Thomas Buchanan Read （b. 1822,d. 1872） was born in Chester County,Pennsylvania. In 1839 he entered a sculptor‘s studiin Cincinnati,where he gained reputation as a portrait painter. He afterwards went tNew York,Boston,and Philadelphia,and,in 1850,tItaly. He divided his time between Cincinnati,Philadelphia,and Rome,in the latter years of his life. Some or his poems are marked by vigor and strength,while others are distinguished by smoothness and delicacy. The following selection is abridged from "The Wagoner of the Alleghanies."
1.Out of the North the wild news came,Far flashing on its wings of flame,Swift as the boreal1 light which fliesAt midnight through the startled skies.
2.And there was tumult in the air,The fife’s shrill note,the drum‘s loud beat,And through the wide land everywhereThe answering tread of hurrying feet,While the first oath of Freedom’s gun Came on the blast from Lexington.And Concord,roused,nlonger tame,Forgot her old baptismal name,Made bare her patriot arm of power,And swelled the discord of the hour.
1Boreal,northern.
3.The yeoman1 and the yoeman‘s son,With knitted brows and sturdy dint2,Renewed the polish of each gun,Recoiled the lock,reset the flint;And oft the maid and matron there,While kneeling in the firelight glare,Long poured,with half-suspended breath,The lead intthe molds of death.
4.The hands by Heaven made silken soft Tsoothe the brow of love or pain,Alas! are dulled and soiled tooft.By some unhallowed earthly stain;But under the celestial boundNnobler picture can be found.Than woman,brave in word and deed,Thus serving in her nation’s need:Her love is with her country now,Her hand is on its aching brow.
5.Within its shade of elm and oak.
The church of Berkley Manor3 stood: There Sunday found the rural folk,And some esteemed of gentle4 blood,In vain their feet with loitering tread.Passed ‘mid the graves where rank is naught: All could not read the lesson taughtIn that republic of the dead.1Yeoman,a freeholder,a man freeborn. 2Dint,stroke.3Manor,a tract of land occupied by tenants. 4Gentle,well born,of good family.
6.The pastor rose: the prayer was strong;The psalm was warrior David’s song;The text,a few short words of might,- "The Lord of hosts shall arm the right!"
7.He spoke of wrongs tolong endured,Of sacred rights tbe secured;Then from his patriot tongue of flame The startling words for Freedom came. The stirring sentences he spake Compelled the heart tglow or quake,And,rising on his theme‘s1 broad wing,And grasping in his nervous hand The imaginary battle brand,In face of death he dared tfling Defiance ta tyrant king.
8.Even as he spoke,his frame,renewed In eloquence of attitude,Rose,as it seemed,a shoulder higher;Then swept his kindling glance of fire From startled pew tbreathless choir;When suddenly his mantle wideHis hands impatient flung aside,And,lo! he met their wondering eyes Complete in all a warrior’s guise2.
9.A moment there was awful pause,-When Berkley cried,"Cease,traitor! cease! God‘s temple is the house of peace!"1Theme,a subject on which a person speaks or writes. 2Guise,external appearance in manner or dress.
The other shouted,"Nay,not so,When God is with our righteous cause: His holiest places then are ours,His temples are our forts and towers That frown upon the tyrant foe:In this the dawn of Freedom’s day There is a time tfight and pray!"
10.And now before the open door- The warrior priest had ordered so-The enlisting trumpet‘s sudden soar1.Rang through the chapel,o’er and o‘er,Its long reverberating blow,Sloud and clear,it seemed the ear Of dusty death must wake and hear. And there the startling drum and fife Fired the living with fiercer life;While overhead with wild increase,Forgetting its ancient toll of peace,The great bell swung as ne’er before: It seemed as it would never cease;And every word its ardor flung From off its jubilant iron tongueWas,"WAR! WAR! WAR!"
11."Whdares"-this was the patriot‘s cry,As striding from the desk he came- "Come out with me,in Freedom’s name,For her tlive,for her tdie?"
A hundred hands flung up reply,A hundred voices answered "I!"1Soar,a towering flight.