to his faithful guide:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Waban, be calm! wake not in bosoms frail</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A groundless fear; the tokens may have lied;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some other wolf may be upon our trail.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban was hunted,” quickly he replied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Far tow’rd the white man’s town through yonder vale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When there, the priest oft in his pathway stept,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And watched the wigwam where the white hand slept.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[p. 128]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Sire Williams shuddered thus to realize</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What he had hoped was but his fancy’s fear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet he quelled each symptom of surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thus to Waban: “Brother, be your ear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quick as the beaver’s, and your searching eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like to the eagle’s, and, the foeman near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be your heart bolder than the panther’s, when</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He slays the growling bear and drags him to his den.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They left the steep, and, o’er the woodland plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Passed with all speed the tender group could make;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They ford the rivers, and their course maintain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through ancient groves, where, bare of broom and brake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lurking foe might scant concealment gain;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Waban still moved before, and nothing spake;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His rapid glance scanned every thicket near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when he paused he bent the listening ear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hour after hour the hunter thus did go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes still roving and his ears still spread;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His was a spectre’s glide;—but toiling slow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The lagging group pursued with faltering tread.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last he paused beneath a birchen bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where the dense alders formed a barricade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there awaited them.—With anxious breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams approached, and thus his guide addrest:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_7.21" id="ENref_7.21"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sees not my brother that the shadows grow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fast tow’rd the east, and that the forest brown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon hides the sun?—then whither does he go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To rest in safety till the morrow’s dawn.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[p. 129]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban replied, “O’er yonder distant brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Smokes in the vale Neponset’s peopled town;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy red friends there will thee in safety keep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There may the white hand and the children sleep.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As thus he spake, across their pathway sped</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The startled partridge on her whirring wings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An arrow glanced—it grazed the hunter’s head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the shrill forest with the bowstring rings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Red Waban’s eyes flash fire, and anger dread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flames in his blood, and every muscle strings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He stooped to mark where twanged that hostile bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then sprang from tree to tree, to reach the foe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But ere he gained the purposed point, or viewed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fell assassin, the dry fagots’ crash,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The waving coppice, and re-echoing wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sounding footfalls down the brakes that dash,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Told him how vainly he his foe pursued,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or that pursuit were dangerously rash;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And turning slowly he retraced his track,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As his foiled leap the lion measures back.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The matron trembled, at the scene dismayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For she had marked that hostile arrow’s flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams’ glance, and Waban’s mien betrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That instant peril did their fears excite;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet no frantic shrieks her acts degrade;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A mother’s cares did every thought invite;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er the little scions of her blood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She stretched her arms’ frail fence, and trembling stood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[p. 130]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Calmer in bearing but with equal dread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The anxious father viewed the threatening harm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, under God, what was there now to aid,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Save his own firmness and red Waban’s arm?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind—before—a dreary forest spread;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far was Neponset; here the dire alarm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of lurking savage; whilst the gathering night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still added horror to a dubious flight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He paused a moment, and his means forlorn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To guard the onward march, he thus arrayed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The palfreys shielded by the burdens borne,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On either side the moving group, were led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This by himself, that by his eldest born,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whilst nimble Waban scoured the threatening shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, keeping wary watch where’er he ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now fenced their flanks, now pioneered their van.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Like as the eagle,—when, from airy rest</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She wards her callow young with watchful eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sees the thickets move, by footsteps prest</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the precinct of her nursery,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wheels first on outstretched pinions round her nest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Searching below, then darts into the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For far espial,—gathering every sound,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soars aloft or sails along the ground;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So Waban watched and ran, while, moving slow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The anxious father aids the group along.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In dreadful silence sleeps the forest now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hushed is the prattling of each infant’s tongue;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[p. 131]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">No sound is there, save that of footsteps low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or of the breeze that sighs the leaves among,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or palfrey’s tramp—whose hoofs, with iron shod,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now clink on rocks, now deaden on the sod.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun at last sunk in the western shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the thick forest cast a darker frown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now they paused amid an open glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More than a bow-shot from the thickets brown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Father Williams to the hunter said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Where! where! O Waban, is Neponset’s town?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Waban answered, “Full one-half a sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This march requires to bring us to its steep.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then here we rest, to take whate’er may come,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Founder said, “and do you all prepare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tread the realms that lie beyond the tomb;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There are no foes or persecutors there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To drive the guiltless forth, and bid them roam</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In savage wilds; yet do not quite despair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When comes the foe,—and come he doubtless will,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brother! we must be firm—if needful, we must kill!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban is firm,” the hunter said, and smote</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His naked breast, and raised his stature high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet hear the red man still;—not far remote</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is Waban’s rock, where he is wont to lie</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the far-striding moose has tired his foot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And night comes down, and tempests rule the sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There may we rest; the foe’s approach is hard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But by one pass, and that will Waban guard.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[p. 132]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The place they sought;—’twas down a rocky dell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where scarce the palfreys found a footing sure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where deeper darkness from the forest fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thicker boscage did the pass immure;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, before them, like a citadel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rose a tall rock, whose frowning frontals lower</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Over a narrow lea, with brambles dense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On either side like an impervious fence.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here,” said the red man, (as he raised a mass</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of vines that clustered down the rock’s descent,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here’s Waban’s cavern, here is ample space</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For thee and thine; in this rude tenement</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten hunters oft have found their biding place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor in it felt themselves too closely pent;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban will now below the opening raise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In yon dry fagots’ heap, the mounting blaze.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Stay! stay!” said Williams, “wouldst thou lure the foe?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wouldst start the flame to tell him where we sleep?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hunter smiled: “My Sachem does not know</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How true the foe will to our footsteps keep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He hears, perchance, e’en now our accents low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or marks us from some tree on yonder steep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban will wake the fire; ’twill serve to show</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His posture, numbers, and will aid our blow.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams assented; and while Waban fired</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The arid fagots, he the burdens took</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From off the palfreys, that, o’erwrought and tired,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now stretched their toil-worn limbs and stoutly shook</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[p. 133]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Their liberated frames, and fuller breath respired,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And quiet grazed the lea. Then to the rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The father hastened with a blazing brand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wife and children, linking hand in hand,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Followed his steps. It was a cavern rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its floor a level rock, its vaulted roof</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of granite masses formed, whose arches stood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More firmly for the weight they propped aloof;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here and there upon the floor were strewed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Extinguished brands, which, with like signs, gave proof</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That men had dwelt there;—then, through screening vines</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sire Williams glances out and marks where shines,</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Full on red Waban’s face, the mounting blaze.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though half a bow-shot from the cavern he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stands at the fire, yet its bright sheen displays</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hue and shape, and then could Williams see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How well the hunter judged thus far to raise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The burning pyre; no passage could there be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For hostile foot, save by that glittering flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which well would light the arrow’s certain aim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Such furniture, as for their strongest need</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wretched exiles had themselves supplied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was to the cave now brought, with bread to feed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The little children clustering by the side</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of their fond parents.—Then did thanks succeed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To God who deigned such comforts to provide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And earnest prayers that His protecting might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would shield them through the dangers of the night.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[p. 134]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With trembling haste a slight repast they took,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to their several places then repaired;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother sate deep in the rocky nook</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beside her children, and their pallet shared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Red Waban sate upon a jutting rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hard by the cavern’s mouth, the pass to guard;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While at the entrance, Williams listening stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Screened by the vines, and every passage viewed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep night came down o’er forest, vale and hill—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dismal hootings of the darkling owl,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The melancholy notes of Whip-poor-will,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the lone wolf’s far distant long-drawn howl,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Answered at times by panther screaming shrill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such hideous echoes through the forest roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Mary shudders, and, from transient sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The infants starting up for terror weep.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But Williams listened with accustomed ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dread of man alone disturbed his breast;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hour after hour, unmarked by danger near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pass he watches for the savage priest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still, with eyes turned tow’rd the flame, doth hear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whatever steps the rustling leaves molest;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft he thought that through the brake he saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The waving fox-tail of the grim Pawaw.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last within the hollow forest rose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Strange sounds that were unmeaning to his ear;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if there human hands were breaking boughs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Green with the verdure of the new-born year;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[p. 135]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Crash follows crash.—“Are these approaching foes?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Do one or more their march thus pioneer?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No answer Waban made, but seemed to shrink</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the vines along the rock’s dark brink.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A moment more, and, bounding o’er the hedge,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A monster trotted tow’rd the mounting flame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then turned and bayed;—’twere doubtful to allege</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dog, fox, or wolf, his aspect best became;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still did he howl, with still increasing rage;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Waban rose and gave his arrow aim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ere its flight, a whistled signal rang;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hybrid turned, and to the forest sprang.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The fell Pawaw! his dog!” red Waban cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In tone suppressed, and hid himself again;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams feared he had too much relied</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the courage of that dusky man;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He took the hatchet from the hunter’s side,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dropt the feebler bludgeon from his span;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thy sachem,” said he, “will himself essay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To aid his warrior in the approaching fray.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis good!” said Waban, “so red sachems do—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But there! behold! behold! They come! They come!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams looked, and there, the thickets through,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Half in the light, half in the changeful gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The forest boughs seemed moving out to view,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Branch heaped on branch, a weight most cumbersome</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For human feet, yet human feet, he knew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That burden bore, and with it dangers new.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[p. 136]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Straight to the blaze they moved, and, dashing down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The leafy branches on the mounting flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Put out the light, and smoke and shadow brown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In total darkness, all the glade o’ercame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother shrieked; the father, with a groan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Heard the wild cry, and stayed her sinking frame;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And both now felt that, with that smothered ray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last faint trembling hope had died away.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A fearful growl, close to the cavern’s vent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">First broke the thrall of horror and surprise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, by the gleam the smouldering embers sent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That canine hybrid, shooting from his eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A baleful glare, crouched seemingly intent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On the scared infants as his famine’s prize;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The father drove the hatchet to his brains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One yell he gave, and writhed in dying pains.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Seeking the cavern’s mouth along the rock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some groping hand the vine’s thick foliage stirred;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Where art thou Waban!” and the war-whoop broke;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Palsied with fear the trembling mother heard;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Where art thou, Waban!” and, with horrid look,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A giant savage through the foliage stared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, at that moment, from his rocky mound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Twanged Waban’s bow with sudden sharpest sound.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Back reeled the savage with a dismal howl,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And on the earth like stricken bullock fell.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still new terrors filled the father’s soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He heard another and more fearful yell;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[p. 137]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Across the glade a new assailant stole;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The blaze reviving showed his movements well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams sprang his warrior to sustain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just as he strained the yielding bow again.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But as he drew the arrow to the head,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cord snapt short; he dashed the weapon down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leaping from the rock upon the glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With glittering scalping-knife and haughty frown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the assailant stood, who paused, surveyed,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Measuring the hunter’s height from heel to crown,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, swift as thought, the vengeful hatchet sent;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At Waban’s head the well-aimed weapon went.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But well the wary hunter knew his foe</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And read his murderous purpose in his eye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He marked the coming steel, and, bending low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let it pass on and cleave the air on high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind him rings the cliff with shivering blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And far around its scattered atoms fly;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then with wild yells they wave the scalping-knife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Together rush, and thrust and strike for life.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O! ’twas a fearful scene—a moment dire;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For on the issue of that contest lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lives of infants, mother, and of sire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the fair fame that crowns a distant day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon closed the champions by the glimmering fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Limbs locked in limbs in terrible affray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They writhe—they wrench—they stagger to and fro,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hands grasping hands that aim the fatal blow.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[p. 138]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now struggling by the flames they past from sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For Williams lingered yet to guard the cave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there, enveloped in a deeper night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With fiercer fury did the contest rave;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blow, the wrench, the pantings of the fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crash of branches and of thickets gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A dreadful note of every effort made,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where life sought life within that shuddering shade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother sank beside the father, pale</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scared; the children her affright partook;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times they raised the sympathetic wail;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At times with breathless terror mutely shook.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams peered out along the kindling vale;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No sign of other foe there met his look;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then with a word that quick return presaged,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He rushed tow’rd where the doubtful contest raged.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He passed the flame and paused—for on his ear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There came, with one loud crash, a heavy sound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He listens still; and silence, sudden, drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Reigns o’er the glade, and through the gloom profound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who is the victim? Evil-boding fear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tells him that Waban gasps upon the ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One bubbling groan, as if the life-blood gushed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A shuddering struggle then—and all was hushed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In dire suspense the anxious father stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet did he still unmanly terrors quell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His hand, yet innocent of human blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now grasped the axe to meet the victor fell;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[p. 139]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When from beneath the arches of the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rang the far-trembling, death-announcing yell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So like a demon’s issuing from his pit—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who but that savage could the sound emit?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_7.57" id="ENref_7.57"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then moving slowly in the gloomy wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Doubtful and darkling through the ghostly shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A form approached, and as it onward trod,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Appeared distinct upon the open glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas Waban!