545 As much as two strong oxen Could plough from morn till night; And there it stands unto this day 66 550 It stands in the Comitium, How valiantly he kept the bridge 67 And still his name sounds stirring 560 As the trumpet-blast that cries to them And wives still pray to Juno For boys with hearts as bold 68 And in the nights of winter, When the cold north-winds blow, And the long howling of the wolves Is heard amidst the snow; 550. The Comitium was that part of the Forum which served as the meeting-place of the Roman patricians. 570 When round the lonely cottage Roar louder yet within; 69 When the oldest cask is opened, 580 When the girls are weaving baskets, 585 70 When the goodman mends his armor, Goes flashing through the loom,— How well Horatius kept the bridge In the brave days of old. 573. The Romans brought some of their firewood from the hill of Algidus, about a dozen miles to the southeast of the town. DR. JOHN BROWN. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. IT happens now and then that a man writes some one story, or sketch, or poem, which goes straight to the heart of people. Though he may produce many other things, he is known peculiarly by this one; and it often happens that he is not a professional author, but it may be a lawyer, or a schoolmaster, a minister, or a doctor, who has written the one notable thing out of some particular experience. Thus, at any rate, it was with Dr. John Brown, a Scottish physician, who one day told the story of Rab and his Friends, and thereupon became as famous among English-speaking people as he was loved and honored in his own town of Edinburgh. He was born September 22, 1810, and has himself told, in one of the tenderest tributes of a son to his father, something of his own childhood in the Scottish manse at Biggar, and more of that father, who was minister of the parish. Brought up in religious ways, he retained through life a simple faith, blended with an exquisite charity for men and women, children and animals, which was seen in his helpful work as a physician and surgeon, in his friendships, for many both great and obscure people called him friend, — and in his regard for dogs and other animals. "Once, when driving," writes a friend, "he suddenly stopped in the middle of a sentence, and looked out eagerly at the back of the carriage. Is it some one you know?' I asked. 'No,' he said, 'it's a dog I don't know.' . . . He 6 |