RUSKIN.
* * * * *
THE WAR HORSE.
Sir Robert Clayton, a British cavalry officer, says of some war horses which had been humanely turned out to perpetual pasture, that while the horses were grazing on one occasion, a violent thunderstorm arose; at once the animals fell into line and faced the blazing lightning under an impression that it was the flash of artillery and the fire of battle.
* * * * *
PEGASUS IN POUND.
Once into a quiet village,
Without haste
and without heed,
In the golden prime of morning,
Strayed the poet’s
winged steed.
It was Autumn, and incessant
Piped the quails
from shocks and sheaves,
And, like living coals, the
apples
Burned among the
withering leaves.
Loud the clamorous bell was
ringing
From its belfry
gaunt and grim;
’Twas the daily call
to labor,
Not a triumph
meant for him.
Not the less he saw the landscape,
In its gleaming
vapor veiled;
Not the less he breathed the
odors
That the dying
leaves exhaled.
Thus, upon the village common,
By the school-boys
he was found;
And the wise men, in their
wisdom,
Put him straightway
into pound.
Then the sombre village crier,
Ringing loud his
brazen bell,
Wandered down the street proclaiming:
There was an estray
to sell.
And the curious country people,
Rich and poor,
and young and old,
Came in haste to see the wondrous
Winged steed with
mane of gold.
Thus the day passed, and the
evening
Fell, with vapors
cold and dim;
But it brought no food nor
shelter,
Brought no straw
nor stall, for him.
Patiently, and still expectant,
Looked he through
the wooden bars,
Saw the moon rise o’er
the landscape.
Saw the tranquil,
patient stars;
Till at length the bell at
midnight
Sounded from its
dark abode,
And, from out a neighboring
farm-yard,
Loud the cock
Alectryon crowed.
Then, with nostrils wide distended,
Breaking from
his iron chain,
And unfolding far his pinions,
To those stars
he soared again.
On the morrow, when the village
Woke to all its
toil and care,
Lo! the strange steed had
departed,
And they knew
not when nor where.
But they found, upon the greensward
Where his struggling
hoofs had trod,
Pure and bright, a fountain
flowing
From the hoof-marks
in the sod.
From that hour, the fount
unfailing
Gladdens the whole
region round,
Strengthening all who drink
its waters,
While it soothes
them with its sound.