18
THE BATTALION.
away in the woods and recognized by a birth mark under his
left breast. She was hanged in the face of the largest crowd
ever known to come to a hanging in those parts. It was gen
erally believed that the guilty pair had no other accomplice
than the negro Ahab.
Xrast iPoetp.
The following beautiful poem is from the Oxford edition of
Milton’s works, and as the work is rare and the lines com
paratively unknown, we reproduce them:
I am old and blind!
Men point at me as smitten by God’s frown—
Afflicted and deserted of my mind—
Yet I am not cast down.
I am w r eak, yet strong—
I murmur not that I no longer see—
Poor, old and helpless, I the more belong,
Father Supreme ! to Thee.
0 merciful One !
When men are fartherest then Thou are most near,
When friends pass by, my weakness shun,
Thy chariot I hear.
Thy glorious face
Is leaning toward me—and its holy light
Shines upon my lonely dwelling place,
And there is no more night.
On my bended knee
I recognize thy purpose clearly shown—
My vision Thou hast dimmed, that I may see
Thyself—Thyself alone.
1 have naught to fear—
This darkness is the shadow of Thy wing—
Beneath it I am almost sacred—here
Can come no evil thing.
Oh! I seem to stand
Trembling, where foot of mortal ne’er hath been,
Wrapped in the radiance of Thy sinless hand,
Which eye hath never seen.