—Waban bathed in hostile blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the lock he held a trunkless head.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He stooped beside the mounting blaze to shew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still more distinct, his trophy to the view.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With lips still quivering, and with eyes unglazed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The reeking fragment seemed as living still;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fierce on the horrid thing the victor gazed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The battle’s wrath did still his bosom fill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His eyes looked fire, another yell he raised,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That rang rebellowing from hill to hill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, by the long dark lock swung from the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He whirled on high the ghastly ball around.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Around—around—still gathering force it went;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still on his sinews strained the whirling head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till cleaving from the skull the scalp was rent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And through the air the ponderous body sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep in the hollow woods its force was spent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thrice bounding from the ground, then falling dead;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He turned and spoke: “No more the babes shall weep!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The grim Pawaw now sleeps! and Waban now can sleep!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[p. 140]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They passed the turf, as they the cavern sought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where fell the body of the earliest slain;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Said Waban, as he paused beside the spot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The black Priest’s comrade never wakes again;”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then seized the body roughly by the foot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dragged it, bleeding yet, along the plain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Straight to the rocky steep, and o’er it dashed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It dropped in night; re-echoing thickets crashed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then the rude victor washed the stains away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cast him on earth, and soon deep slumber showed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How lightly in his rugged bosom lay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The horrid memory of that scene of blood;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Williams watched until the dawning gray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Mary’s fitful sleep the scenes renewed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the young dreamers in her circling arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft shrieked and sobbed in slumber’s vain alarms.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The morning dawns, and they their march resume;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No perils now annoy their toilsome way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The night came down, and with its sober gloom</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brought quiet sleep until the morning’s ray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again they rose, and gained their joyous home</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On Seekonk’s marge, just at the close of day;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Him they blessed, who had in safety led</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Them through dire perils, to their humble shed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[p. 141]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO EIGHTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scene.</span> The New Home in Seekonk’s Mead.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">Through</span> Seekonk’s groves the morning sun once more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flames in his glory. Waving verdant gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The boundless forest stands. Wild songsters pour,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From every dewy glade and tufted wold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The melody of joy. From shore to shore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tranquil waters dream, and soul-like hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mirrored world below of softest hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With underhanging vault of cloudless blue.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams issued from his humble cot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not as of late in solitary mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With cheerless heart and ill-foreboding thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But with light step and breast of quietude;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And by him came the partner of his lot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And their young children, with blithe interlude</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of prattling speech, softening the graver talk</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the fond parents in their morning walk.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In sooth his buoyant spirits seemed to spread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er all about him their enlivening flush;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er was the grass so verdant on the glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er did the fountain sparkle with such gush;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er had the stream such lovely music made,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ne’er sang so blithe the robin on the bush;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The woodland flowers far brighter hues displayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More sunny was the lawn, more dark the shade.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[p. 142]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They walked and talked; he told his trials o’er;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And often Mary brushed aside the tear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft they joined to thank kind Heaven once more,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thus his sufferings were rewarded here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then they would sit beneath the fountain’s bower,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And woo the breeze, or smiling bend the ear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To childly mirth, which, in its silver tone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soothed the rude wilds with music erst unknown.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And all was happiness,—security</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In blest seclusion. The rude storm seemed past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bow of promise spanned their life’s new sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No threatening cloud their prospects overcast,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No shadow lowered; but Heaven with gracious eye</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Looked smiling down and blest their toils at last.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their Salem friends to join them soon will try,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they’re not here is all that brings a sigh.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus for a time did they anticipate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bliss which Heaven for pilgrims has in store,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When their freed souls review their former state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bygone pains enhance their joys the more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet one lingering fear of frowning fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Founder’s bosom lightly brooded o’er—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No Indian throng, as promised by the seer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had bid them welcome with Whatcheer! Whatcheer!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But let it pass;—perchance it was a dream;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His thoughts seemed wandering or disturbed at best,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When stood or seemed to stand, in doubtful gleam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That form scarce earthly, and his ears addrest;—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[p. 143]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, let it pass—for ill would it beseem</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So staid a man to be at all deprest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By visionary fears or superstitious dread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst Heaven is showering mercies on his head.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” he said, “a generous feast prepare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We can be cheerful, and yet not be mad;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The good man’s smiles may be a praise or prayer;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wicked only should be very sad.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God feeds the birds, my Mary, in the air,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hear how they thank Him with their voices glad.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heart of man should nearer kindred own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Joy in his smiles and sorrow in his frown.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then forth fared Waban to the winding shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And quickly laid its shelly treasure bare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor failed the woody dingles to explore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And trap the partridge or the nimble hare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon beneath a beech, beside the door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On marshalled stones the blazing fagots are;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when with heat the pristine oven glows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban his tribute gives, and covers close.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Meanwhile our Founder went from place to place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And did each plan of village grandeur name;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This rising mound the future church should grace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yon little dell the village school should claim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That sloping lawn the council hall should base,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where freemen’s voices should the law proclaim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ne’er to bigot yield the civil rod,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But save the Church by leaving her to God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[p. 144]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So pass the hours, till westward through the skies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sun begins to turn, and, savory grown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Waban’s ready feast the vapors rise;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The group beneath the beech then sit them down;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thou kind and generous man,” our Founder cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our brave defender! thy complexion brown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bars not thy presence;—sit thou at the board,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of these bright lands God made thy kind the lord.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My valliant warrior like a Keenomp fought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Chepian’s priest before his valor fell!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But his white Sachem in the battle wrought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Too little for a chief he loves so well.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The dog—the dog! that had the children caught,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Exclaimed the red man, “does his valor tell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A manit-dog he was, for well he knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er the priest of Chepian bade him do.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The priest of Chepian and his comrade came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To fight the white man and his warrior brave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fox-eared demon sought for other game,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And went to filch it from the rocky cave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My Sachem white a manittoo o’ercame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To demon dark a fatal wound he gave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brave is my Sachem, for he nobly slew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What Waban dreaded most,—that fearful manittoo!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Brother,” said Williams, “under Power Divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That shields the just man in dark peril’s hour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thine was the victory, and the glory thine</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To quell Apollyon’s priest—a demon’s power!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[p. 145]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Henceforth the demon must his lands resign,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thou must be Mooshausick’s Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The right of conquest will do very well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Hell assails us, and we conquer Hell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But might the choice of either blameless go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Mary! these fruits of suffering and of toils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And racking cares through fourteen weeks of woe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I’d prize far higher than the reeking spoils</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all the nations laid by Cæsar low,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When he, the victor in Rome’s civil broils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sate, like the Jove he worshipped, o’er a world</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose crowns were offered, and whose incense curled.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_8.16" id="ENref_8.16"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And there is cause, I trow.—Who cannot see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That a dark cloud o’er our New England lowers?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tender conscience struggles to be free;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tyrant struggles, and retains his powers.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O, whither shall the hapless victims flee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where be their shelter when the tempest roars?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May it be here—may it be Heaven’s decree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make its builder of a worm like me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">While thus he spake, the neighboring thickets shook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And from them issued one of mien austere;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams knew a Plymouth elder’s look,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In doctrines stern—in practice most severe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His gait was slow, and loath he seemed to brook</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such signs of comfort and of earthly cheer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And up he came, they scarce could reason why,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like a dark cloud along a cheerful sky.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[p. 146]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The gloom that gathered o’er our Father’s breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He strove with heavy effort to dispel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Elder!” he said, “thou art an honored guest;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To see our ancient friends should please us well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy journey long must give the banquet zest;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come and partake our sylvan meal, and tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while what word or tidings thou mayst bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Plymouth’s rulers and our brethren there.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_8.19" id="ENref_8.19"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Williams,” he said, “I need no food of thine—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wilds I thread not without store my own;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I would fain beneath that roof recline</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To-night, and rest my limbs till morn be shown;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there this eve some reasoning, I opine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For all may err,) a weighty theme upon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May not be deemed amiss.—Perchance a light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will on thee break and set thy feet aright.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Elder, whatever themes,” our Founder said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“My scant attainments fit me to essay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall not avoidance have from any dread</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thy strict logic may my faults betray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ‘all may err,’ means that our friends have strayed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And not that we have wandered from the way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is a maxim to perversion grown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And points to others’ faults to hide our own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But as my Plymouth visitor requests,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We’ll seek that cottage; I have called it mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These hands have built it; but all friendly guests</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May call it theirs, and, Elder, it is thine</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[p. 147]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While thou sojournest here. Whoever rests</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath its roof may not expect a fine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A dungeon, scourge, or even banishment,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For heresy avowed, or doubted sentiment.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They sought the cottage.—Its apartments rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But still a shelter from the cold and heat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A cheerful fire and fur-clad settles shewed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And other comforts, simple, plain, and neat.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Elder paused, and all the mansion viewed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then, with a long-drawn sigh, he took his seat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And briefly added—“Thou hast labored, friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hard—very hard! I hope for worthy end.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He paused again, then solemnly began</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sad relation of the Church’s state;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er many a schism and false doctrine ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That had obtruded on its peace of late;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But most alarming was our Founder’s plan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To leave things sacred to the free debate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make faith bow to erring reason’s shrine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mortal man a judge of creeds divine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This simple truth no Christian man denies,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He thus continued, “that the natural mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is prone to evil as the sparks to rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to the good is obstinately blind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who then sees not, that looks with wisdom’s eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That God’s elect should rule the human kind?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The good should govern, and the bad submit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saints alone are for dominion fit?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[p. 148]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder answered, “Art thou from the pit?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Get thee behind me, if such thoughts be thine;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did Christ his gospel to the world commit,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That his meek followers might in purple shine?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He spurned the foul temptation, it is writ,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the Great Tempter felt his power divine;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Art thou far wiser than thy Master grown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spurn’st a heavenly for an earthly crown?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay—nay, friend Williams!” the grave elder cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“It is that crown of glory to secure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That the True Church should for her saints provide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The shield of law ’gainst heresy impure;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Quell every schism—crush the towering pride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the dark Tempter, ere his reign is sure;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For many finds he who are servants meet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sow for him the tares among the wheat.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Men ever busy, searching for the new,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Scanning our creed as if it doubtful were,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These would we hold perforce our doctrines to,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the vain labor to convert them spare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God may in time their restless souls renew,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And give them of his grace a saving share;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Meanwhile our Church their errors would restrain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And to her creed their wayward minds enchain.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A mortal thou!” our Founder here replied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Yet judge of conscience,—searcher of the heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou, the elect?—but if it be denied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How wilt thou prove it, or its proofs impart?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[p. 149]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">God gave to man that bright angelic guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A reasoning soul, his being’s better part;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He gave her freedom; but thou wouldst confine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cramp her action to that creed of thine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Who binds the soul extends the reign of hell;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">She’s formed to err, but, erring, truth to find;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pity her wanderings, but, O never quell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bold aspirings of this angel blind!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God is her strength within, and bids her spell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By outward promptings, the eternal Mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long may she wander still in quest of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But day will dawn at last upon a polar night.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A dangerous tenet that!” the Elder said;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“A fallen angel doubtless she may be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If truth she find by natural reason’s aid,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It ever leads her to some heresy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Indeed, the truth too often is betrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To minds ill-fitted for inquiry free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From bad to worse, from worse to worst we go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And end our being in eternal woe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nature’s own truths do oft the mind mislead;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From partial glimpses men will judge the whole;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And it were better if our Church’s creed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were learning’s object and its utmost goal;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reason would then no higher purpose need,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than, by it, point the yet erratic soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To her high hope and everlasting rest!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Williams this heard, and spake with kindling breast:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[p. 150]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God gave man reason, that his soul might be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Free as his glance that spans the universe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All things around him prompt inquiry free,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All do his reason to research coerce;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Heavens, the Earth, the many breeding sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All have their shapes and qualities to nurse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul’s aspirings, and, from blooming youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To ripe old age, provoke the quest of truth.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Truth! I would know thee wert thou e’er so bad,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bad as thy persecutors deem or fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wert thou in more than Gorgon terrors clad,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy glance a death to every feeling dear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Taught thou that God a demon’s passions had,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Earth is Hell, and that the damned dwell here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And death the end of all;—still would I know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The total Curse—the sum of being’s woe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet fear not this, for each new truth reveals</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of God a nearer and a brighter view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anticipation lags behind, and feels</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How mean her thought at each discovery new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her stars were stones fired in revolving wheels—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Truth! thine are worlds self-moved the boundless through</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who checks man’s Reason in her heavenward flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would shroud, O God! thy glorious works in night!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whence didst thou learn that the Almighty’s plan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Required thy wisdom to protect and save,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, when he sent his Gospel down to man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou to defend it must the soul enslave,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[p. 151]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Enthrone deceit, and place beneath its ban</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The honest heart, that dares its sentence brave?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full well I trow the Prince of Darkness fits</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blood of martyrs shed by hypocrites.