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ALP'S DECISION.

137

ALP'S DECISION.

By GEORGE GORDON NOEL, Lord Byron, Poet. B. 1788, England; d. 1824, Greece.

Corinth, a Greek city, fell into the hands of the Venetians in 1699. Alp was a renegade Venetian who guided the Turkish army to the city in 1715.

The following from "The Siege of Corinth," describes the interview between Alp and the ghost of Francesca. Francesca, the daughter of Signior Minotti, the governor of the city and the promised bride of Alp, had died on the night of this interview.

THERE is a temple in ruin stands,
Fashion'd by long-forgotten hands;
Two or three columns, and many a stone,
Marble and granite, with grass o'ergrown.
Out upon Time! it will leave no more
Of the things to come than the things before!
Out upon Time! who forever will leave

But enough of the past for the future to grieve

O'er that which hath been, and o'er that which must

be.

What we have seen, our sons shall see;
Remnants of things that have passed away,
Fragments of stone, rear'd by creatures of clay.

Alp sat him down at a pillar's base,

And pass'd his hand athwart his face ;

Like one in dreary musing mood,

Declining was his attitude.

There he sat all heavily,

As he heard the night-wind sigh.

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ALP'S DECISION.

Was it the wind, through some hollow stone,
Sent that soft and tender moan?

He lifted his head, and he look'd o'er the sea,

But it was unrippled as glass may be ;

He look'd on the long grass-it waved not a blade,

How was that gentle sound convey'd ?

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And he felt not a breath come over his cheek;

What did that sudden sound bespeak?

He turn'd to the left-is he sure of sight?
There sat a lady, youthful and bright!

He started up with more of fear
Than if an armed foe were near.
"God of my fathers! what is here?
Who art thou, and wherefore sent
So near a hostile armament?"

He gazed, he saw; he knew the face

Of beauty, and the form of grace;

It was Francesca by his side,

The maid who might have been his bride!

"If not for love of me be given

Thus much, then for the love of Heaven,

:

Again I say that turban tear

From off thy faithless brow, and swear

Thine injured country's sons to spare,

Or thou art lost; and never shalt see

Not earth-that's past-but heaven or me.

ALP'S DECISION.

139

If this thou dost accord, albeit
A heavy doom 'tis thine to meet,
That doom shall half absolve thy sin,
And mercy's gate may receive thee within.
But pause one moment more, and take
The curse of Him thou didst forsake;
And look once more to heaven, and see
Its love forever shut from thee.
There is a light cloud by the moon-
'Tis passing, and will pass full soon-
If, by the time its vapory sail
Hath ceased her shaded orb to veil,
Thy heart within thee is not changed,
Then God and man are both avenged;
Dark will thy doom be, darker still
Thine immortality of ill."

Alp look'd to heaven, and saw on high

The sign she spake of in the sky;

But his heart was swoll'n, and turn'd aside,

By deep interminable pride.

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He, wrong'd by Venice, vow to save

Her sons, devoted to the grave!

No-though that cloud were thunder's worst,

And charged to crush him-let it burst!

He look'd upon it earnestly,

Without an accent of reply;

*

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140

A RIGHTEOUS WAR.

He watch'd it passing; it is flown:
Full on his eye the clear moon shone,
And thus he spake : "Whate'er my fate,
I am no changeling - 'tis too late:

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What Venice made me I must be,
Her foe in all, save love to thee:
But thou art safe: oh, fly with me!"
He turn'd, but she is gone!
Nothing is there but the column stone.
Hath she sunk in the earth, or melted in air?

*

He saw not- he knew not - but nothing is there.

A RIGHTEOUS WAR.

By W. S. WITHAM of Atlanta, Georgia.

An extract from an address before the Bankers' Convention at Denver, Colorado, October, 1898.

"THIS is an educational war. It is also a righteous war in that it obliterates the difference between brother and brother arising out of our Civil War. I come to you from a land marked by many tombs, and whose long-saddened memories are once more broken by the triumphs of her chivalrous sons, in proof of our oft-expressed loyalty to the stars and stripes."

"It is a war of reconciliation. Shall the poor man sneer at the rich, since he has seen the charge at El Caney, led by Roosevelt? Shall class hate class after seeing Hamilton Fish, the son of a millionaire, fall at the battle of Seville, caught in the arms of a

DECISIVE INTEGRITY.

141

penniless cowboy from Texas? Shall the white man feel contempt for the black man, since he saw that hero of the colored troops rush ahead of our faltering lines, mount the fort of San Juan, seize and break down the Spanish flag, then fall lifeless, pierced by no less than thirty-two Mauser bullets? Shall the Spaniard hate his American conqueror, who, after taking 25,000 of them prisoners, filled their empty stomachs with American food, gave them free passage home on safe, clean boats, singing, as they sailed, 'God be with you till we meet again?"

"This, too, is a uniting war. Did you ever see such a Fourth of July as the last one? The blowing up of the Maine made a grave for many brave soldiers, but at the same time, it created the cemetery of sectionalism. The burning of Cervera's fleet by our own revealed more than one conquered foe of America for it left in full view of the world the ashes of sectional hate. There is no Mason and Dixon's line to-day. Yes, it is a divine war, for we find ourselves doubly freed in our endeavor to secure freedom to our neighbor."

DECISIVE INTEGRITY.

By WILLIAM Wirt, Lawyer, Author. B. 1772, Maryland; d. 1834, Washington, D. C.

The man who is so conscious of the rectitude of his intentions as to be willing to open his bosom to the inspection of the world, is in possession of one of the strongest pillars of a decided character. The course

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