No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas!" Great was the people's amazement, and greater yet their rejoicing, 975 Thus to behold once more the sunburnt face of their Captain, Whom they had mourned as dead; and they gath ered and crowded about him, Eager to see him and hear him, forgetful of bride and of bridegroom, Questioning, answering, laughing, and each interrupting the other, Till the good Captain declared, being quite overpowered and bewildered, 980 He had rather by far break into an Indian encamp ment, Than come again to a wedding to which he had not been invited. Meanwhile the bridegroom went forth and stood with the bride at the doorway, Breathing the perfumed air of that warm and beautiful morning. Touched with autumnal tints, but lonely and sad in the sunshine, 85 Lay extended before them the land of toil and privation; There were the graves of the dead, and the barren waste of the sea-shore, There the familiar fields, the groves of pine, and But to their eyes transfigured, it seemed as the Filled with the presence of God, whose voice was Soon was their vision disturbed by the noise and stir of departure, Friends coming forth from the house, and impatient of longer delaying, Each with his plan for the day, and the work that was left uncompleted. Then from a stall near at hand, amid exclamations of wonder, Alden the thoughtful, the careful, so happy, so proud of Priscilla, 995 Brought out his snow-white bull, obeying the hand of its master, Led by a cord that was tied to an iron ring in its nostrils, Covered with crimson cloth, and a cushion placed for a saddle. She should not walk, he said, through the dust and heat of the noonday; Nay, she should ride like a queen, not plod along like a peasant. 1000 Somewhat alarmed at first, but reassured by the 1005 others, Placing her hand on the cushion, her foot in the hand of her husband, Gayly, with joyous laugh, Priscilla mounted her palfrey. "Nothing is wanting now," he said with a smile, "but the distaff; Then you would be in truth my queen, my beautiful Bertha!" Onward the bridal procession now moved to their new habitation, Happy husband and wife, and friends conversing together. Pleasantly murmured the brook, as they crossed the ford in the forest, Pleased with the image that passed, like a dream of love through its bosom, Tremulous, floating in air, o'er the depths of the azure abysses. 1010 Down through the golden leaves the sun was pouring his splendors, Gleaming on purple grapes, that, from branches above them suspended, Mingled their odorous breath with the balm of the pine and the fir-tree, Wild and sweet as the clusters that grew in the valley of Eschol. Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pas toral ages, 1015 Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca and Isaac, Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always, Love immortal and young in the endless succes sion of lovers. So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal procession. Miles Standish was not inconsolable. In the Fortune came a certain Barbara, whose last name is unknown, whom Standish married. He had six children, and many of his descendants are living. III. THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP. [THE form of this poem was perhaps suggested by Schiller's Song of the Bell, which, tracing the history of a bell from the first finding of the metal to the hanging of the bell in the tower, so mingles the history of human life with it that the Bell becomes the symbol of humanity. Schiller's poem introduced a new artistic form which has since been copied more than once, but nowhere so successfully as in The Building of the Ship. The changes in the measure mark the quickening or retarding of the thought. The reader will be interested in watching these changes and observing the fitness with which the short lines express the quicker, more sudden, or hurried action, while the longer ones indicate lingering, moderate action or reflection. The Building of the Ship is the first in a series of poems collected under the general title, By the Seaside, and published in a volume entitled. The Seaside and the Fireside, Boston, 1850.] "BUILD me straight, O worthy Master! Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, That shall laugh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!" 5 The merchant's word Delighted the Master heard; For his heart was in his work, and the heart A quiet smile played round his lips, And with a voice that was full of glee, He answered, “Ere long we will launch And first with nicest skill and art, Its counterpart in miniature; That with a hand more swift and sure Towered the Great Harry, crank and tall, 29. The Great Harry was a famous ship built for the English navy in the reign of King Henry VII. Henry found the small navy left by Edward IV. in a very weak condition and he undertook to reconstruct it. The most famous ship in Edward's navy was named Grace à Dieu, and Henry named his Harry Grace à Dieu, but she was more generally named as the Great Harry. On the accession of Henry VIII, her name was changed to the Regent, but when a few years afterward she was burnt in an engagement with the French, the ship built in her place resumed the old name and became a second Great Harry, |