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hearken for once; just as the conscience pure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is here God’s presence to my wayward will—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not to constrain it, but to kindly lure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It on by duty’s path, from every ill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So to the State the Christian Church, secure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From human thrall, should be a conscience, still</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ne’er to constrain, save by that heavenly light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which bares the Wrong, and maketh plain the Right.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No more, friend Williams,” said the Elder here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“No more will we on this grave theme delay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My hopes were high, and ’twas an object dear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To shed some light on thy benighted way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still wilt thou with sinful purpose steer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy little bark against the tempest’s sway;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On mayst thou go—I cannot say God speed!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But would thy object were some better deed.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Couldst thou renounce thy purpose here to base</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A State where heretics may refuge find,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I do not doubt that to some little grace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Plymouth rulers would be well inclined;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But as it is, perhaps some other place,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still more remote, may better suit thy mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But till the morn as may a guest befit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My message hither do I pretermit.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[p. 152]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder pondered on the Elder’s word;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What could this dark portentous message be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With its delivery until morn deferred,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lest it should mar night’s hospitality.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wrath of Plymouth he had not incurred,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He with her Winslow was in amity;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then what strange message had the Elder borne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That utterance sought, and yet was hushed till morn!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This cause, mysterious, darkling, undefined,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did by degrees each cheerful thought efface,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And poured portentous glooms along his mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That seemed reflected by each friendly face;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The matron sighed, and childhood disinclined</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To mirth or sport, sought slumber’s soft embrace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon the gathered night did all dispose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shun their boding thoughts in dull repose.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_8.41" id="ENref_8.41"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Morn comes again;—the inmates of the cot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rise from scant slumber, and their guest they greet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Williams,” he said, “it is my thankless lot,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thee with no pleasant message now to meet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor hath our Winslow in his charge forgot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">(For his behest I bear and words repeat)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His former friendship, but right loth is he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To vex his neighbors by obliging thee.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In short, thou art on Plymouth’s own domain;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond the Seekonk is the forest free,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This must thou leave, but there thou mayst maintain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy State unharmed, and still our neighbor be;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[p. 153]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Fain had I spared thee this deep searching pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By showing thee thy dangerous heresy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It may not be; hence, therefore, must thou speed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Narragansets may protect thy creed.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To breathless statues turned the listeners stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Silent as marble and as cold and pale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With vacant gaze our Sire the Elder viewed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’erwhelmed, confounded by this sudden bale;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As when some swain, deep in the sheltering wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere he has seen the tempest on the gale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Marks the bright flash; the smitten senses reel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He stands confounded ere he learns to feel.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At length reviving from the stunning shock,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His thoughts returning in a broken train,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder thus the speechless stupor broke:—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I to my ancient friend may yet explain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just is my title here; the lands I took</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are part of Massasoit’s wide domain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fairly purchased; mine they dearly are;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make this but known, and Plymouth must forbear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_8.45" id="ENref_8.45"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And didst thou think,” the Elder cried, “to win</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Pagan chief a title here secure?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not derive it from that man of sin</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At papal Rome,—the Antichrist impure?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Church of Truth, against the Heathen thin,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Asserts her Canaan, and will make it sure.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy purchase feigned was by the Prophet shown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Dudley, and by him to us made known.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[p. 154]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My purchase feigned!” our Founder quickly cried—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“God made that Pagan, and to Him He gave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breath of this air, drink from yon crystal tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Food from these forest lawns and yonder wave:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea, He ordained this region, far and wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To be his home in life, in death his grave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is thy claim better? Canst thou trace thy right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From one superior to the God of might?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_8.47" id="ENref_8.47"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Elder answered: “Thinkest thou this land</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For demons foul and their red votaries made?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did not Jehovah, with his own right hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tempest for Israel when the Heathen fled?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does Plymouth’s Church less in his favor stand?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or spares he devils for the savage red?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As to our title, then, we trace it thus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God gave James Stuart this, and James gave us.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God gave James Stuart this!” our Founder cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Up-starting from his seat as he began,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“God gave James Stuart this!”—a choking tide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of kindling feeling through his bosom ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To which his better part free speech denied,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Since all the Christian strove against the man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And strove not all in vain;—yet, bursting forth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His soul came big with grief that stifled half her wrath.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God gave James Stuart this!—I marvel when!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fain would I see the deed Omniscience wrote;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Elder! there are commandments counting ten,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which Great Jehovah upon Sinai taught;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[p. 155]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Has He of late exempted Plymouth’s men—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Reversed his justice and made sin no fault?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Taught them to covet of their neighbor’s store,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And licensed robbery of the weak and poor?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="50">L.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Behold these hands, which labor has made hard,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Look at this weather-beaten brow and face,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ask yourself if to be thus debarred</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hunted from their fruits like beast of chase,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Demands not meekness more than God has spared</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To human hearts in his abundant grace!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Followed e’en here!—Again compelled to flee!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if this desert were too good for me!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But I can go.—Oh, yes! I can submit;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">God in his mercy will give shelter still;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Go—tell your Dudley in the book ’tis writ</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That the oppressor shall hereafter feel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, gracious Lord, grant that repentance fit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him to receive the everlasting seal</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of thy salvation—that his lost estate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be yet revealed, ere it is all too late!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="52">LII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Grieve not, my Mary!—Children, do not weep!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though yonder verdant lawns, and opening flowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And groves whose shades the murmuring streamlets sweep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All perish for us now,—yet on far shores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance by yon blue bay or rolling deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Far from white brethren, mid barbarian powers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your father’s hands another glade may form,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Another roof to shield you from the storm.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[p. 156]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As here he ceased, in all the agony</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of mental pain he paced the cottage floor;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Absorbed in his own woes scarce did he see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Elder pass, and leave his humble door;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His toils, cares, hopes, all lost; and poverty</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sudden, gaunt, naked, spread its glooms once more.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A clashing sound first broke this mental strife;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas Waban, edging sharp his scalping knife.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="54">LIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And such an ireful look, (his eyes so bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So played his muscles and so gnashed his teeth)—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Red warrior ne’er did show, save when in fight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His weapon makes the hostile heart a sheath,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forces out the soul. He looked a sprite</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Kindling a hell within!—Recoiling ’neath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The horrid feelings that the image woke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Founder shrank, and thus the form bespoke:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="55">LV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What fiend, O Waban! thus inflames thy breast?”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The spell of frenzy at the accents broke;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The red man paused, his hand the bosom pressed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes still flashing fire, and thus he spoke:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My chief was angry with his pale-faced guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And at my sachem’s ire my own awoke;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I can pursue,—for viewless pinions lift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My nimble feet to speed thy vengeance swift.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="56">LVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A freezing horror crept through every vein,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As Williams heard the son of Nature speak;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And humbled stood he, for that ire profane</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was but his own that did new semblance take</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[p. 157]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In that wild man;—there stood the ancient Cain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And here the modern, better skilled to check</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wayward passions, and how dark soe’er</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mirror there might be, the real form was here.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban!” at length he said, “I grieve to see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That all I sowed fell on a barren rock;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could my brother hope to gladden me</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By such a deed? Thou dost thy sachem shock!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O! from thy savage nature try to flee;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lay down thy murderous knife and tomahawk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dwell on better themes. New toils invite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And high rewards my brother shall requite.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oft have I heard my hunter name with pride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His long, deep, hollow, arrow-winged canoe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now drag her from the fern to Seekonk’s tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bid her skim once more the waters blue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She loves to rove, and we must far and wide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seek other forests for a dwelling new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our toils here end; a cloud from Wamponand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hangs o’er our glade, and blackens all the land.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="59">LIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A fickle race the red man’s kindred were,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Free as the elk that roved their native wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here did they dwell to-day, to-morrow there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As want or pleasure ruled the changeful mood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Waban loved adventures bold and rare,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor heard with sorrow of a new abode;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forth he goes to seek his long canoe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And trim her breast to skim the waters blue.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[p. 158]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="60">LX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The while the infant group, from noon to night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Passed here and there through all that cultured glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sighed and wept, by turns, or sobbed outright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As to its charms their last farewell they bade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here father labored—here he slept till light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Renewed his toils,” they often thought or said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still the springing tears suffuse their eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They dash them off—but still their sorrows rise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They plucked the blossoms from the blushing bush,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They quaffed the waters from the purling rill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their bread they scattered to the gentle thrush,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That seemed half-conscious of the coming ill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rabbit eyed them from his covert brush,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their crumbs supplied the little sparrow’s bill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sadly then they sighed their last adieu,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our little friends, farewell! we sport no more with you.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Meantime the parents in the cottage sate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their bosoms heaving and their thoughts in gloom.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“O! what,” cried Mary, “is our coming fate?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And where, my husband, is our future home?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will not dire famine on our footsteps wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And perils meet us whereso’er we roam?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our harvest gone, who now can food supply?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forced from this roof, where shall our children lie?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Trust we in God!” our pious Founder said;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Doubt not the bounty of His providence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who Israel’s children through the desert led,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And in all perils was there sure defence;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[p. 159]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He did not bid us this far forest tread,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To leave us here in want and impotence.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warnings, my Mary, were most strangely given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such as I sometimes deem were sent from Heaven!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Well can thy mind that stormy night recall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The last in Salem that I dared abide,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In fleecy torrents did the tempest fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our little dwelling reeled from side to side;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fading brands just glimmered on the wall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alone I sate, my heart with anguish tried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When lo! a summons at the door I heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deemed it a wretch distressed, the pass unbarred.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="65">LXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And straight appeared a venerable seer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such as on earth none ever saw before;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His temples spake at least their hundredth year,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In many a long and deeply furrowed score;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, Oh! his eyes, in youthful glory clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did from them a celestial radiance pour;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then that face scarce seemed to veil the rays,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(Too bright for mortal!) of an angel’s blaze.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And when he spake, methought the music clear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of tongue seraphic, filled his heavenly tone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It came so full, yet gently, on my ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It well might serenade the Almighty’s throne;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Williams,’ it said, ‘I come on message here</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of mighty moment, to this age unknown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou must not dally, or the tempest fear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But fly by morn into the forest drear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[p. 160]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="67">LXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Thou art to voyage an unexploréd flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No chart is there thy lonely bark to steer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath her rocks, around her tempests rude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And persecution’s billows in her rear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall shake thy soul till it is near subdued;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when the welcome of <em>Whatcheer! Whatcheer!</em></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall greet thine ears from Indian multitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cast thou the Anchor there, and trust in God.’</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="68">LXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He went away, and I could not detain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Him from departing in the stormy night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He would but promise to be seen again</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where faith in freedom should my rest invite.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I’ve often dwelt on that prophetic strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Recalled that voice,—and rightly can recite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The words it uttered.—Oh that I had more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their import weighed, and shunned this tyrant shore!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“For, Mary, deem it not a sinful thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Heaven should give her counsels to restore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul to freedom.—Lo! what wonders wrought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The God of Christians for the Church of yore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With heathen darkness was the conscience fraught,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tyrants chained it to a barbarous lore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To break like thraldom in a Christian land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Angels may speak, and God disclose his hand.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This spot I rashly chose. No Indian train</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Glad welcome gave to my enraptured ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that mysterious form comes not again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Inspiring courage; therefore hence we steer,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[p. 161]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor land nor dwelling let us think to gain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until the greeting of Whatcheer! Whatcheer!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our journey stays,—there, there is our abode;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our anchor there, our Hope, Almighty God!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="71">LXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus spoke our Sire, and now, with ready hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And spirits lightened, Mary did prepare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For their departure to another land,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alas! they knew not how and knew not where.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At eventide, red Waban from the strand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The children from the glade, with cheerless air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Revisited the cot.—One more sad night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thence they journey at the rising light.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon the cottage roof the Whip-poor-will</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That night sang mournful to the conscious glade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lonely owl forsook her valley still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And perched and hooted in the neighboring shade;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wolf returned, and lapped the purling rill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sate on its marge, and at the cottage bayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From all its howling depths the desert came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seemed its lost dominion to reclaim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[p. 162]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO NINTH.</h3></div> -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>[<span class="sc">Scenes.</span> Seekonk’s Stream and Banks—Whatcheer Cove and Shore—Mooshausick’s -Vale, or Site of Providence.]</p></div> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">’Tis</span> early morn; Pawtucket’s torrent roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A solemn bass to Nature’s anthem bold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alone wakes Williams’ ear; its currents pour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Along with foaming haste, where they have rolled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ages on ages, fretting here from shore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The basin broad, and there ’twixt hill and wold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Furrowing their channel deep; far hastening on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now lost in shades, now glimmering in the sun.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No thraldom had they known save winter’s frost;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No exile yet had their free bosom borne;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep in that glade (now to our Founder lost,)</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their wave eternal had a basin worn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft thence their flow had borne the stealthy host,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In light canoes, before the gray of morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Darkling to strike the foe,—but now no more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They bear the freight of men athirst for gore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.3" id="ENref_9.3"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Early that morn, beside the tranquil flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where ready trimmed rode Waban’s frail canoe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The banished man, his spouse and children, stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bade their lately blooming hopes adieu.