The boat is lowered; the boatmen row, And to the Inchcape Rock they go;Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.
Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound; The bubbles arose and burst around.
Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to this rock Will not bless the Abbot of Aberbrothock."Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away;
He scoured the seas for many a day;
And now, grown rich with plundered store,
He steers his course to Scotland"s shore.
So thick a haze o"erspreads the sky They cannot see the sun on high; The wind hath blown a gale all day; At evening, it hath died away.
"Canst hear," said one, " the breakers roar, For methinks we should be near the shore? Now where we are I cannot tell,But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell!"
They hear no sound, the swell is strong; Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock- O heavens! It is the Inchcape Rock!
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair; He cursed himself in his despair; The waves rush in on every side: The ship is sinking beneath the tide!
But even in his dying fear
One dreadful sound could the Rover hear- A sound as if with the Inchcape BellThe fiends below were ringing his knell.
- Robert Southey
Author.-Robert Southey (1774-1843), is chiefly read to-day in certain of his shorter pieces, though some of his longer poems-Roderick the Goth, The Curse of Kehama, and the Tale of Paraguay-contain some remarkably fine things. Queen Orraca, a romantic ballad, Jasper, a poem of peasant life, and The Surgeon"s Funeral, an attempt at the grimly grotesque, are well worth reading.
General Notes.-This is a good example of the ballad or story- poem. Inchcape Rock, a dangerous rock some miles from the coast of Forfarshire, Scotland. The Bell Rock lighthouse now stands upon it. (The building of this lighthouse is well told by Ballantyne in a book for boys, entitled The Lighthouse.) The name " Inch" means island. Aberbrothock (mouth of the Brothock), formerly the name for Arbroath, a seaport and manufacturing town in Forfarshire, eastern Scotland. The Bell Rock is 12 miles from the town. This story divides itself into two parts, the Crime and the Punishment. Why did the pirate wish to plague the priest? Did his punishment fit the crime?
Lesson 34
THE CHILDREN WHO SAVED HAmBuRG
Long, long ago, Hamburg, a large city on the Elbe River in Germany, was being besieged. One of its brave defenders, a merchant named Wolff, was one evening returning slowly to his home, sad at heart. Along with the other merchants of the city, he had been helping the regular soldiers to defend the walls against the enemy. So constant was the fighting that, for a whole week, he had worn his armour day and night. Now he sadly thought that all the fighting was useless, for on the morrow want of food would force them to open the gates.
As he passed through his garden, he noticed that his cherry-trees, which he had taken great care to keep free from blight, were covered with ripe fruit, so large and juicy that the very sight was refreshing. At that moment, a thought struck him. He knew how much the enemy were suffering from thirst. What would they not give for this fruit? Might he not make an attempt to please them, and thus, perhaps, secure safety for his city?
Without a moment"s delay, he set about carrying outhis plan, for there was no time to be lost. He gatheredtogether three hundred of the children of the city, had them all dressed in white, and loaded them with cherries. Then a gate was thrown open, and they set out on their strange errand.
The leader of the besieging army saw the gate open, and the band of little children marching out. Many of them were nearly hidden by the branches which they carried. He at once thought it was some trick by which the besieged were trying to deceive them, while preparing for an attack on his camp. As the children came nearer, he remembered that he had vowed to kill every man, woman, and child in the city, and was about to give orders that these poor children should be put to death.
But, when he saw the little ones close at hand, and noticed how pale and thin they were from want of food, he thought of his own children at home, and could hardly keep back his tears. Then, as his thirsty, wounded soldiers rushed to get the cool, refreshing fruit, the general knew that he was conquered, not by force of arms, but by the power of kindness.
When the children returned he sent with them wagons laden with food for the starving people of the city, and the next day signed a treaty of peace with those he had vowed to destroy.
For many years afterwards, as the day came round onwhich this event had taken place, it was kept as a holiday in Hamburg, and called " The Feast of Cherries." Large numbers of children in white robes marched through the streets, each one bearing a branch with bunches of cherries on it. The old writer who tells the story is careful to say that, on those occasions, the children kept the cherries for themselves.
Every age of the world"s history has its tales of war and bloodshed and cruelty, of wild struggles, and of great victories. Nowhere among them all do we find the story of a more beautiful victory than that won by the little children of Hamburg.
From The Folks at Home
Author.-Unknown.
General Notes.-Look up Hamburg on the map. Has kindness really more power than force? Have you tried it?
Lesson 35
ALLEN-A-DALE
Allen-a-Dale has no fagot for burning, Allen-a-Dale has no furrow for turning, Allen-a-Dale has no fleece for the spinning,Yet Allen-a-Dale has red gold for the winning. Come, read my riddle! Come, hearken my tale! And tell me the craft of bold Allen-a-Dale.
The Baron of Ravensworth prances in pride, And he views his domains upon Arkindale side; The mere for his net, and the land for his game, The chase for the wild and the park for the tame; Yet the fish of the lake and the deer of the vale Are less free to Lord Dacre than Allen-a-dale!
Allen-a-Dale was ne"er belted a knight,
