1774. THE streets are thronged with trampling feet, To frighten down the "rebel knaves." The click of steel, the tap of drum, Where grazed of late the harmless kine, The cannon's deepening ruts are seen, The war-horse stamps, the bayonets shine. The clouds are dark with crimson rain Above the murderous hirelings' den, And soon their whistling showers shall stain The pipe-clayed belts of Gage's men. 186.... AROUND the green, in morning light, The dome-crowned city spreads her rays; They span the waves, they belt the plains, Yon farthest hill-side bounds the sight. Or chased the moonlight's endless rings! Here, fitly raised by grateful hands His holiest memory to recall, The Hero's, Patriot's image stands ; He led our sires who won them all! November 14, 1859. LATTER-DAY WARNINGS. WHEN legislators keep the law, When banks dispense with bolts and locks, When berries — whortle, rasp, and straw Grow bigger downwards through the box, When he that selleth house or land Shows leak in roof or flaw in right, When haberdashers choose the stand When preachers tell us all they think, And party leaders all they mean, When what we pay for, that we drink, From real grape and coffee-bean, When lawyers take what they would give, And doctors give what they would take, When city fathers eat to live, Save when they fast for conscience' sake, When one that hath a horse on sale Shall bring his merit to the proof, Without a lie for every nail When in the usual place for rips Our gloves are stitched with special care, And guarded well the whalebone tips Where first umbrellas need repair, When Cuba's weeds have quite forgot power of suction to resist, The And claret-bottles harbor not Such dimples as would hold your fist, When publishers no longer steal, And pay for what they stole before, When the first locomotive's wheel Rolls through the Hoosac tunnel's bore ; — |