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The anxious mother had not yet subdued</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Despondent sorrow, and the briny dew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stole often down her cheeks; hers was the smart—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The searching anguish of the softer heart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[p. 163]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, as she viewed the illimitable shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The haunt of savage men and beasts of prey,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She thought of all the dreadful ills arrayed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against her children on their dangerous way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ye houseless babes!” in her wild grief she said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“What crimes were yours, what dire offences, say,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That even ye should share this cruel doom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beg of barbarians bread, and savage deserts roam?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But Father Williams, to his lot resigned,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now rose to feelings of a loftier tone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For Heaven to vigor had restored his mind,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And firmly braced it for the task unknown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He scarcely glanced upon the toils behind;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His soul inspired did bolder visions own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That from his breast dispelled each dismal gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cheered him onward to his destined home.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As the bold bird that builds her mansion high</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On beetling crag or helmlock’s lofty bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep in the desert, far from human eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And deems herself secure from every foe,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aloft in overshadowing branches nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Perceives the wild-cat’s threatening eye-balls glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spurns her eyry, with ascending flight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To some tall ash that crests the mountain’s height;</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So his vain toils he coldly now surveyed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He had but sunk a bolder wing to try;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He snatched the weepers from the hated glade,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bore them lightly to the shallop nigh;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then sprang into the stern, and cheerly bade<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[p. 164]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dusky pilot his deft paddle ply;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While, shoved from shore, the settling skiff descends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Low in the flood, and with the burden bends.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now with a giddy whirl the wheeling prow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Veering around points with the downward tide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Waban’s paddle cuts the glassy flow;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mimic whirlpools pass on either side;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The surface cleaves, the waters boil below;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cot, the glade, the forests backward glide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the shadows, moving as they flew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Closed round the green and shut the roof from view.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Pawtucket’s murmurs die upon their ears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As through the smooth expanse the swift canoe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drives on; and now the straitened pass appears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With jutting mounds that lofty forests shew;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each giant trunk a navy’s timber rears;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their mighty shadows o’er the flood they threw,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shutting the heavens out, till glimmering day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could scarce the long, dark, winding path display.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep silence reigned o’er all the sable tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broke only by the swarthy pilot’s oar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Under the arching boughs the wanderers glide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the dark ripplings curl from shore to shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The startled wood-ducks ’neath the waters hide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or on fleet pinions through the branches soar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whilst overhead the rattling boughs, at times,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tell where the streaked raccoon or wild cat climbs.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[p. 165]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft on the lofty banks, from jutting rocks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The buck looked wildly on the swift canoe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft o’er the bramble leaped the wary fox,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With bushy tail and fur of ruddy hue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or wheeling high and gathering still in flocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dark-winged crows did by their clamors shew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where the lone owl, upon his moss-grown seat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Maintained, unvanquished yet, his drear retreat.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Far down the winding pass at length they spy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where wider currents, bright as liquid gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spread glimmering in the sun; and to the eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still further down, broad Narraganset rolled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His host of waters azure as the sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For breezes from the hoary ocean cooled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His heaving breast, and, with rejoicing glance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From shore to shore the wanton waters dance.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now did Williams in his mind debate;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should he that night cleave Narraganset’s flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or on the Seekonk’s bank till morning wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scour the while Mooshausick’s gloomy wood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, would that Heaven might there predestinate</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On earth, Soul-Liberty! thy first abode,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(He often thought) “or where, in ocean’s arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aquidnay smiles in her wild virgin charms.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">While thus he ponders, down the stream he sees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where from th’ encroaching cove the wood retires,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dark wreaths of smoke rise o’er the lofty trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And deems that there some village wakes its fires.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[p. 166]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” he says, “seest thou yon dusky breeze?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Say, from what town that curling smoke aspires?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What valiant sachem holds dominion there?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what the number that he leads to war?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No town—the feast of peace!”—the red man cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And still with brawny arms impelled the oar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The clans from Narraganset far and wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And every tribe from Pokanoket’s shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There smoke the pipe, and lay the axe aside,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The pipe my chief to Potowomet bore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much they rejoice—their ancient hate forego,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And deem the White Chief a good Manittoo.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A secret joy o’er Father Williams’ breast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stole like the fragrance of a balmy morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That breathes on sleep with fearful dreams opprest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wakes to its delights the wretch forlorn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His toils and wanderings were not all unblest;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some joy to others had his sufferings borne;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But promised good brings doubt to the distrest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus still dubious he his guide addrest:</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What singing bird has on the wandering wing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Borne these strange tidings to my hunter’s ear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where, on her pinions poising, did she sing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with her faithless song his bosom cheer?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waban replied, that he, while journeying</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Unto the white man’s town, through forests drear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had on Cohannet’s banks his brethren met,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bound to the banquet of the calumet.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[p. 167]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And now hoarse murmurs reach our Founder’s ear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rising behind a cape from crowds unseen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then by the eastern marge they swiftly steer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till shows a tufted isle its welcome screen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Veering to this, they gain a prospect near</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of the red hosts that throng the opposing green;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hundreds on hundreds did the fires surround,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ran on the shores or verdant banks embrowned.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Along the strand their speed the racers try,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with their flying feet scarce touch the ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From goal to goal the nimble hunters fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crowds shout above them, and the woods resound;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here their lithe limbs the swarthy wrestlers ply,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They tug, they writhe, they sweat, crowds shout around;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there the circles watch the doubtful game,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or greet the victor with their loud acclaim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Williams saw, beneath a shady bower,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Miantonomi, Sachem young and brave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Massasoit, Haup’s kind Sagamore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And old Canonicus, so wise and grave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Known by his peaceful pipe and tresses hoar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the scarlet coat our Founder gave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Round them their captains intermingled stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All friendly now, though lately fierce for blood.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From chief to chief the calumet they past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sitting, in silent solemn council, round;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each thrice inhaled, thrice forth the vapors cast,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">First to the power that bids the thunder sound,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[p. 168]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then to the gods that ride the angry blast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then to the fiends that dwell beneath the ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These made propitious, they the hatchet gave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bloody hatchet, to a peaceful grave.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Waban,” said Williams, “we may venture now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But pause ye short of the sure arrow’s flight;”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Instant the red man drove the foaming prow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Along the cleaving flood, and, at the sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of the red hosts of men, the rose’s glow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fading at once left Mary’s cheek all white;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sudden fears her children’s breasts surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, with their little hands, they veil their eyes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Full in the front of that vast multitude,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond an arrow’s flight their skiff they stayed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sudden silence hushed the listening wood;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crowds all paused, and with wild eyes surveyed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pale-faced group, which in like stillness viewed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The wondering throngs. At length the woodland glade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moves with their numbers; down the banks they pour,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swarming and gathering on the dark’ning shore.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As when some urchin, with a heedless blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The insect nations of the hive alarms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down from their cells the watchful myriads flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And earth and air grow black with murmuring swarms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So from the woods the wondering warriors go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So o’er the dark’ning strand their concourse forms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None save their haughty chiefs remain behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they the lofty banks and forest margin lined.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[p. 169]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.25" id="ENref_9.25"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then silence reigned again—but still they stared;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Some claspt their knives, and some their arrows drew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then from his seat his form our Founder reared,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The while beneath him rocked the frail canoe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His hand he raised and manly forehead bared,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And straight their former friend the Sachems knew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Netop, Whatcheer!” broke on the listening air;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” re-echoed here and there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then o’er and the o’er the words burst loud and clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In shouts that seemed to seek the joyous sky;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With open arms and greetings of “Whatcheer,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lived all the shores, and banks, and summits high;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” resounded far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” the echoing woods reply;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whatcheer! Whatcheer!” swells the exulting gales,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweeps o’er the laughing hills and trembles thro’ the vales.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Speed! Waban, speed!” with haste our Founder cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Soon as the hollow echoes died afar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With lusty arm the hunter clove the tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The swift canoe seemed moving through the air;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One instant more and Williams, from her side,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sprang on a rock, (thence giving it to share</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His deathless fame,) and straight around him stood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In cheerful throngs, the Indian multitude.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Miantonomi, stepping from the crowd,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stretched forth his brawny hand, and cried “Whatcheer!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Welcome, my brother! say, what lowering cloud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er Seekonk’s eastern marge, impels thee here?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[p. 170]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Be it the Pequot in his numbers proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I hold his greeting in this glittering spear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But oh! perchance my brother seeks this place,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To share with us the sacred rites of peace?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not so, brave chief; it is to seek a home,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By seer announced, by Heaven to me assigned;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yonder abode lies wrapt in sable gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not of the Pequot, but the Plymouth kind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My promised harvest blighted in the bloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My voiceless roof,—all, all have I resigned,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hither come to seek Mooshausick’s plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And beg the gift once proffered me in vain.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="30">XXX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Good Massasoit, who did these accents hear,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would now our Founder greet,—and with a face,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That spoke a sorrow deep and most sincere:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Long have I strove,” he said, “in thought to trace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What Manit most my Plymouth friends revere;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For aye their deeds their better words efface,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tongues much speak of Spirit good and great,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their hands much do the work of Chepian’s hate.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="31">XXXI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here grave Canonicus came from the throng,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Welcome, my son!” exclaimed the aged chief,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Bear thou the inflictions of thy kindred’s wrong</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With man’s stout courage, not with woman’s grief;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lands thou seëst shall to thee belong,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And for thy comforts lost, a moment brief</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall all the loss repair;—o’er yonder height</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is where till lately Chepian reigned in might.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[p. 171]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Abandoned by his Priest his land now lies,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Left by that Priest’s own slaves,—for slaves had he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who tilled his field and made his mansion rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Adorned with mats and colors fair to see;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Priest is gone,—how, nothing care the wise;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His timid followers from their labors flee,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All fear within the fiend’s control to stay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For who but Chepian’s Priest can Chepian sway?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So spake Canonicus, the wise and old,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While shouts on shouts a full accordance shewed,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then turned and sought the late forsaken hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Sire, the matron, and her charge pursued;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ready tribes, behind them forming, rolled</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In march triumphant onward through the wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheering the exile’s home; and as they sped,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth rumbled under their far-thundering tread.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="34">XXXIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The forest branches, woven overhead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shut out the day and cast a twilight gloom;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For where long since extends the verdant mead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shines the fair palace, beauteous gardens bloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One vault of green o’er-roofed a palisade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of trunks and brambles, boscage, brake and broom;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid which chafed the warriors’ surly mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cracked and crashed the thickets as they trod.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They gained the height where now the Muses reign—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where now Brown’s bounty<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> to the human mind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Links earth and heaven; the fruit of honest gain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Moulding the youthful soul, by taste refined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To truth’s eternal quest.—How poor and vain,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[p. 172]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To such high bounty, seems a meaner kind;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But this in after times;—for forests then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mantled the height and swarmed with savage men.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> Brown University.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="36">XXXVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thence, in the vale below, our Founder sees</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where dark Mooshausick rolls, and seaward casts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its waters,—rolling under lofty trees</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With crossing branches, thick as e’er the masts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That shall, thereafter, on the wanton breeze</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Display their banners, when, in sounding blasts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cannon utters its triumphant voice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bids the land through all its States rejoice.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.37" id="ENref_9.37"><abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And thence, with prescient eye, he gazes far</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er the rude sites of palaces and shrines,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Grecian beauty to the buxom air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall rise resplendent in its shapely lines;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, almost hears the future pavements jar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beneath a people’s wealth, and half divines</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From thee, Soul-Liberty! what glories wait</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy earliest altars—thy predestined State.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then down the steep, by paths scored in its side,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where frequent deer had sought the floods below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He past, still following his dusky guide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stooping often under drooping bough,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To a broad cultured field, expanding wide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Betwixt dense thickets and Mooshausick’s flow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its deep green rows of waving maize foretold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abundant harvest from a fertile mould.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[p. 173]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="39">XXXIX.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Priest’s forsaken lodge rose thereamid,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beside a fountain on a verdant lawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spacious as some great Sachem’s, and half-hid</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In mantling vines wherewith it was o’ergrown;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Williams thought of what his warrior did</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On that dark bloody night, so direly known,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mourning the fate that caused the Sorcerer’s doom;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet sees its fruit, a temporary home.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.40" id="ENref_9.40"><abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But some last scruples still his mind assail;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For, ah! what rites had made the place profane!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When thus the chief:—“No more my son bewail</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thy comforts lost; let the Great Spirit reign</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Chepian reigned; ay, let thy God prevail;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Be thou His Priest, and this thine own domain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From wild Pawtucket to Pawtuxet’s bounds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To thee and thine be all the teeming grounds.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.41" id="ENref_9.41"><abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">High thanks Sire Williams paid;—but as he spake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came over him a feeling passing strange;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A prophet’s rapture in his breast did wake;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For, at that moment, down the boundless range</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of heavenly spheres did some bright being take</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wing to his soul, and wrought to suited change</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The visual nerve, and straight in outward space</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood manifest in its celestial grace.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> See <a href="#Endnote_9.41">note</a>.</p> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At once he cried, “I see! I see the seer!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His very form, his very shape and air!