THE SPECTRE SHIP OF SALEM. But the vast crowd lingered still behind, And many said that an evil pair Among their friends had gone,- From the quiet grave-yard drawn; Away-the good ship sped away, The day passed on-the sunlight fell And then the heavy clouds of storm And every swelling billow mourned, The sun went down among the clouds, The pall-like shadow of the storın, On every mighty fold ;— 59 60 THE SPECTRE SHIP OF SALEM. And then the lightning's eye looked forth, And the red thunder rolled. The storm came down upon the sea, Rousing the white and broken surge Above its rocky bed; As if the deep was stired beneath All night the hurricane went on, The smothered cry of shipwrecked men The gray-haired man had scarcely known So wild a night before. Morn rose upon a tossing sea, But where was she-that merchant-bark Men gathered on the shore to watch Hoping, yet fearing much, some frail The fate of that disastrous ship, Of friends they loved so well. THE SPECTRE SHIP OF SALEM. None came-the billows smoothed away-- As if the very sea had felt A necromancer's charm, And not a trace was left behind, Of violence and harm, The twilight came with sky of gold And curtaining of night And then a sudden cry rang out, 'A ship-the ship in sight! And lo!-tall masts grew visible Near and more near the ship came on, The night grew thick, but a phantom light And the gazers shuddered as on she came, They saw by the dim and baleful glare Around that voyager thrown, The upright forms of the well known crew, As pale and fixed as stone 61 And they called to them, but no sound came back, Save the echoed cry alone. The fearful stranger youth was there, And clasped in his embrace, 62 THE SPECTRE SHIP OF SALEM. The pale and passing sorrowful Gazed wildly in his face ; Like one who had been wakened from The silent burial-place. A shudder ran along the crowd- And lo!—the vision passed away- And nought was left upon the waves, It passed away-that vision strangeForever from their sight; Yet, long shall Naumkeag's annals tell The story of that night The phantom-bark-the ghostly crew, The pale, encircling light. NAPOLEON. 63 NAPOLEON. BY GRENVILLE MELLEN. Napoleon, when in St Helena, beheld a bust of his son, and wept LONG on the Parian bust he gazed, And his pallid lips moved not; But when his deep cold eye he raised, And the heated tears came down like rain, He who had tearless rode the storm Of human agony, And with ambition wild and warm, Sailed on a bloody sea, He bent before the infant head, And wept as a mother weeps her dead '- The roar of all the world had passed On a sounding rock alone, An exile, to the earth he cast His gathered glories down! |