"And," said the other dying man,
"Across the Georgia plain
There watch and wait for me loved ones
I'll never see again.
A little girl with dark bright eyes
Each day waits at the door;
The father's step, the father's kiss,
Will never meet her more.
"To-day we sought each other's lives;
Death levels all that now,
For soon before God's mercy seat
Together shall we bow.
Forgive each other while we may;
Life's but a weary game,
And, right or wrong, the morning sun
Will find us dead the same."
And the little girl with golden hair,
And one with dark eyes bright,
On Hampshire's hills and Georgia's plain,
Were fatherless that night.
DEFINITIONS:—Anguish, great sorrow or distress. Sought, looked for, tried to destroy. Levels, makes all equal or of the same height. Repressed, held back, restrained. Foes, enemies. Fatherless, without a living father.
EXERCISE.—In what war did the incident here narrated occur? Where is New Hampshire? Where is Georgia? Where did this battle probably take place? What is meant by "hair like golden light"?
THE CAPTAIN'S FEATHER.
BY SAMUEL MINTURN PECK.
The dew is on the heather,
The moon is in the sky,
And the captain's waving feather
Proclaims the hour is nigh
When some upon their horses
Shall through the battle ride,
And some with bleeding corses
Must on the heather bide.
The dust is on the heather,
The moon is in the sky,
And about the captain's feather
The bolts of battle fly.
But hark! What sudden wonder
Breaks forth upon the gloom?
It is the cannon's thunder,—
It is the voice of doom.
The blood is on the heather,
The night is in the sky,
And the gallant captain's feather
Shall wave no more on high.
The grave and holy brother
To God is saying mass;
But who shall tell his mother,
And who shall tell his lass?