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By yonder fount;—the same his robes appear;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The same his radiant eyes and flowing hair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mary! my children! come! his accents hear;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[p. 174]</span></div> - <div class="verse indent2">See age and youth one heavenly beauty share!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They with him moved, (yet ne’er the vision saw,)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the father paused, transfixed in sacred awe.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For strange to tell, youth’s lingering light began</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To spread fresh glories o’er that aged face;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till over beard, and hair, and visage wan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burst the full splendor of angelic grace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A lambent flame about the forehead ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rainbow hues the earthly robes displace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The curling locks, like beams of living light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Streamed back and glowed insufferably bright.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="44">XLIV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The figure seemed to grow; its dazzling eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were for a while upon Sire Williams bent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then upward turned, and, looking to the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Spake hope in God with silence eloquent.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still did it brighten, still its stature rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Heaven’s own grandeur seeming to augment;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pilgrim staff no longer did it hold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But on an Anchor leant that blazed ethereal gold.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Father gazed, and, from that heavenward eye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beheld the clear angelic radiance flow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saw that figure, as it towered on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With inward glory fill, dilate and grow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Translucent,—and then fade,—as from the sky</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sunset fades or fades the radiant bow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until, dissolving in transparent air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It disappeared and left no traces there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[p. 175]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then low, on bended knees, he drops to own</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Heaven-born vision, and his soul declare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wife and children, near him kneeling down,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Send up their hearts upon the wings of prayer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusky tribes, in crescent round them shown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Give ear;—hill, vale and forest listeners are;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Force to each word their faithful echoes lend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with their Ruler’s prayers their own ascend.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.47" id="ENref_9.47"><abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Mysterious Power! who dost in wonders speak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We note thy tokens and their import spell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let Persecution still its vengeance wreak—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let its fierce billows roll with mountain swell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Here must we Anchor, and their force repel.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here, more securely, shall our bannered State</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blazon the conscience sacred—ever free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here shall she breast the coming storms of fate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ride triumphant o’er the raging sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her well-cast Anchor here, her lasting Hope in Thee!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p class="stanzano"><abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Here, thy assurance gives our wanderings rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shows where all our future toils must be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lord! be our labors by thy mercies blest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And send their fruits to far posterity;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let our example still the Conscience free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where’er she is by tyrant force enchained,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And while the thraldom lasts, Oh! let her see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her safety here, where, ever unprofaned</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By persecution, her free altars are maintained.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> -<div class="numberplusstanza"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[p. 176]</span></p> -<p class="stanzano"><a href="#Endnote_9.49" id="ENref_9.49"><abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Accept, O Lord! our thanks for mercies past;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou wast our cloud by day, our fire by night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While yet we journeyed through the dreary vast;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou Canaan more than givest to our sight;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lord! ’tis possessed, not seen from Pisgah’s height.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We deeply feel this high beneficence;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ages hence our children shall recite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Thy protecting grace their Father’s sense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, when they name their Home, Proclaim Thy <span class="sc">Providence</span>!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -</div> - - -<!--Notes--> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[p. 177]</span></p> -<h2> -NOTES.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></h2></div> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p> -<a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> These notes were mostly written for the poem as first published in 1832;—none -after 1847, when the author died.—[<span class="sc">Editor.</span>]</p> -</div> - - -<div class="section"> -<h3> -CANTO FIRST.</h3></div> -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_1.1" href="#ENref_1.1">STANZA <abbr title="1">I.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>I</i> <span class="allsmcap">SING</span> <i>of trials, toils and sufferings great,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Which</i> <span class="sc">Father Williams</span> <i>in his exile bore,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That he the conscience-bound might liberate,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>And to the soul her sacred rights restore</i>.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“<span class="sc">Roger Williams</span> was born of reputable parents in Wales, -A. D. 1598. He was educated at the University of Oxford; was -regularly admitted to Orders in the Church of England, and -preached for some time as a minister of that Church; but on -embracing the doctrines of the Puritans, he rendered himself -obnoxious to the laws against the non-conformists, and embarked -for America, where he arrived with his wife, whose name -was Mary, on the 5th of February, A. D. 1631.” He had -scarcely landed ere he began to assert the principle of religious -freedom, and insist on a rigid separation from the Church of -England. A declaration that the magistrate ought not to interfere -in matters of conscience could not fail to excite the jealousy -of a government constituted as that of Massachusetts -then was; and this jealousy was roused into active hostility -when, in the April following his arrival, he was called by -the Church of Salem as teaching Elder under their then -Pastor, Mr. Skelton.</p> - -<p>“Of this appointment,” says Winthrop, “the Governor of -Massachusetts was informed, who immediately convened a -Court in Boston to take the subject into consideration.” Their -deliberations resulted in a letter addressed to Mr. Endicot, of -Salem, to this effect:—“That whereas Mr. Williams had refused -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[p. 178]</span>to join the churches at Boston, because they would not -make a public declaration of their repentance, for having communion -with the Churches of England while they tarried there, -and besides had declared his opinion that the magistrate might -not punish the breach of the Sabbath, nor any other offence that -was a breach of the first table; and therefore they marveled -they would choose him without advising with the council, and -withal desired him that they would forbear to proceed until they -had considered about it.”</p> - -<p>This interference of the government forced him to leave -Salem. “He removed to Plymouth, and was engaged assistant -to Mr. Ralph Smith, the pastor of the church at that place. -Here he remained until he found his views of Religious Toleration -and strict non-conformity gave offence to some of his -hearers, when he returned again to Salem, and was settled there -after Mr. Skelton’s death, which took place on the 2d of August, -1634.” In this situation Williams preached against the cross in -the ensign, as a relic of papal superstition. His preaching however, -on this topic, does not seem to have been a subject of -complaint, only as it led some of his friends to the indiscretion -of defacing the colors. His persecutors, in excusing this act to -the government of England, say that they did so, “with as -much wariness as they might, being doubtful themselves of the -lawfulness of a cross in an ensign.” But though he may -have given no offence by declaring an opinion on this subject -so little at variance with their own, yet when he ventured to -speak against the king’s patent, by which he had granted to his -subjects the lands which belonged to the Indians; and, above -all, to maintain that the civil magistrate ought not to interfere -in matters of conscience, except for the preservation of peace, his -presence within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts could no -longer be tolerated. A summons was granted for his appearance -at the next court.</p> - -<p>He appeared accordingly. “It was laid to his charge,” says -Winthrop, “that, being under question before the magistracy -and churches for divers dangerous opinions, viz: That the -magistrate ought not to punish for the breaches of the first table, -otherwise than in such cases as do disturb the public peace. 2d. -That he ought not to tender an oath to an unregenerate man. -3d. That a man ought not to pray with such, though wife, -children, &c. 4th. That a man ought not to give thanks after<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[p. 179]</span> -sacrament nor after meat, &c., and that other churches were -about to write the church of Salem to admonish him of these -errors, notwithstanding the church had since called him to the -office of Teacher.”</p> - -<p>These charges having been read, all the magistrates and ministers -concurred in denouncing the opinions of Williams as -erroneous and dangerous, and agreed that the calling him to -office at that time was a great contempt of authority. He and -the church of Salem were allowed until the next General Court -to consider of these charges, and then either to give satisfaction -to the Court, or else to expect sentence.</p> - -<p>Much warmth of feeling was exhibited in the discussion of -these charges; and in the course of the debate it seems the ministers -were required to give their opinions severally. All agreed -that he who asserted that the civil magistrate ought not to interfere -in case of heresy, apostacy, etc., ought to be removed, -and that other churches ought to request the magistrates to -remove him. Nothing will give a better idea of the state of -feeling on this occasion than the fact that when the town of -Salem at this time petitioned, claiming some land at Marblehead -as belonging to the town, the petition was refused a hearing, -on the ground that the church of Salem had chosen Mr. -Williams her teacher, and by such choice had offered contempt -to the magistrates.</p> - -<p>The attendance of all the Ministers of the Bay at the next -General Court was requested. This was held in the month of -November, 1635. Before this venerable congregation of all the -dignitaries of the church, Williams appeared, and defended his -opinions. His defence, it seems, was not satisfactory. They -offered him further time for conference or disputation. This -he declined, and chose to dispute presently. Mr. Hooker was -appointed to dispute with him. But Mr. Hooker’s logic, seconded -as it was by the whole civil and ecclesiastical power of -Massachusetts, could not force him to recognise the right of the -civil magistrate to punish heresy, or to admit that the king’s -patent could of itself give a just title to the lands of the Indians. -The consequence was, that on the following morning he was -sentenced to depart, within six weeks, out of the jurisdiction of -Massachusetts.</p> - -<p>Such were the causes of Williams’ banishment, and such the -circumstances under which the decree was passed. He was a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[p. 180]</span> -man who fearlessly asserted his principles, and practiced upon -them to their fullest extent. Persecution could not drive him -to a renunciation of his opinions. His observance of any -principle which he adopted was conscientiously strict; but this -very strictness of observance had its advantages, in enabling -him with more certainty to detect any latent error which his -opinions involved. He was as free to declare his errors as he -was to assert whatever appeared to him to be right. His very -honesty in this respect has given occasion to his enemies to -brand his character with inconsistency and apostacy; but he -remained true to every principle espoused by him, which posterity -has since sanctioned, and inconstant in those things only -which are unimportant in themselves, and which are unsettled -even in the present day. A tacit confession of his own fallibility -was implied in the great principle of which he was the -earliest asserter, that government ought not to interfere in matters -of conscience; and therein consisted a wide difference between -his errors, whatever they were, and those of his persecutors. -This fact, in estimating the character of Williams, -cannot be too well considered.</p> - -<p>“Subsequently to his banishment, he was permitted to remain -until spring, on condition that he did not attempt to draw -others to his opinions.” But the friends of Williams could not -consent to see their favorite pastor leave them, without frequently -visiting him whilst they yet had an opportunity. In -these interviews, the plan of establishing a colony in the Narraganset -country, where the principle of Religious Freedom -(the assertion of which had been the chief cause of his banishment) -should be carried into effect, was discussed and matured. -It is also highly probable that he did not fail to do what he -conceived to be the duty of a faithful pastor in other respects. -At length the rumor of these meetings reached the ears of the -civil authorities; and in January, 1635, (O. S.,) “The governor -and assistants,” says Winthrop, “met in Boston to consider -about Mr. Williams; for they were credibly informed, that -he, notwithstanding the injunction laid upon him, (upon -liberty granted him to stay until spring,) not to go about to -draw others to his opinions, did use to entertain company in -his house, and to preach to them even of such points as he had -been sentenced for; and it was agreed to send him into England -by a ship then ready to depart. The reason was because<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[p. 181]</span> -he had drawn about twenty persons to his opinions, and they -were intending to erect a plantation about the Narraganset bay, -from whence the infection would easily spread into these -churches, the people being many of them much taken with an -apprehension of his godliness. Whereupon a warrant was -sent to him to come presently to Boston, to be shipped, -&c. He returned for answer, (and divers of Salem came with -it,) that he could not without hazard of his life, &c. Whereupon -a pinnace was sent with commission to Captain Underhill, -&c., to apprehend him, and carry him on board the ship, -which then rode at Nantascutt. But when they came to his -house they found he had been gone three days, but whither -they could not learn.”</p> - -<p>It thus appears that the object of his government, in directing -his immediate apprehension at this time, was to prevent -the establishment of a colony in which the civil authority -should not be permitted to interfere with the religious opinions -of the citizens.</p> - -<p>Williams was in the thirty-seventh or thirty-eighth year of his -age at the time of his banishment. He fled to a wilderness inhabited -only by savages. The two principal tribes—the Narragansets -and Wampanoags—had, but a short time before he entered -their country, been engaged in open hostilities. The government -of Plymouth had on one occasion extended its aid to -its early friend and ally, Massasoit, chief sachem of the Wampanoags. -This interference had smothered, but not extinguished -the flame. With these warring tribes, one of which -(the Narragansets) was a very martial and numerous people, -and exceedingly jealous of the whites, Williams was under the -necessity of establishing relations of amity. He himself says -that he was forced to travel between their sachems to satisfy -them and all their dependent spirits of his honest intentions to -live peaceably by them. He acted the part of a peace-maker -amongst them, and eventually won, even for the benefit of his -persecutors, the confidence of the Narragansets. It was -through his influence that all the Indians in the vicinity of Narraganset -bay were, shortly after his settlement at Mooshausick, -united, and their whole force, under the directions of the very -men who had driven him into the wilderness, brought to -co-operate with the Massachusetts forces against the Pequots.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[p. 182]</span> -[See Winthrop’s Journal, and a Sketch of the Life of Roger -Williams, appended to the first volume of the Rhode Island -Historical Collections, for the above extracts.]</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.12" href="#ENref_1.12">STANZA <abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Much less my consort and these pledges dear.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams was the father of six children, viz: Mary, Freeborn, -Providence, Mercy, Daniel, and Joseph. I am not able -to determine their number at the time of his banishment.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.43" href="#ENref_1.43">STANZA <abbr title="43">XLIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thrice did our northern tiger seem to come.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Frequently called the Panther, the Cat of the Mountain, or -Catamount. There is indeed no animal of America entitled to -the appellation of the Panther; but this name is frequently applied -to the animal mentioned, and is adopted in this production -for that reason.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.58" href="#ENref_1.58">STANZA <abbr title="58">LVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>’Twas Waban’s cry at which the monsters ran.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Indians imitate very perfectly the cry of wild beasts, and -use that art in conveying signals and for other purposes, during -their hunts and other expeditions. The known antipathy between -the wolf and the catamount or panther, and the superiority -of the latter over the former, may justify the text.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.66" href="#ENref_1.66">STANZA <abbr title="66">LXVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Where burning fagot nevermore shall glow,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Fired by the wrath of persecuting men.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I know not that the fagot has been generally used in any -protestant country for the extirpation of heresy, yet its very -general application to that purpose by Roman Catholics has, by -common consent, made it the appropriate emblem of persecution -in all countries.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.69" href="#ENref_1.69">STANZA <abbr title="69">LXIX.</abbr></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[p. 183]</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Until Sowaniu’s breezes scatter flowers again.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Sowaniu, or the Paradise of the Indians, was supposed to be -an island in the far southwest. It was the favorite residence of -their great god, Cawtantowit, and the land of departed -spirits. The balmy southwest was a gale breathed from the -heaven of the Indians.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_1.80" href="#ENref_1.80">STANZA <abbr title="80">LXXX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>“And may the Manittoo of dreams,” he said, &c.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Manittoo—a God. It is a word which seems to have been applied -to an extraordinary power, or mysterious influence. Any -astonishing effect, produced by a cause which the Indians could -not comprehend, they appear to have ascribed to the agency of -a Manittoo. It is natural for man to draw his ideas of power or -causation, from what he feels in himself; and when he does so, -he will ascribe the effects which he observes to the influence of -mind. As he advances in knowledge the number of these mysterious -agents diminishes, until at last he is forced upon the -idea of one great, designing, first cause or agent. Man, from -his very constitution, therefore, must be a believer in the existence -of God. He approaches a knowledge of his unity by degrees, -and improves in his religious opinions in the same manner -as he advances to the science of astronomy. How essential -then is that freedom of opinion which our Founder sought to -establish!</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[p. 184]</span></p> -<h3>CANTO SECOND.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_2.13" href="#ENref_2.13">STANZA <abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>In a vast eagle’s form embodied, He</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Did o’er the deep on outstretched pinions spring.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was the belief of the Chippewas, a tribe supposed to have -descended from the same original stock (Lenni Lenape) with -the Narragansets, that, before the earth appeared, all was one -vast body of waters; that the Great Spirit, assuming the shape -of a mighty eagle, whose eyes were as fire, and the sound of -whose wings was as thunder, passed over the abyss, and that, -upon his touching the water, the earth rose from the deep. It -was a prevailing tradition among the Delawares and other -tribes, according to Heckewelder, that the earth was an island, -supported on the back of a huge tortoise, called in the text -Unamis. It is the object of the author to embrace in the text -a selection of their scattered traditions on the subject of creation, -and to give them something like the consistency of a system. -Waban, therefore, adopting their leading ideas, has -drawn out his description into the appropriate sequency of -events. Their Creator was a Manittoo, a mysteriously operating -power, and of the same nature as that principle of causation -which they felt in themselves, as constituting their own -being. The term <i>Cowwewonck</i>, in the Narraganset dialect, signified -the soul, and was derived from <i>Cowwene</i>, to sleep; because, -said they, it operates when the body sleeps. Hence in -the text, whilst the Great Spirit slept, he is represented as commencing -the work of creation—operating on the immense of -waters as a part of his own being, and imparting to it organic -existences, (as the soul from itself creates its own conceptions,) -thus giving a sort of dreamy existence to the earth and all living -things, ere He assumed the shape of the eagle, and at his fiat -imparted to them substantial form and vital energy. The idea, -that the earth was raised out of the Ocean, seems to have been -pretty general amongst the Aborigines.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.19" href="#ENref_2.19">STANZA <abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[p. 185]</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Yet man was not; then great Cawtantowit spoke</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To the hard mountain crags, and called for man.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>According to the traditions of the Narragansets, the Great -Spirit formed the first man from a stone, which, disliking, he -broke, and then formed another man and woman from a tree; -and from this pair sprang the Indians.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.22" href="#ENref_2.22">STANZA <abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Then did he send Yotaanit on high—</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Yotaanit was the God of Fire; Keesuckquand, God of the -Sun; Nanapaushat, of the Moon; and Wamponand was the -ruling Deity of the East.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.23" href="#ENref_2.23">STANZA <abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>All things thus were formed from what was good,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And the foul refuse every evil had;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>But it had felt the influence of the God,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>(How should it not?)—</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Heckewelder ascribes to the Indians the opinion that nothing -bad could proceed from the Great and Good Spirit. Waban is -here speaking in conformity to that opinion. Hence he represents -the creation of Chepian, or the evil principle, as an incidental -but necessary effect, yet forming no part of the original -design.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.27" href="#ENref_2.27">STANZA <abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And manittoos, that never death shall fear,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Do too within this moral form abide.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“They conceive,” says Williams, “that there are many gods, -or divine powers, within the body of man—in his pulse, heart, -lungs, &c.”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.28" href="#ENref_2.28">STANZA <abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>But if a sluggard and a coward, then</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To rove all wretched in the gloom of night.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[p. 186]</span>“They believe that the soules of men and women go to the -southwest—their great and good men to Cawtantowit his -house, where they have hopes, as the Turks have, of carnal -joys. Murtherers, liars, &c., their soules (say they) wander -restless abroad.”—<cite>Williams’ Key.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.38" href="#ENref_2.38">STANZA <abbr title="38">XXXVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This yet unproved and doubted by the best.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Charter of Pennsylvania was granted in 1681. The -philanthropic Penn was preceded by Williams in the adoption -of a mild and pacific policy toward the natives. Both seem to -have been equally successful.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.45" href="#ENref_2.45">STANZA <abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent20"><i>Ere dark pestilence</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Devoured his warriors—laid its hundreds low,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That sachem’s war-whoop roused to his defence</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Three thousand bow-men, and he still can show</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>A mighty force.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The pestilence, to which Waban has reference, is that which -shortly preceded the arrival of the Plymouth planters. The -Wampanoags, before this calamity, were relatively a powerful -people. Patuxet, afterwards Plymouth, was then under the -government of their sachem, who, at times, made it his place -of residence. Indeed the whole country between Seekonk and -the ocean, eastward, seems to have been occupied by tribes -more or less subject to him. Those toward the Cape and -about Buzzard’s Bay were, however, rather his tributaries than -his subjects. The different clans or communities, in this extensive -territory, were under the government of many petty -sachems, who regarded Ousamequin (afterwards Massasoit) as -their chief. Availing themselves of the misfortune of their -neighbors, the Narragansets extended their conquests eastward -over some of these under-sachems; and when Ousamequin fled -from Pawtuxet to Pokanoket, to avoid the devouring sickness, -he found not only Aquidnay, but a part of Pokanoket, subject to -his enemies. (See <a href="#Endnote_4.33">note to stanza <abbr title="33">xxxiii</abbr> canto <abbr title="4">iv</abbr></a>.) Pokanoket -was the Indian name of the neck of land between Taunton river<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[p. 187]</span> -on the east, and Seekonk and Providence rivers on the west. -Mount Hope, or Haup as it is called in the text, forms its southeastern -extreme. The number of warriors stated in the text as -subject to Ousamequin, is hypothetical. Some of the Nipnets -were tributary to the Narragansets, but the greater part of -them were the allies or subjects of the Wampanoag Chief.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.46" href="#ENref_2.46">STANZA <abbr title="46">XLVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>His highest chief is Corbitant the stern—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>He bears a fox’s head and panther’s heart.