THE RIDE OF COLLINS GRAVES.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XVII, Issue 17, 16 August 1889, Page 15

THE RIDE OF COLLINS GRAVES.

John Boyle O'Beilly.

Ah incident in the ilood of Massachusetts on May 16, 1874, and as .a reminder of the awful flood in Pennsylvania the other day. No song of a soldier riding down To the raging fight from Winchester town ; No song of a time that shook the earth With the nations 1 throe at a nation's birth ; But the song of a brave man, free from (ear As Shendaa's self or Paul Revere ; Who risked what they risked, free from strife, And its promise of glorious pay— his life ! The peaceful valley has waked and stirred, And the answering echoes of life are heard ; The dew still clings to the trees and grass, And the early toilers smiling pass, As they glance aside at the white-walled homes, Or up the vahey, where merrily comes The brook that sparkles in diamond rills Aa the suns comes over the Hampshire hills. What was it that passed like an ominous breath — Like a shiver of fear or touch of death ? What was it ? The valley is peaceful still, And the leaves are afire on top of the hill. It was not a sound — nor thing of sense — But a pain, like the pang of the short suspense That thrills the being of those who see At their feet the gulf of £ternity ! The air of the valley has felt the chill ; The workers pause at the door of the mill ; The housewife, keen to the shivenag air, Arrests her foot on the cottage stair, insiiLCtive taught by the mother love, And thinks of the sleeping ones above. Why start the listeners ? Why does the course Of the mill-stream widen ? It is a horse — Hark to the sound of his hoofs, they say — That gallops so wildly Wilhamsburg way 1 God 1 what was that, like a human shriek From the winding valley 1 Will nobody speak? Will nobody answer those women who cry As the awful warnings thunder by ? Whence come they ? Listen I And now they hear Ihe sound of the galloping horse hoofs near ; They watch the trend of the vale and see The rider who thunders so menacingly, With waving arms and warning scream To the home-filled banks of the valley stream. He draws no rein, but he shakes the stieet Wita a shout and the ring of the galloping feet ; And this is the cry he thugs to the wind ° "To the hills for your lives I Ih-i ilood is behind ! " He cues and is gune ; but they know the worst — The breast of the \\ llliamsuurg dam is burst ! The basin that nourished their happy homes Is changed to a demon — It comes I it comes ! A monster in aspect, with shaggy front Of shattered dwellings, to take ihe brunt Of the homes they shatter — wlnte-rnaued and hoarse, The merciless Terror lilJs thj course Of the narrow valley, and rushing raves With death on the first of its hutiag waves, Till cottage, and street, and crowded mill Are crumbled and crushed.

But onward still, In front of the roaring Uuud is heard The galloping hur 3e and. the wamiug word. Thank God 1 tht) bravo man's life is, spared 1 From Wilhamsburg town he nobly d ire 1 To race with the flood and take the road In iront of tbe terrible swath it mowed. For miks it thundered and crushed behind, But he looked ahead With a s uidfast mind'; " They must be warned ! " was ail he taid, As away on his terrible lide he sped. When heroes are callcl for, bring the crown To this Yankee rider : send him down On the stream of time with the Curtius old ; His deed as the Piunian's was brave and bold, And the tale caD as noble a thiill awake, For he offered his life for the people's sake.