And up and up the cleared broad stream gazes the mighty crowd,

And now a hush creeps down its lines, its myriads late so loud;

A lull of expectation that watches yet in vain

With a longing that, as minutes pass, grows keen almost to pain.

They're off! Hark! down the swarming banks rolls the long thundering cheer:

Ever it bursts and bursts again, and ever yet more near. Well may the bridge gleam bright with eyes, from roadway, pier, and chain,

Well, well, from window, roof, and tree, unnumbered eyes may strain ;

Watch well that crowded headland, that hides the next long reach!

They come! Hark! in a storm of cheers, its silent hearts find speech.

Through waving hats, through thunders that from mad thousands leap,

Round, round they come! hurrah, hurrah! down, down the tide they sweep;

Now, by the gods, brave rowers, in this day's noblest strife,

Such moments as you're breathing now are worth dull years of life.

O, nobly matched!-full hardly the gazers can descry Which leads as, almost head to head, each four-oar flashes by.

Hurrah, bend to it, Oxford! to lose will you begin? Hurrah, brave boasts of Harvard! have you not come to win?

A hundred waiting millions are listening 'neath the sun, Ay, twenty nations hunger, men, to know which crew

has won.

On to the goal! who dares to flag? who dares to bring defeat ?

Steer, coxswains, steer, as if with you alone it lay to beat.

Magenta wins! no, blue creeps up, the dark blue creeps

ahead;

On, Harvard, on! or victory's lost; on, lead as you have lead.

See Mortlake's here; a minute more, and no more can be done.

Cheer, England, cheer; two lengths ahead, the blue, the blue has won !

And cheer, cheer too, the pink and white, for long will England say,

'Never was victory harder won than that we won today.'

THE HOMEWARD WATCH.

THE sailor the deck is pacing,

And he hums a rough old song,
Bearing north from its southern whaling,
As the good ship drives along;
And his thoughts with hope are swelling,
For his watch it well may cheer,
To know that at last he speeds to her
He has left for many a year.

And she, in the darken'd chamber
Where day is turn'd to night,
By the candle dimly lighted,

She lies in her shroud of white;
Closed eye, and cold, cold cheek,
The slumber of death sleeps she,
Of meeting of whom he's dreaming
In his homeward watch at sea.

BLOW, BLOW, SWEET WINDS.

THE windows rattle in their frames,
Without, the wild winds moan,
And fitful leap the red fire's flames,
As that young wife sits alone;
As she rocks her baby boy to sleep,

And sings to the winds as by they sweep,

His home-bound sails, O fair winds, track, That he his boy may see!

Blow, blow, sweet winds, and speed him back To baby dear and me!'

Through a cloudy sky the gale blows high,
And the schooner leaps along,

And the captain seems, as the winds howl by,
To hear in the gusts a song ;
As foaming past the surges fly,
He seems to hear a song go by:

'His home-bound sails, O fair winds, track, That he his boy may see!

Blow, blow, sweet winds, and speed him back To baby dear and me !

RING, HAPPY BELLS!

RING out, O pealing bells;
Your clamour our gladness tells;
Sweet May-sweet May is wed to-day;
Ring out, O joyful bells!

Not-not in the dark deep sea,
As they whisper'd long, slept he,
Not cold and dead; to him she is wed
She never more thought to see.

That weary dream is past

Wild sea and wave-wash'd mast-
The o'erturn'd boat, and the dead, afloat,
To the rocks of the drear shore cast.

Young hands, with your sweetest showers,
Your brightest of garden flowers,

Strew, strew ye the way

that she'll tread to-day

This glad sweet bride of ours.

Ring out, ring out, ye bells!

Your clamour our gladness tells;

From your old grey tower, for her bridal hour,
Ring out, ring out, ye bells!

What sights have you seen on the mighty sea? 'When the seas were calm and the skies were clear, And the watch I've kept until day was near, Eyes I have seen, black as yours, dear, are, And a face I've looked on that was, how far! That was, girl, oh! how far from me!

What else have you seen on the far, far sea?' 'I've seen the flying-fish skim the brine,

And the great whales blow, and these eyes of mine
Have seen on the icebergs the north-lights play-
But often I've seen a home far away,

And a girl, oh, how dear to me!'

Sailor, sailor, tell to me

The sounds men hear on the stormy sea.'

'I've heard, my girl, the wild winds blow,

And the good ship creak to her keel below;

But a laugh, too, I've heard, that, O well, well I know! And a far, far voice-a voice that was, O

How sweet! O how sweet to me!'

'Nay tell me, sailor, tell to me

The sights and scenes of the wild, wild sea.'

'Alike in calm, and breeze, and storm

I've dream'd one dream and I've seen one form;

One dream that, dearest, shall soon be true,
One form that, my girl, I clasp in you,

That my own sweet wife shall be.'

GOD SPARE MY BOY AT SEA.

How wild without is the moaning night!
And the waves race in, how fierce and white!
But white as the waves is she.

To the window that looks to sea she steals,
And there, as she hears the thunder's peals,
And the lightning shows the sea,

How wild is that trembling mother's prayer!
'O Heaven, my child in mercy spare!

O God, where'er he be;

O God! my God! in pity spare

My boy to-night at sea!'

Hark! tossing and tumbling, white as snow,
How the billows roar on the rocks below!
But white as their foam is she;

And O how sick is that mother's heart!
How those cries to God from her poor lips start,
As she looks o'er the raging sea.
God! in Thy mercy, hear her prayer!
O Heaven! her child in mercy spare!
O God! where'er he be,

For her poor sake in pity spare
Her boy to-night at sea!