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Mr. Winslow, who had frequent conferences with this chief, -represents him as “a hollow-hearted friend to the Plymouth -planters, a notable politician, &c.” He, with others, was suspected -of conspiring against the whites, and Captain Standish -was sent, on one occasion, to execute summary justice upon -him and his confederates. He, however, escaped, and afterwards -made his peace with them through the mediation of Massasoit.</p> - -<p>His residence was at Mattapoiset, now Swanzey.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.47" href="#ENref_2.47">STANZA <abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent14"><i>Yet oft their children bleed</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>When the far west sends down her Maquas fell—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Warriors who hungry on their victims steal,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And make of human flesh a dreadful meal.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In compliance with the common orthography, the name of -this tribe is written <i>Maqua</i>. Williams says, that in the Narraganset -dialect they were called Mohawaugsuck, or Mauquauog, -from mobo, to eat; and were considered Cannibals. It is probable, -from its location, that he speaks of the same tribe under -the name of Mitucknechakick, or tree eaters, “a people,” says -he, “so called, living between three and four hundred miles -west into the land, from their eating Mituckquash—that is, -trees. They are men-eaters—they set no corn, but live on the -bark of the chestnut and other fine trees,” &c. Again, he says, -“The Maquaogs, or men-eaters, that live two or three hundred -miles west,” &c. Thus it is plain that the Maquas were considered, -by the Narragansets and their neighboring tribes, -Cannibals.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[p. 188]</span><a id="Endnote_2.48" href="#ENref_2.48">STANZA <abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here lies Namasket tow’rd the rising sun.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Namasket was within the limits of the territory which now -constitutes the township of Middleborough, and was about -fifteen miles from Plymouth.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here farther down, Cohannet’s banks upon</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Spreads broad Pocasset, strong Appanow’s hold.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The territory under that name, now forms a part of Fall River, -Mass., and all, or nearly all, Tiverton, R. I. The territory -south to the sea, was called Sagkonate, now written Sekonnet, -or Seconnet, forming at this time the township of Little Compton. -The northeasterly part of the island of Aquidnay was -also called Pocasset. This word may be a derivative from the -Indian name of the strait separating the island from the mainland. -The name of the chieftain in the text must be received -exclusively on Waban’s authority.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.50" href="#ENref_2.50">STANZA <abbr title="50">L.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Two mighty chiefs, one cautious, wise, and old,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>One young and strong, and terrible in fight,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>All Narraganset and Coweset hold;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>One lodge they build—one council fire they light.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In a deposition of Williams, dated the 18th June, 1682, he -says, that it was the general and constant declaration that the -father of Canonicus had three sons—that Canonicus was his -heir—that his youngest brother’s son, whose name was Miantonomi, -was his marshal, or executioner, and did nothing without -his consent.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Five thousand warriors give their arrows flight.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is the number at which Williams estimates them. Calendar -says they were a numerous, rich, and powerful people, -and though they were, by some, said to have been less fierce -and warlike than the Pequots, yet it appears that they had, -before the English came, not only increased their numbers by -receiving many who fled to them from the devouring sickness<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[p. 189]</span> -or plague in other parts of the land, but they had enlarged their -territories, both on the eastern and western boundaries. Their -numbers must have diminished rapidly, as Hutchinson estimates -their warriors in 1675 at two thousand; this estimate, -however, might not embrace those tribes which were subject to, -or dependant on them, when Williams entered the country. -They seem to have been a people greatly in advance of their -neighbors. They excelled in the manufacture of Wampumpeag, -and supplied other nations with it—also with pendants, -bracelets, tobacco pipes of stone, and pots for cookery. After -the arrival of the whites, they traded with them for their goods, -and supplied other tribes with them at an advance.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.51" href="#ENref_2.51">STANZA <abbr title="51">LI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Dark rolling Seekonk does their realm divide</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>From Pokanoket, Massasoit’s reign—</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Under the general name of Narraganset, was included Narraganset -proper and Coweset. Narraganset proper extended south -from what is now Warwick to the ocean; Coweset, from Narraganset -northerly to the Nipmuck country, which now forms -Oxford, Mass., and some other adjoining towns. The western -boundaries of Narraganset and Coweset cannot be definitely ascertained. -Gookins says, the Narraganset jurisdiction extended -thirty or forty miles from Seekonk river and Narraganset -bay, including the islands, southwesterly to a place called -Wekapage, four or five miles to the eastward of Pawcatuck -river—that it included part of Long Island, Block Island, -Coweset and Niantick, and received tribute from some of the -Nipmucks. After some research, I am induced to believe that -the Nianticks occupied the territory now called Westerly; if so, -then the jurisdiction of the Narragansets extended to the Pawcatuck, -and perhaps beyond it. The tribe next westward was -that which dwelt “in the twist of Pequot river,” now called -the Thames; and was under the control of the fierce and warlike -Uncas, a chief who had rebelled against Sassacus, the -Pequot sachem, and detached from its allegiance a considerable -portion of his nation, of which he had formed a distinct -tribe.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.53" href="#ENref_2.53">STANZA <abbr title="53">LIII.</abbr></a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[p. 190]</span></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Awanux gave him strength, and, with strange fear,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Did M’antonomi at the big guns start.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“We cannot conceive,” says Mourt in his journal, “but that -he [Massasoit] is willing to have peace with us: for they have -seen our people sometimes alone, two or three in the woods at -work and fowling, whereas they offered them no harm: and -especially, because he hath a potent adversary, the Narrohigansets, -that are at war with him, against whom he thinks we may -be of some strength to him; for our pieces are terrible unto -them.”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_2.74" href="#ENref_2.74">STANZA <abbr title="74">LXXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>At length his vision opened on a space,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Level and broad, and stretching without bound</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Southward afar—nor rose, o’er all its face,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>A tree, or shrub, or rock or swelling mound.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It may excite our wonder that the barren plains of Seekonk -should have been at first selected by our Founder for a place of -settlement. But it is possible that at the time when the selection -was made they were in a state, as to fertility, different -from their present. However this may be, one thing is certain, -that Williams made the selection during the winter, when vegetation -afforded no criterion of the soil, whilst its very nakedness -was in some respects a recommendation. It was an object -with the early settlers to establish themselves in the neighborhood -of some clearing, and particularly on meadows in the -vicinity of rivers. These yielded pasturage through the summer, -and forage for their cattle during winter, and land for -tillage without the preparatory steps of clearing.</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[p. 191]</span></p> -<h3>CANTO THIRD.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_3.7" href="#ENref_3.7">STANZA <abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>War! War! my brother.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams says that, at the time of his first entering the Narraganset -country, a great contest was raging between Canonicus -and Miantonomi on one side, and Massasoit or Ousamequin on -the other. Williams, at this time, had come to the resolution -of settling at Seekonk, on a part of the lands belonging to the -latter sachem. But should actual hostilities be commenced -between these tribes, his situation would become peculiarly -dangerous, occupying as he would, lands on the frontiers of the -weaker party. The Narragansets might regard his settlement -as a mere trading establishment, supplying their enemies with -arms. Besides, the Narragansets and Wampanoags, in many -instances, laid claim to the same lands. [See <a href="#Endnote_4.33">note to stanza -thirty-third, canto fourth</a>.] To obtain a peaceable possession -of these lands it was necessary to have the consent of both. A -reconciliation, therefore, of the contending tribes became indispensable. -Williams incidentally mentions that he travelled between -them to satisfy them of his intentions to live peaceably -by them, and it is hardly possible that the equally necessary -object of their reconciliation was neglected. Indeed, we find, -shortly after Williams entered their country, these chiefs, so -recently hostile, amicably granting their lands to him and his -associates, and one of them yielding to the authority of the -other. Hence we may infer that Williams not only attempted -to pacify them, but that his efforts were crowned with success.</p> - -<p>Ousamequin, or Ashumequin, was the name of the Wampanoag -chief, until about the time of the Pequot war, when he -assumed the name of Massasoit, or Massasoyt, for it is variously -written. The latter is used in the text as that by which -he is most generally designated. It was common for the Indians -to change their names. That of Miantonomi was originally -Mecumeh.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[p. 192]</span><a id="Endnote_3.8" href="#ENref_3.8">STANZA <abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Narraganset hatchet stained with gore—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Miantonomi lifts it o’er his head,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Gives the loud battle yell, and names our valiant dead.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To name the dead was considered a great indignity, and, -among chiefs, a sufficient cause for war. Philip pursued one -who had thus offended to Nantucket. The life of the offender -was saved only by the interference of the whites. To avoid uttering -the names of the dead they used circumlocutions, such as -<i>Sachem-aupan</i>, <i>Nes-mat-aupan</i>; the sachem that was here, our -brother that was here.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_3.11" href="#ENref_3.11">STANZA <abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And Annawan, who saw in after times</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Brave Metacom, and all of kindred blood,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Slain, or enslaved and sold to foreign climes.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Metacom was the original name of Philip. Anawan was the -last of Philip’s captains that fell into the hands of the English. -He was with Philip at the time he was surprised and slain. -Church, giving an account of the battle, says, “By this time -the enemy perceived they were waylaid on the east of the -swamp, and tacked short about. One of the enemy, who -seemed to be a great surly old fellow, hallooed with a loud -voice, and often called out, ‘Iootash! Iootash!’ Captain -Church called to his Indian, Peter, and asked who that -was that called so. He answered that it was Annawan, -Philip’s great captain, calling to his soldiers to stand to it, and -fight stoutly.”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_3.19" href="#ENref_3.19">STANZA <abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Scarce do they leave a scant and narrow place,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Where we may spread the blanket of our race.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“We have not room to spread our blankets,” was a phrase -by which the Indians signified that they were straightened in -their possessions.—<cite>See Heckewelder</cite>.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[p. 193]</span><a id="Endnote_3.22" href="#ENref_3.22">STANZA <abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>“’Tis not the peag,” said the Sagamore,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>“Nor knives, nor guns, nor garments red as blood,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That buy the lands I hold dominion o’er—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Lands that were fashioned by the red man’s God;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>But to my friend I give.”</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams says the Indians were very shy and jealous of selling -their lands to any, and chose rather to make a grant of them -to such as they affected; but at the same time expected such -gratuities and rewards as made an Indian gift often times -a very dear bargain.</p> - -<p>Of Peag there were two sorts—the white and black. The -former was called Wampom or Wampum, the latter Suckauhock. -The first was wrought from the white, the last from the -black or purple part of a shell.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_3.61" href="#ENref_3.61">STANZA <abbr title="61">LXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Westward till now his course did Waban draw;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>He shunned Weybosset, the accustomed ford.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I am informed that Weybosset, in the Indian language, signified -a ford, or crossing place. It is now the name of a street in -Providence, extending southwesterly from the place in the river -so designated by the Indians.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_3.62" href="#ENref_3.62">STANZA <abbr title="62">LXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And fast doth Indian town to town succeed,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Some large, some small, in populous array.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“In the Narraganset country (which is the chief people in -the land) a man shall come to many townes, some bigger, some -lesser, it may be a dozen in 20 miles travell.”—<cite>Williams’ Key.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[p. 194]</span><a id="Endnote_3.64" href="#ENref_3.64">STANZA <abbr title="64">LXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>For they were gone to Potowomet’s fires.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The words <i>Note</i> or <i>Yote</i> signified fire; <i>Potowash</i>, to make -fire; <i>Wame</i> signified all, and <i>Et</i> is a termination denoting -place. If this be so, it would seem that Potowamet, signified -the place of all the fires, or places where all the tribes assembled -and kindled their council or festal fires. The shell-fish, in -which the shores of Potowomet abound, and the numerous remains -of Indian feasts found on the upland, offer additional -proof of the correctness of this inference.</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3> -<a id="Canto_4_notes" href="#ENref_4">CANTO FOURTH.</a></h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_4.2" href="#ENref_4.2">STANZA <abbr title="2">II.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>There bristled darts—there glittered lances sheen.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Lances were arms which distinguished their sachems and -other leaders. At this early period the Indians had scarcely become -familiarized to the use of fire-arms. The French and -Dutch had indeed begun to supply them with these strange implements -of death; but the English colonists had taken every -precaution to prevent their being furnished with them. There -were, however, no restraints on the trade of knives, hatchets, -lances, &c.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.20" href="#ENref_4.20">STANZA <abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>On settles raised around the mounting blaze</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Sit gray Wauontom, Keenomp, Sagamore.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Wauontom, a counsellor; Keenomp, a captain; Sagamore, a -chief or sachem.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Is sage Canonicus.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams considered Canonicus, at the time he wrote his Key -to the Indian Languages, about fourscore years old.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[p. 195]</span><a id="Endnote_4.21" href="#ENref_4.21">STANZA <abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Neyhom’s mantle did his shoulders grace.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“Neyhomaushunck, a coat or mantle curiously made of the -fairest plumes of the Neyhommauog, or turkies, which commonly -their old men make, and is with them as velvet with -us.”—<cite>Williams’ Key.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.33" href="#ENref_4.33">STANZA <abbr title="33">XXXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Yes, ere he came, Pocasset’s martial band</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Did at our bidding come to fight the foe,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And the tall warriors of the Nipnet land</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Rushed with soft foot to bend our battle bow;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And e’en the dog of Haup did cringing stand</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Beside our wigwam, and his tribute show.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The reader will not expect in the text minute historical accuracy, -yet it has been the wish of the author, throughout, not to -violate <span class="allsmcap">KNOWN</span> historical truth; and the following facts, he -thinks, give something more than mere probability to the presumption, -that Massasoit was, before the arrival of the whites, -in some sense, one of the subject sachems of the Narraganset -chiefs. The following extract of a deposition of Williams, -dated at Narraganset, the 18th of June, A. D. 1682, will shew -that Canonicus had authority of some sort over Massasoit, and -that the latter had claims, subordinate to those of Canonicus, -to certain lands which Williams procured of the last named -chief. In this deposition Williams says, “I desire posterity to -see the most gracious hand of the Most High, (in whose hands -are all things,) that when the hearts of my countrymen and -friends and brethren failed me, his infinite wisdom and merits -stirred up the barbarous heart of Canonicus to love me -as his own son to the last gasp, by which I had not only Miantonomi -and all the Coweset sachems my friends, but Ousamequin -also, who, because of my great friendship for him at Plymouth, -and the authority of Canonicus, consented freely, -(being also well gratified by me,) to the Governor Winthrop’s -and my enjoyment of Prudence, yea of Providence itself, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[p. 196]</span> -all other parts I procured which were upon the point, and in -effect, whatever I desired of him.” A distinction seems here to -be intended between Prudence and other places. It is probable -that Prudence was conquered by the Narragansets, whilst in -possession of some under-sachem of Massasoit. And when the -latter renounced all claims to this Island, he at the same time -assured to Williams the peaceable enjoyment of Providence and -all other places purchased of him.</p> - -<p>A similar state of things appears in the deed, made by -Canonicus and Miantonomi to the settlers of Aquidnay, to have -existed both in reference to that island and a part of Pokanoket, -where Massasoit resided. This deed or memorandum is as -follows: “We, Canonicus and Miantonomi, the two chief -sachems of Narraganset, by virtue of our general command -of the Bay, as also the particular subjecting of the dead -sachem of Aquidnick and Kitackumuckqut, [Kikemuet] themselves -and lands unto us, have sold unto Mr. Coddington and -his friends united, the great Island of Acquidnick, lying from -hence eastward in this bay, as also the marsh or grass upon -Quinnannacut, [Conanicut] and the rest of the islands in the -bay, (excepting Chubackuweda, formerly sold unto Mr. Winthrope, -Governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. Williams of Providence,) -also the grass upon the rivers and coasts about Kitakamuckqut, -and from thence to Pauparquatsh [Poppasquash] -for the full payment of forty fathoms of white beads.”</p> - -<p>Ousamaquin was present, and granted the use of the grass -and trees on the main land, Pocasset side. Tradition points -out the spot on which the battle was fought that decided the fate -of Aquidnick, and assigns a date to the arrival of the English at -Plymouth. Callender evidently considers it to have taken place -during the great sickness or plague which prevailed among the -eastern Indians before the coming of the Whites. When the -English arrived, Massasoit was at Pokanoket, in a part of that -territory so recently wrested by the Narragansets from (probably) -one of his under-sachems. He was then in no condition -to resist any of the demands of the victors, and there can be -little doubt that he submitted to them as a tributary or subject -chief. The arrival of the English, however, gave him allies, -and enabled him to set the Narragansets at defiance. Hence -the hostility of the Narragansets to the Whites; and hence Massasoit’s -uniform adherence to them. That Massasoit was considered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[p. 197]</span> -by the Narragansets a tributary chief, and bound to -comply with the requisitions of their sachems, is rendered very -probable by the following passage in Winthrop’s Journal. It -is under date of April, 1632:</p> - -<p>“The Governor received letters from Plymouth signifying -that there had been a broil between their men at Sowamset and -the Narraganset Indians, who set upon the English house, -there to have taken Ousamaquin, the Sagamore of Pokanoscott, -[Pokanoket] who fled thither with all the people for refuge, and -that Captain Standish, being gone thither to relieve the English -which were in the House, sent home in all haste for more -men and other provisions, upon intelligence that Canonicus -was coming with a great army against them. On that, they -wrote to our Governor for some powder to be sent with all possible -speed, for it seemed they were unprovided. Upon this -the Governor presently dispatched away a messenger with so -much powder as he could carry, viz: twenty-seven pounds. -The messenger returned and brought a letter from the Governor, -signifying that the Indians were retired from Sowamset to fight -the Pequins, [Pequots] which was probable; because John -Sagamore and Chickatabott were gone, with all their men, to -Canonicus, who had sent for them.”</p> - -<p>Here Canonicus, on the point of marching against the Pequots, -sent to certain sachems of Massachusetts to join him; -there is little doubt that the same requisition was made of Massasoit, -and attempted to be enforced. He took shelter, however, -under the English, and the Narragansets finding that -they could not compel obedience without involving themselves -in a war with the English, retired and prosecuted the expedition -without his assistance. But in 1636, when they were somewhat -relieved from the pressure of their enemies, they were probably -about engaging in a war with the Wampanoags, to punish -this contempt of their chief’s authority. Hence the great contest -to which Williams alludes.</p> - -<p>As a further proof that Massasoit was in some sort a subordinate -sachem of the Narraganset chiefs, it may be added, that -the above deed of Aquidnick appears to have been made in his -presence, and that he and his tribe were afterwards compensated -for their rights in the lands conveyed. Those rights were -therefore considered of a character subordinate to those of the -Narraganset chiefs.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[p. 198]</span> -Since the foregoing remarks were written, the author has -noticed a deposition of Williams, quoted by Backus, in his History -of the Baptists, and dated twenty-five years after the settlement -of Providence was commenced, which applies directly -to the question here discussed, and abundantly confirms the -views already taken. Williams, in his deposition, says, “After -I had obtained this place, now called Providence, of Canonicus -and Miantonomi, [the chief Nanhiganset sachems,] Osamaquin -laid his claim to this place also. This forced me to repair -to the Nanhiganset sachems aforesaid, who declared that Osamaquin -was their subject, and had solemnly, himself in person -with ten men, subjected himself and his lands unto them at the -Nanhiganset, only now he seemed to revolt from his loyalty, -under the shelter of the English at Plymouth. This I declared -from the Nanhiganset sachems to Osamaquin, who without -any stick acknowledged to be true that he had so subjected, -as the Nanhiganset sachems had affirmed; [but] that he was -not subdued by war, which himself and his father had maintained -against the Nanhigansets; but God, said he, subdued us -by a plague which swept away my people, and forced me to -yield.”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.35" href="#ENref_4.35">STANZA <abbr title="35">XXXV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>They were the Yengee’s men, not ours, they said.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“He [Massasoit] also talked of the French, bidding us not -to suffer them to come to Narrohiganset; for it was King James’ -his country, and he was King James his man.”—<cite>Mourt’s -Journal.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.37" href="#ENref_4.37">STANZA <abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>He speaks a Manitoo!</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“There is a general custom among them,” says Williams, -“at the apprehension of any excellence in men or women, birds, -beasts, or fish, &c., to cry out Manittoo! that is, it is a god; -as thus, if they see one man excel others in wisdom, valor, -strength, or activity, they cry out Manittoo!”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[p. 199]</span><a id="Endnote_4.41" href="#ENref_4.41">STANZA <abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And for the Pequot deeds Awanux grieves.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“News came to Plymouth that Captain Stone, who last summer -went out of the Bay or Lake, and so to Aquawaticus, where -he took in Captain Norton, putting in at the mouth of Connecticut, -(on his way to Virginia,) where the Pequins [Pequots] -inhabit, was cut off with all his company, being eight in number.”—<cite>Winthrop’s -Journal.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.45" href="#ENref_4.45">STANZA <abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>If true he spake—that should his actions show—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>May not his heart be darker than yon cloud,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And yet his words white as yon falling snow?</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Still if his speech were true—</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“Canonicus, the old high sachem of the Narraganset bay, (a -wise and peaceable prince), once in a solemn oration to myself, -in a solemn assembly, using this word, [Wannaumwayean, if -he speak true,] said, I have never suffered any wrong to be offered -to the English since they landed, nor never will. He often -repeated this word, Wannaumwayean, Englishman, if the Englishman -speak true, if he meane truly; then shall I goe to my -grave in peace, and hope that the English and my posteritie -shall live in love and peace together. I replied that he had no -cause (as I hoped) to question the Englishman’s Wannaumauonck, -that is, faithfulnesse, he having had long experience of -their faithfulnesse and trustinesse. He took a stick and broke -it into ten pieces, and related ten instances, (laying down a -stick at every instance), which gave him cause thus to feare and -say. I satisfied him on some presently, and presented the rest -to the governors of the English, who I hope will be far from -giving just cause to have barbarians question their Wannaumwauonck -of faithfulnesse.”—<cite>Williams’ Key.</cite></p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[p. 200]</span><a id="Endnote_4.47" href="#ENref_4.47">STANZA <abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This fragment shows the serpent’s skin they sent,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Filled with round thunders to our royal tent.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“The people called Narragansets,” says the N. E. Memorial, -“sent messengers unto our plantations with a bundle of arrows -tied together with a snake-skin, which the interpreter told them -was a threatening and a challenge, upon which the Governor of -Plymouth sent them a rough answer, viz.: That, if they loved -war better than peace, they might begin when they would; they -had done them no wrong, neither did they fear them, nor should -they find them unprovided; and by another messenger they -sent the snake-skin back again, with bullets in it; but they -would not receive it, but sent it back again.” Mr. Davis in a -note adds: “The messenger was accompanied by a friendly -Indian, Tockamahamon. The messenger inquired for Squanto, -who was absent. The bundle of arrows was left for him, and -the messenger departed without any explanation. When -Squanto returned, and the dubious present was delivered him, -he immediately understood the object.” The planters, however, -seem to have considered themselves threatened. They immediately -began to strengthen their defences, and every precaution -was taken against a surprise.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_4.48" href="#ENref_4.48">STANZA <abbr title="48">XLVIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This, when at Sowans raged our battle loud,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>How their round thunders made that battle dumb.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>See the passage from Winthrop, in <a href="#Endnote_4.33">note to stanza <abbr title="33">xxxiii.</abbr></a></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>This how amid the Pequot nation they</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Build the square lodge, and whet him to the fray.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Plymouth Company had established a trading house on -the Connecticut, as early as 1633. Their trade with the Pequots -in arrow points, knives, hatchets, &c., might very probably give -offence to the Narragansets. “We found,” says Winthrop, -“that all the sachems of Narraganset, except Canonicus and -Miantonomi were the contrivers of Mr. Oldham’s death, and the -occasion was because he went to make peace and trade with the -Pequots.”</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[p. 201]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO FIFTH.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_5.11" href="#ENref_5.11">STANZA <abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Brother, the spirit of my son is gone;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>I burned my lodge to speak my mighty grief.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams says, “The chiefe and most aged peaceable father of -the countrey, Canonnicus, having buried his sonne, he burned -his own palace, and all his goods in it, (amongst them to a -great value), in a solemn remembrance of his son, and in a kind -of humble expiation to the gods, who (as they believe) had -taken away his sonne from him.”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>I am thy father, thou shalt be my son.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>See the extract from Williams’ testimony, in <a href="#Endnote_4.33">note to stanza -<abbr title="33">xxxiii</abbr>, of canto <abbr title="4">iv</abbr></a>.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.24" href="#ENref_5.24">STANZA <abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The sable fox-hide did his loins enclose—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The sable fox-tail formed his nodding crest.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Indians had a superstitious regard for the black fox. -Williams says, they considered it a Manittoo—a god, spirit, or -divine power.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.32" href="#ENref_5.32">STANZA <abbr title="32">XXXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Hast thou forgot, when, by Cohannet’s stream,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To curse the strangers every charm was tried.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“But before I pass on, let the reader take notice of a very remarkable -particular which was made known to the planters at -Plymouth some short space after their arrival; that the Indians, -before they came to the English to make friendship with them, -got all the Pawaws in the country, who, for three days together, -in a horrid and devilish manner, did curse and execrate them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[p. 202]</span> -with their conjurations, which assembly and service they held -in a dark and dismal swamp.”—<cite>N. E. Memorial.</cite></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>How I appeared, and, by the embers’ gleam,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To the hard rock my lance’s point applied,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And scored my mandate.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The inscriptions on the rocks by Taunton river have afforded -a subject of much speculation to the antiquary. It would not be -strange if the Indians ascribed to them a supernatural origin.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.42" href="#ENref_5.42">STANZA <abbr title="42">XLII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>An odor, strange, though not offensive, spread</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>About him, as he near and nearer drew;</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>If my recollection serves me, Dr. Good, in his Book of Nature, -supposes that the seeming power of fascination in serpents may -arise from an odor emitted by them. The tale of the Hunter -and the Rattlesnake, in the New England Legends, must furnish -the author with a justification for the use which he has -made of this serpent in the text; and it ought also to be added, -that his description of the serpent, in the act of exercising his -mysterious powers, is not essentially different from that in the -tale to which he has referred.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.63" href="#ENref_5.63">STANZA <abbr title="63">LXIII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Here stretched Aquidnay tow’rd the ocean blue.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Aquidnay is the Indian name for Rhode Island. This name -is variously written—sometimes Aquidneck, sometimes Aquetnet, -and sometimes Aquidnet. Winthrop generally writes it -Aquidnay, and the author has chosen so to write it, for no other -reason, than that the sound is a little more agreeable. There is -some reason to conclude that Aquetnet is nearer its true etymology. -See the following note.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.70" href="#ENref_5.70">STANZA <abbr title="70">LXX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent8"><i>Another sachem sways</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The Isle of peace.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><i>Aquene</i> signified, in the Narraganset dialect, peace. It is possible -that Aquetnet, as the name of this island has been sometimes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[p. 203]</span> -written, may be its derivative; <i>et</i> is a termination usually -denoting place. But whether this be or be not its etymology, -the designation is not inapplicable, since the island must have -been a place of security against the roving Maquas, Pequots, -Tarrateens, &c.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_5.72" href="#ENref_5.72">STANZA <abbr title="72">LXXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>There Sowams gleamed,—if names the muse aright,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent2"><i>Till in the forest far his glories fade;</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Calender intimates that Sowams is properly the name of a -river, where the two Swansey rivers meet and run together for -near a mile, when they empty themselves in the Narraganset -Bay. Sowamset may, therefore, indicate some town or other -place on the banks of the river. These names have been used -by some as synonymous.</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3> -CANTO SIXTH.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_6.3" href="#ENref_6.3">STANZA <abbr title="3">III.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18"><i>Who with the laboring axe,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>On Seekonk’s eastern marge, invades the wood?</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Nothing is said of Williams, by the histories of the age, from -the time he left Salem, until his expulsion from Seekonk, afterwards -called Rehoboth. We learn, from some of Williams’ -letters, that, after purchasing land from Massasoit, he there -built and planted, before he was informed by Governor Winslow -that he was within the limits of the Plymouth patent. -Until this information, he had supposed himself to be beyond -the limits of either Plymouth or Massachusetts. And, certainly, -the language of the Plymouth patent was sufficiently equivocal -to countenance almost any construction of it in reference to the -western (otherwise called southern) bounds of its grant. I will -transcribe its words, that the reader may judge for himself. It -grants the lands “lying between Cohasset rivulet toward the -north, and Narraganset river toward the south, the great Western -Ocean toward the east, and a straight line, extending into -the main land toward the west, from the mouth of Narraganset<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[p. 204]</span> -river to the utmost bounds of a country called Pokanoket, alias -Sowamset, and another straight line, extending directly from -the mouth of Cohasset river toward the west, so far into the -main land westward, as the utmost limits of Pokanoket, alias -Sowamset.”</p> - -<p>What is here intended by Narraganset river? Is it the bay or -some river falling into the bay? Was it intended by the utmost -bounds of Pokanoket? Do the words of the patent include or -exclude that territory? The truth is, that the geography of the -country was, at that time, very imperfectly understood, and the -words of the patent are not a true description of the territory to -be granted. The charter of Rhode Island is a proof that the -Plymouth patent was not considered as embracing within its -limits what is called Pokanoket, alias Sowamset; since that -charter covers a considerable part of that very territory. But, -if Pokanoket was not included by the Plymouth patent, Williams -ought not to have been treated as a trespasser. It is not my -purpose to discuss the question of boundaries. These observations -are made for the purpose of showing that Williams had -his reasons for believing that he was out of the jurisdiction of -Plymouth.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_6.22" href="#ENref_6.22">STANZA <abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And brandishing his blade, he jeering said,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That vengeance gave it eyes and appetite;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>It soon would eat—but eat in silence dread.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“He [an Indian slain by Standish] bragged of the excellency -of his knife: <i>Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts</i>: that -is to say, by and by it should see, by and by it should eat, but -not speak.”</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[p. 205]</span></p> -<h3> -CANTO SEVENTH.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_7.5" href="#ENref_7.5">STANZA <abbr title="5">V.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>His flock no more,—with strifes now sorely riven.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The opinions for which Williams was banished, were but the -beginning of schism in the Massachusetts churches, and his -banishment but the commencement of persecution. Many -members of the church of Salem still adhered to him, and finally -followed him to Providence.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_7.21" href="#ENref_7.21">STANZA <abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent16"><i>O’er yonder distant brow</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Smokes in the vale Neponset’s peopled town.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Neponset is the name of a river in Massachusetts. On the -banks of this river there seem to have been several Indian -towns or villages, at the time of Williams’ banishment.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_7.57" href="#ENref_7.57">STANZA <abbr title="57">LVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And by the lock he held a trunkless head.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“Timequassin, to cut off, or behead, which they are most -skillful to do in fight.”—<cite>Williams’ Key.</cite></p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3> -CANTO EIGHTH.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_8.16" href="#ENref_8.16">STANZA <abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26"><i>Who cannot see,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>That a dark cloud o’er our New England lowers?</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The tender conscience struggles to be free—</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The tyrant struggles, and retains his power.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams seems to have had a strong presentiment that a season -of persecution was approaching, and often expressed a desire -that his plantation <cite>might be a shelter for persons distressed -for conscience</cite>.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[p. 206]</span><a id="Endnote_8.19" href="#ENref_8.19">STANZA <abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And there this eve some reasoning, I opine,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>(For all may err) a weighty theme upon,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>May not be deemed amiss.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was the first intention of the author to have drawn the -materials of the conversation in the text from the controversy -between Williams and Cotton; but, on examination, he was -satisfied that it was not suited to a performance of this kind. -This controversy originated as follows: A prisoner (one who -was doubtless suffering for heretical opinions) addressed a -letter to a Mr. Hall, in which he discussed and argued against -the right of government to persecute for matters of conscience. -Hall sent this letter to Mr. Cotton, who answered it. Hall, -dissatisfied with the answer, transmitted it to Williams. In -the hands of Williams it remained some time; for he was -struggling with all the difficulties incident to his situation at -Providence. He however composed a reply to Cotton’s answer, -which he entitled the Bloody Tenent. He says it was -written whilst engaged at the hoe and oar, toiling for bread—whilst -attending on Parliament—in a change of rooms and -places; in a variety of strange houses; sometimes in the field, -in the midst of travel; where he had been forced to gather and -scatter his loose thoughts and papers. And, certainly, considering -the circumstances in which it was composed, it is a work -calculated to increase our admiration of the man. The Bloody -Tenent, together with Mr. Cotton’s answer to the prisoner’s -letter, was published in London, at a time when his Puritan -brethren in England were addressing him and others in Massachusetts, -with most earnest remonstrances against their cruel -persecutions of other denominations.</p> - -<p>He, in his replies, had been endeavoring to extenuate and -excuse the conduct of the civil government, and had taken particular -care to exculpate himself. It is easy, therefore, to conceive -what a shock this reverend dignitary must have suffered, -when his answer to the prisoner’s letter, which went in principle -the full length of the most unsparing persecution, together -with Williams’ reply, was published and circulated among the -brethren there. He instantly raised a cry, that Williams was -<cite>persecuting him</cite>, by publishing his answer to the prisoner’s letter,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[p. 207]</span> -and commenting upon it. But he felt himself under the -necessity of doing something more. His brethren in England -would require some sort of justification, and one consistent -with the sentiments he had already expressed in his letters to -them. Hence the controversy between him and Williams, is, -on the part of Cotton, a sophistical attempt to avoid the charge -of persecuting for matters of conscience. We do not persecute -consciences, says he, but we do punish those who commit violence -on their own consciences. If the reader should be so -curious as to inquire, how Mr. Cotton ascertained when a man -committed violence on his own conscience, I will state his process -as I understand it. When it was discovered that any member -entertained opinions inconsistent with the fundamental doctrines -of the order to which he belonged, he was in the first place -called before the church, and admonished of his error. If he -still persisted, he was summoned before the magistracy, where -the charges were specified, and the magistracy determined -whether he was or was not convinced in his own mind of his -errors. His judges never failed to be satisfied that he was convinced. -If the accused afterwards persisted in his opinions, he -was considered as one committing violence on his own conscience, -and treated as an incorrigible heretic and disturber of -the peace, and as such banished, imprisoned, scourged, or -hanged, as the enormity of his heretical opinions might require. -I have necessarily given the conversation between Williams -and the Plymouth elder a turn different from that of the -controversy between him and Cotton; but have endeavored to -preserve something of the tone of feeling which pervades the -latter. I flatter myself, however, that the Plymouth elder is a -more moderate man than Mr. Cotton. As a proof, hear Mr. -Cotton in his own words set forth the advantages which a state -derives from persecuting heretics, and the summary mode in -which the civil magistrate may deal with them.</p> - -<p>To the question of Williams, What glory to God—what good -to the souls and bodies of their subjects, did these princes bring -in persecuting? Mr. Cotton thus replies: “The good that is -brought to princes and subjects, by the due punishment of -apostate seducers and idolaters and blasphemers, is manifold.</p> - -<p>First; it putteth away evil from the people, and cutteth off a -gangrene which would spread to further ungodliness.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[p. 208]</span>Secondly; It driveth away wolves from worrying and scattering -the sheep of Christ; (for false teachers be wolves.)</p> - -<p>Thirdly; Such executions upon such evil doers causeth all -the country to hear and fear, and do no more such wickedness.</p> - -<p>Fourthly; The punishments, executed upon false prophets -and seducing teachers, do bring down showers of God’s blessings -upon the civil state.</p> - -<p>Fifthly; It is an honor to God’s justice that such judgments -are executed.”</p> - -<p>He says, “If there be stones in the streets the magistrate -need not fetch a sword from the smith’s shop, nor a halter from -the roper’s, to punish a heretic.”</p> - -<p>It will appear that time has made no improvement upon the -leading principles of Williams, as gathered from different parts -of his replies to Cotton. He says that “the people are the -origin of all free power in government.” “That the people are -not invested by Christ Jesus with power to rule his Church.” -That they can give no such power to the magistrate. “That -the kingdom of Christ is spiritual”—that to introduce the civil -sword into this spiritual kingdom is “to confound Heaven -and earth together, and lay all upon heaps of confusion”—“Is -to take Christ and make him king by force (John vi, 15)—to -make his kingdom of this world—to set up a civil and temporal -Israel—to bound out new earthy lands of Canaan; yea, -and to set up a Spanish inquisition, in all parts of the world, -to the speedy destruction of millions of souls,” &c.</p> - -<p>Cotton says, “that when the kingdoms of this earth become -the kingdoms of the Lord, it is not by making Christ a temporal -king; but by making the temporal kingdoms nursing fathers to -the Church”—“that religion was not to be propagated by the -sword; but protected and preserved by it.”</p> - -<p>Williams replies, “that the husbandman weeds his garden to -increase his grain, and that consequently it is the object of the -hand that destroys the heretic to make the Christian”—“That -the sword may make a nation of hypocrites, but not of Christians,” -&c.</p> - -<p>I have thrown together these few detached sentences, that the -reader, who may have little inclination to peruse a controversy -on a question which happily has no place in the present age,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[p. 209]</span> -may form some opinion of its character. The discussion occupies -two considerable volumes.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_8.41" href="#ENref_8.41">STANZA <abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Williams, he said, it is my thankless lot,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thee with no pleasant message now to meet;</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Nor hath our Winslow, in his charge forgot</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>(For his behest I bear and words repeat)</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>His former friendship, but right loth is he</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To vex his neighbors by obliging thee.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>After Williams had built and planted at Seekonk, he was -visited by a messenger from Plymouth with a letter from Winslow, -then Governor. Professing his and others’ friendship for -him, he lovingly advised Williams, since he had fallen into the -edge of their bounds, and they were loath to displease the Bay, -to remove but to the other side of the water, and there he had -the country before him, and might be as free as themselves, and -they should be loving neighbors together.—See Williams’ letter -to Mason. Mass. His. Col.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_8.45" href="#ENref_8.45">STANZA <abbr title="45">XLV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thy purchase feigned was by the prophet shown</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To Dudley, and by him to us made known.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams, in his letter to Mason, says, that Governor Winthrop -and some of the council of Massachusetts were disposed -to recall him from banishment, and confer upon him some -mark of distinguished favor for his services. “It is known,” -says Williams, “who hindered—who never promoted the liberty -of other men’s consciences.” Mr. Davis, in a note to his edition -of the New England Memorial, conjectures that he alludes -to Mr. Dudley. The reader will not consider me as doing violence -to historical probability, by supposing that this man gave -information to the magistrates of Plymouth that Williams had -established himself within the limits of their patent, and required<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[p. 210]</span> -his expulsion. He was the author of the following -lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Let men of God in courts and churches watch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er such as do a toleration hatch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To poison all with heresy and vice.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If men be left and otherwise combine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My epitaph’s I dy’d no libertine.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Yet we ought, perhaps, to blame the system, rather than the -magistrate whose duty it was to carry it into effect.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_8.47" href="#ENref_8.47">STANZA <abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>God gave James Stuart this, and James gave us.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The patents of the companies which settled in this country -granted them lands without any reference to the rights of the -natives. But the companies never availed themselves of these -grants to that extent. Whatever may have been their opinions, -they acted under them as if they had only invested them with -the right of pre-emption. Cotton Mather is the only historian, -that I recollect, who makes a merit of paying the Indians for -their lands, and of not expelling them immediately from the -soil in virtue of these patents.</p> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3> -CANTO NINTH.</h3></div> - -<p class="stanzano sp1"><a id="Endnote_9.3" href="#ENref_9.3">STANZA <abbr title="3">III.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Early that morn, beside the tranquil flood,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Where, ready trimmed, rode Waban’s frail canoe,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The banished man, his spouse and children stood,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And bade their lately blooming hopes adieu.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>I have represented Williams, throughout this narrative, as -unaccompanied by any of his Salem friends. And such, I think, -was the fact up to the time he left, or was about leaving, Seekonk. -Indeed, there was no necessity for any of his friends to -accompany him in his flight from Salem “in the winter’s snow.” -They could render him no assistance in negotiations with the -Indians.—They could not alleviate his hardships by participating<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[p. 211]</span> -in them. But what seems to settle the question, (if in fact -it be a question) is, that he himself, though he frequently alludes -to his sufferings and transactions “during the bitter cold -winter,” no where intimates that any white man participated in -them. He uniformly speaks in the first person singular: “I -was sorely tossed for fourteen weeks—I left Salem in the winter’s -snow—I found a great contest going on between the -chiefs—I travelled between them—I first pitched and began to -build and plant at Seekonk—I received a message from Mr. -Winslow—I crossed the Seekonk and settled at Mooshausick.” -It is strange that he should, on no occasion, mention that some -of his friends suffered with him, if any actually did. All accurate -information concerning Williams, during these fourteen -weeks, must, I apprehend, be drawn from his writings; and I -have chosen to follow them. And indeed had he been accompanied -by one or more of his friends, they could not have aided -the author in the conduct of his narrative, any more than they -could have borne a part in the trials and labors of Williams.</p> - -<p>Williams says that he mortgaged his house and land in Salem -to go through, and all that came with him afterwards were not -engaged, but came and went at pleasure; but he was forced to -go through and stay by it. (His purchase of the Indians.)</p> - -<p>I have not been able to ascertain in what particular part of -Seekonk Williams attempted to form his plantation, and have -consequently felt myself at liberty to suppose it was in the -neighborhood of Pawtucket Falls.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_9.25" href="#ENref_9.25">STANZA <abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>“Netop, Whatcheer!” broke on the listening air.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Netop—friend. The tradition is, that when Williams in a -canoe approached the western banks of the river, at a place now -called Whatcheer Cove, he saw a gathering of the natives. -When he had come within hail, he was accosted by them in -broken English with the friendly salutation, “Wha-cheer! Wha-cheer!” -Here he landed, and was kindly received by them. -The land which was afterwards set off to him included this spot, -and he commemorated the amicable greeting of his Indian -friends by naming the field there assigned to him the Manor of -Whatcheer, or Whatcheer Manor. This field is now the property -of Governor Fenner, and the field adjoining it, which was likewise<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[p. 212]</span> -set forth to Williams, has continued to the present day in -the possession of his descendants. We are probably indebted -to the name which Williams gave the first mentioned field, for -the preservation of this tradition.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_9.37" href="#ENref_9.37">STANZA <abbr title="37">XXXVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Ay, almost hears the future pavements jar</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Beneath a people’s wealth, and half divines</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>From thee, Soul-Liberty! what glories wait</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Thy earliest altars—thy predestined state.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>To show that Williams was not without a presentiment of the -temporal advantages that might arise to his projected settlement, -from a full liberty in religious concernments, I quote the -following from his memorial to Parliament, prefixed to his -Bloody Tenent made more bloody, &c. Speaking of Holland -he says: “From Enchuysen, therefore, a den of persecuting -lions and mountain leopards, the persecuted fled to Amsterdam, -a poor fishing town, yet harborous and favorable to the flying, -though dissenting consciences. This confluence of the persecuted, -by God’s most gracious coming with them, drew boats—drew -trade—drew shipping, and that so mightily in so short a -time, that shipping, trade, wealth, greatness, honor, (almost to -astonishment in the eyes of all Europe and the world), have appeared -to fall, as out of Heaven, in a crown or garland upon the -head of this poor fishertown.”</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_9.40" href="#ENref_9.40">STANZA <abbr title="40">XL.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>From wild Pawtucket to Pawtuxet’s bounds,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>To thee and thine be all the teeming grounds.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The first grant made by Canonicus and Miantonomi to Williams, -appears to have been a verbal grant of all the lands and -meadows upon the two fresh rivers, called Mooshausick and -Wanaskatucket; but on the 24th of March, 1637, they confirmed -this grant by deed, and, in consideration of the many kindnesses -and services he was constantly rendering them, made -the bounds Pawtuxet river on the south, Pawtucket on the -northwest, and the town of Mashapauge on the west. This -grant includes nearly all the county of Providence, and a part -of the county of Kent.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[p. 213]</span><a id="Endnote_9.41" href="#ENref_9.41">STANZA <abbr title="41">XLI.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>For, at that moment, down the boundless range</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of heavenly spheres did some bright being take</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Wing to his soul, and wrought to suited change</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>The visual nerve, and straight in outward space</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Stood manifest in its celestial grace.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This passage, it is true, supposes action on the mind by a -supernatural being, but it does not suppose the outward bodily -manifestation of the angelic form described. It simply supposes -the image or conception, wrought in the mind by the -supernatural agency, to <em>externize</em> itself through a change -effected by a sympathetic action in the visual organ. Or, in -other words, it supposes the internal image to become so distinct -as to reflect itself into the retina and overcome the action -of external objects thereon; whereby the internal image is made -to appear in the field of vision as an external reality. In justification -of this idea, I am glad to have it in my power to refer -to No. C. of the Family Library, entitled “Outlines of Disordered -Mental Action, by Professor Upham, of Bowdoin College”—p. 117.</p> - -<p>I feel that these remarks are due to the very friendly criticism -which this poem has received on the other side of the Atlantic; -in which, understanding (as I suppose) the apparition to be -represented as an external reality, the reviewer blames it as an -extravagance not in accordance with the general character of -the narrative.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_9.47" href="#ENref_9.47">STANZA <abbr title="47">XLVII.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Her well-cast anchor here—her lasting hope in Thee.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Anchor, with the motto Hope, which formed the device -on the seal of the Colony, may be considered as having reference -to the dangers and difficulties through which the settlers had -passed, and were passing at the time it was adopted. This was -done in 1663.</p> - -<p class="stanzano sp2"><a id="Endnote_9.49" href="#ENref_9.49">STANZA <abbr title="49">XLIX.</abbr></a></p> -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And ages hence our children shall recite</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of thy protecting grace their Father’s sense,</i></div> - <div class="verse indent0"><i>And, when they name their home, proclaim Thy Providence.</i></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Williams carried the philanthropy, which breathes in his great -principle of Soul-Liberty, into all the important acts of his life.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[p. 214]</span> -Although the munificent grant of Canonicus and Miantonomi -had been made to him only, he shortly after made it the common -property of his friends who joined him at Providence, -reserving to himself no more than an equal share, and receiving -from them the small sum of thirty pounds, not as purchase -money, but as a remuneration for the gratuities which he had -made to the Indians out of his own estate.</p> - -<p>“The following passage,” says Mr. Benedict, in his history -of the Baptists, “explains, in a very pleasing manner, Mr. Williams’s -design in these transactions: ‘Notwithstanding I had -frequent promise from Miantonomi, my kind friend, that it -should not be land that I should want about these bounds -mentioned, provided I satisfied the Indians there inhabiting, I -having made covenant of peaceable neighborhood with all the -sachems and natives round about us, and having <cite>in a sense of -God’s merciful Providence to me in my distress, called the place -Providence; I desired it might be for a shelter to persons -distressed for conscience. I then considered the condition of -divers of my countrymen</cite>. I communicated my said purchase -unto my loving friends, John Throckmorton and others, who -then desired to take shelter here with me. And whereas, by -God’s merciful assistance, I was procurer of the purchase, not -by moneys nor payment, the natives being so shy and jealous -that moneys could not do it, but by that language—acquaintance -and favor with the natives, and other advantages which it -pleased God to give me, and also bore the charges and venture -of all the gratuities which I gave to the great sachems and -natives round about us, and lay engaged for a loving and peaceable -neighborhood with them to my great charge and travel; it -was therefore thought fit that I should receive some consideration -and gratuity.’ Thus, after mentioning the said thirty -pounds, ‘this sum I received, and in love to my friends and -<cite>with respect to a town and place of succor for the distressed as -aforesaid</cite>, I do acknowledge this said sum a full satisfaction,’ he -went on, in full and strong terms, to confirm those lands to -said inhabitants, reserving no more to himself that an equal -share with the rest; his wife also signing the deed.”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[p. 215]</span> -<h2> -APPENDIX.</h2></div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<p class="sp2"><span class="sc">Having</span> in the preceding notes given some account of the -principal events which marked the life of Williams up to the -time he settled at Mooshausick, it may be agreeable to such of -my readers, as have not his biography at hand, to find here -some notice of the actions which distinguished the remainder of -his days. The following summary is drawn chiefly from Mr. -Benedict’s History of the Baptists, and the Sketch of the Life of -Williams annexed to the first volume of the Rhode Island Historical -Collections.</p> - -<p>Williams was soon joined at Providence by a number of his -friends from Salem. In a short time their number amounted to -forty persons. They then adopted a form of government, by -which they admitted none to become their associates, but such -as held to the principle of Religious Freedom.</p> - -<p>The year following his settlement, a formidable conspiracy of -the Indians was planned against the English colonists. He -gave his persecutors information of the fact. He addressed a -letter to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, “assuring -them that the country would suddenly be all on fire, meaning -by war—that by strong reasons and arguments he could convince -any man thereof that was of another mind—that the Narragansets -had been with the plantations combined with Providence, -and had solemnly settled a neutrality with them, which -fully shewed their counsels and resolutions for war.”<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Had -this plot been carried into effect, it would probably have eventuated -in the ruin of the colonies from which he had been banished. -Instead of indulging resentment by remaining inactive, -he immediately exerted himself to bring about a dissolution of -the Indian confederacy. He accomplished what no other man -in New England at that time would have attempted. By his influence -with the Narragansets, he broke up the combination, -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[p. 216]</span>and formed treaties between them and the United Colonies, by -which the latter had their aid in the war which followed with -the Pequots.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> -<p class="spaced"> -<a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> <cite>Hutchinson’s State Papers.</cite></p> -</div> - -<p>The first four years that succeeded Williams’ settlement at -Providence, were necessarily occupied by him there about the -affairs of the plantations. He travelled amongst the Indians, -and secured the friendship of their chiefs and warriors. He -promoted the settlement of Rhode Island and Warwick. Much -of his time must also have been required in making provisions -for the support of his family, cast out, as they were, into the -depths of a savage wilderness. Soon after his settlement, he -had embraced the leading tenets of the Baptists, and had been -baptized. He then formed a society of this order, and preached -to it; but resigned his pastoral office on his going to England -to solicit the first Charter.</p> - -<p>Not being permitted to pass through Massachusetts in order -to embark on this voyage, he went by land to Manhattan, [New -York,] then under the Dutch. A war between the Dutch and -Indians was at that time raging with great violence. In this -war, Mrs. Ann Hutchinson and family, who had been banished -from Massachusetts, had fallen victims to Indian barbarities; -and, as if every step of this remarkable man was to bear the -impress of his benevolence, he was here instrumental in pacifying -the savages, and stopping the effusion of blood. After this, -he took ship for England. Whilst on this voyage, that no time -might be lost in laying posterity under obligations to him, he -composed his Key to the Indian Languages. This, together -with his Bloody Tenent, was published on his arrival in England. -Here, as agent for the colonies of Providence, Rhode -Island, and Warwick, he obtained a charter of incorporation, -signed by the Earl of Warwick, then Governor and Admiral of -the English Plantations, and by his council.</p> - -<p>On the 17th September, 1644, he landed at Boston, bringing -a letter of recommendation to the Governor and Assistants of -Massachusetts Bay, from some of the most influential members -of the Long Parliament. He thus avoided the penalty incurred -by entering their bounds. At the first General Assembly -formed under this Charter, a law was passed establishing the -most unlimited toleration in matters of conscience. Unconfined -to those who professed Christianity, its provisions extended -to the whole human family. I mention this, because it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[p. 217]</span> -has been said that Maryland furnishes the first example of a -legislative act of this kind. The Maryland act was passed in -1649, and its privileges extended only to those who professed to -believe in Jesus Christ.</p> - -<p>Mr. Coddington afterwards procured a Charter, which gave -him almost unlimited authority over the islands of Narraganset -bay. This caused great discontent. It was called <i>Coddington’s -Obstruction</i>. Williams and Clark were sent to England, -in 1651, to procure its revocation. They effected the -object of their mission in October, 1652. Whilst in England, -Williams resided with Sir Henry Vane, at his seat in Lincolnshire. -He returned in 1652, and brought a letter from Sir -Henry, inviting the planters to a close union. The colony, -during his absence, had been distracted by many divisions. -This letter, together with the earnest solicitations of Williams, -restored harmony. He was several times after, as well as before -this, elected to the office of President or Governor of the -colony.</p> - -<p>Williams died in 1683, at Providence, and was buried under -arms, in his family burying ground, with every testimony of -respect which the colony could manifest.</p> - -<p>The religious sentiments of Williams seem to have become -more and more liberal as he advanced in life. Whatever rigid -forms those sentiments may have assumed, in the early part of -his career, they gradually melted down, and blended themselves -in that warm and deep feeling of universal benevolence, which -had given birth to his great principle of Soul-Liberty. The -dominion of that feeling, over every other in his breast, is sufficiently -indicated by the firmness with which he adhered to this -principle in circumstances the most trying. This feeling naturally -sought for a congenial nature in other breasts, and Williams -soon learned that there were good men in all societies. -He freely joined in worship with all, and imparted his instructions -to all who were disposed to hear him. This liberality, -however, was not inconsistent with theological discussions, in -which he occasionally participated. His dispute with the -Friends gave umbrage to some of that order. It occupied two -or three days, and eventuated by a publication by Williams, -entitled “George Fox digged out of his burroughs.” Although -some of this order seem, for a time, to have remembered this -dispute to his disadvantage, yet there were others who cherished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[p. 218]</span> -for him the kindest and most respectful feelings. Among -these was Governor Jenks, who though a Quaker, bestows the -highest praise on Williams, both as a man and a Christian.</p> - -<p>When not engaged abroad on business of the colony, he -statedly preached to the Indians in Narraganset; and those -amongst them, who would hear no one else, were attentive to -him. That branch of the Narragansets, called the Nianticks, -seem to have been an object of his peculiar care. They were so -far Christianized by his labors that they took no part in -Philip’s war, and their present existence, as the only remnant -of a once powerful people, may be traced to the effects of -his ministry.</p> - -<p>Williams retained his influence with the Indians nearly to the -last of his and their existence. While Philip was making -preparation for war, in 1671, commissioners were sent to Taunton -to inquire into the cause. Philip, suspicious of their design, -remained in his camp; and when summoned by the commissioners -to meet them, he required that they should meet -him. Matters remained in this posture until Williams, then -seventy years old, with a Mr. Brown offered to become a hostage -in his camp. Philip then met the commissioners, delivered -up seventy guns and promised fidelity. This event gave the -colony four years to prepare for the final struggle.</p> - -<p>Whilst, in 1676, this cruel and exterminating war was raging, -the Indians approached the town of Providence. Williams, it -is said, on seeing their advance, still feeling his wonted confidence -in his influence over them, took his staff and left the -garrison. But some of the old warriors on seeing him -approach, advanced from the main body, and told him, that as -for themselves they would do him no harm, nor would any -amongst them who had long known him, but their young men -could not be restrained. Upon which he returned to the garrison. -</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[p. 221]</span></p> -<h2> -ADDENDA.</h2></div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>LIFE’S VOYAGE.</h3></div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">There</span> rose, amid the boundless flood,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A little island green;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there a simple race abode</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That knew no other scene;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Save that a vague tradition ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That all the starry skies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bore up a brighter race of man,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Robed in the rainbow’s dyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A youth there was of ardent soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who viewed the azure hue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And saw the waves of ocean roll</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against its circle blue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He launched his skiff, with bold intent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seek the nations bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And o’er the rolling waters went,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For many a day and night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His lusty arms did stoutly strain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor soon their vigor spent:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All hope was he right soon to gain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And climb the firmament;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Where glorious forms, in garments bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dipped in the rainbow’s dyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And streets, star-paved, should lend their light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To his enraptured eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[p. 222]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And then might he his isle regain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fraught with a dazzling freight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lead his kindred o’er the main</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To that celestial state.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But, whilst he plied the bended oar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The island left his view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet afar his bark before,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The azure circle flew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet flattering hope did still sustain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And give him vigor new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But still before him o’er the main</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Retired the circle blue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Though whirlpools yawned; and tempests frowned</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And beat upon his head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And billows burst his bark around,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hope on that phantom fed;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor yet had ceased his labors vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had not his vigor failed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ’neath the fever of his brain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His vital spirit quailed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Death appeared upon the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">An angel fair and bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For he is not what mortals say—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A grim and haggard sprite.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, “Thou dost chase,” he said, “my child!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A phantom o’er the main;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But though it has thy toils beguiled,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thou hast not toiled in vain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[p. 223]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thou hast thus roused each slumbering might,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And framed thy soul to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fit now to climb yon starry height;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come, then, and follow me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>HYMN BY TWILIGHT.</h3></div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">See</span> the hues of evening fading</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the sky and tranquil bay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">See the groves, with deeper shading,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brown the dale as fails the ray.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear the distant torrent falling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hear the note of whip-poor-will,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear the shepherd homeward calling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Flocks that bleat on lonely hill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">See yon cloud the distance glooming,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hear its far-off thunder roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hear the distant ocean’s booming</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Billows beat the eternal shore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">God is in the hues of heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fading from the sky and bay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God is in the shades of even,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That chase the heavenly hues away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">God is in the torrent falling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the song of whip-poor-will,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the voice of shepherd calling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the bleating on the hill,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In the cloud the distance glooming,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the distant thunder’s roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the far-off ocean booming</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On his everlasting shore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[p. 224]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">God! Thou art all substance wreathing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Into forms that suit thy will;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God! Thou art through all things breathing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One harmonious anthem still.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>REYNARD’S SOLILOQUY.</h3></div> - -<p class="center">(<span class="sc">From the School of Queen Mab.</span>)</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">Halloo!</span> halloo! Wild woodland now!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How the twinkling stars look down!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rocky and rude is the mountain’s brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dark is the forest’s frown.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ha! ha! the dens and brambled fens</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My wild eyes laugh to greet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And over the clifts and rocky rifts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Right merrily dance my feet.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Pure is the gale, and odors rise</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From the wild woodland hill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wo-hoo! Wo-hoo! the dark owl cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shrilly the whip-poor-will;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the deep tone of the owlet’s moan</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is a note of courage all free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the whip-poor-will’s trill beneath the hill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Gives music and motion to me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The farmers’ geese are very well fed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fat and sleek are they;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blood-hound lies in his dreamy bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So let me seek my prey.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On drumming wings the partridge springs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As over the brakes I fly;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon, like specks, the lily-white necks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will float before my eye.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[p. 225]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ha! ha! I’ll pause upon this height;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The village is all in view;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The two-legged bodies are still to-night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I’ll the game pursue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But hark!—I hear a sound, I fear—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Tis surely not yet day—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O! ’tis the sound of the opening hound—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Away! away! away!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er bush, o’er brake, o’er rock I go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But nearer they come, I fear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far off huzzas the two-legged foe—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wow! wow!—the hounds are near.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I’ll double my track, I’ll run me back,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I’ll pother the beagles some—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now for my den I’ll strain again,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gain my mountain home.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - - -<hr class="hr15" /> - -<div class="section"> -<h3>A SUMMONS TO THE COUNTRY.</h3></div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0"><span class="sc">Is</span> it to sit within thy stately hall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or tread the crowded street, thy chief delight?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From all her heights and depths though Nature call</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thee to her charms—though grove, and plain, and height,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Warble for thee—though Ocean’s stormy might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thunder for thee—though the starred heavens sublime</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shine out for thee—though peering orient bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er mountain wood, the sire of day and time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Doth call for thee—and with retiring light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glance down his hues from their celestial clime</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To lure thee forth;—yet can all these excite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In thy cold breast no chord’s responsive chime?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still wilt thou choose a prison-yard and cell?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Well! God forgive thy choice, for thou dost penance well.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="pbb"> - <hr class="chap" /> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="tnbox"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" title="Transcriber's Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes</h2> - -<p>The following changes have been made to the text as printed:</p> - -<ol class="ol_1"> -<li> Marked footnotes have been located immediately below the stanza, heading or paragraph to which they refer.</li> -<li> Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</li> -<li> <a href="#Page_161" title="Go to Page 161">Page 161</a> (Canto 8), heading to final stanza: "LXII" changed to "LXXII".</li> -<li> Notes, <a href="#Page_185" title="Go to Page 185">Page 185</a> (Canto 2): word "STANZA" prepended to heading "XXVIII".</li> -<li> Notes, <a href="#Page_186" title="Go to Page 186">Page 186</a> (Canto 2): heading "STANZA XXXVII" corrected to "STANZA XXXVIII".</li> -<li> Notes, <a href="#Page_201" title="Go to Page 201">Page 201</a> (Canto 5, Stanza 11, second note): reference to "stanza xxii" corrected to "stanza xxxiii".</li> -<li> Notes, <a href="#Page_202" title="Go to Page 202">Page 202</a> (Canto 5): heading "STANZA LXII" corrected to "STANZA LXIII".</li> -</ol> - -<p>The following anomalies in the printed text are noted, but no change has -been made:</p> - -<ol class="ol_1"> -<li> Spelling and hyphenation within the poem have been left unchanged, aside from obvious typographical errors.</li> -<li> Some compass directions are hyphenated within the poem, but unhyphenated in the Notes.</li> -<li> Within the Notes, the quotes from Williams' writings retain the archaic and sometimes variable spelling of his day.</li> -<li> Variant spellings of Native American names have not been amended.</li> -<li> <a href="#Page_158" title="Go to Page 158">Page 158</a> (Canto 8, Stanza 63), "And in all perils was there sure defence": "there" in the original is a possible reading; "their" a more likely one.</li> -<li> "Calendar" (<a href="#Page_188" title="Go to Page 188">Page 188</a>), "Callender" (<a href="#Page_196" title="Go to Page 196">Page 196</a>) - and "Calender" (<a href="#Page_203" title="Go to Page 203">Page 203</a>) all appear to refer to John Callender, who wrote "An Historical Discourse ... of the Colony of Rhode-Island", first published 1739.</li> -</ol> - -</div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT CHEER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for -copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very -easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation -of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project -Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may -do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected -by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark -license, especially commercial redistribution. -</div> - -<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> -<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person -or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the -Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when -you share it without charge with others. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country other than the United States. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work -on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the -phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: -</div> - -<blockquote> - <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most - other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions - whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms - of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online - at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you - are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws - of the country where you are located before using this eBook. - </div> -</blockquote> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project -Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg™ License. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format -other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain -Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -provided that: -</div> - -<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation.” - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ - works. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - </div> - - <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> - • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. - </div> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of -the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set -forth in Section 3 below. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right -of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, -Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up -to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website -and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread -public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state -visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate -</div> - -<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Most people start at our website which has the main PG search -facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. -</div> - -</div> - -</body> -</html> |