8. Such as in England would have passed for frightful. It was not the custom in England, in DeFoe’s time, to wear a full beard.
LV. SOMEBODY’S DARLING. (150)
1. Into a ward of the whitewashed halls,
Where the dead and dying
lay,
Wounded by bayonets, shells, and
balls,
Somebody’s darling
was borne one day;
2. Somebody’s darling, so young and brave,
Wearing yet on his pale,
sweet face,
Soon to be hid by the dust of the
grave,
The lingering light
of his boyhood’s grace.
3. Matted and damp are the curls of gold,
Kissing the snow of
that fair young brow;
Pale are the lips of delicate mold
Somebody’s darling
is dying now.
4. Back from his beautiful, blue-veined brow,
Brush all the wandering
waves of gold;
Cross his hands on his bosom now;
Somebody’s darling
is still and cold.
5. Kiss him once for somebody’s sake,
Murmur a prayer soft
and low;
One bright curl from its fair mates
take;
They were somebody’s
pride, you know;
6. Somebody’s hand has rested there;
Was it a mother’s,
soft and white?
And have the lips of a sister fair
Been baptized in the
waves of light?
7. God knows best! he was somebody’s love:
Somebody’s heart
enshrined him there;
Somebody wafted his name above,
Night and morn, on the
wings of prayer.
8. Somebody wept when he marched away,
Looking so handsome,
brave, and grand;
Somebody’s kiss on his forehead
lay;
Somebody clung to his
parting hand.
9. Somebody’s watching and waiting for
him,
Yearning to hold him
again to her heart;
And there he lies, with his blue
eyes dim,
And the smiling, childlike
lips apart.
10. Tenderly bury the fair young dead,
Pausing too drop
on his grave a tear;
Carve on the wooden slab at
his head,
“Somebody’s
darling slumbers here.”
Definitions.—1. Bay’o-net, a short, pointed iron weapon, fitted to the muzzle of a gun. Dar’ling, one dearly loved. 2. Lin’ger-ing, protracted. 3. Mat’ted, twisted together. Del’i-cate, soft and fair. Mold, shape. 4. Wan’der-ing, straying. 7. En-shrined’, cherished. Waft’ed, caused to float. 9. Yearn’ing, being eager, longing. 10. Ten’der-ly, gently, kindly.
LVI. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. (151)
1. “What an excellent thing is knowledge,” said a sharp-looking, hustling little man, to one who was much older than himself. “Knowledge is an excellent thing,” repeated he. “My boys know more at six and seven years old than I did at twelve. They can read all sorts of books, and talk on all sorts of subjects. The world is a great deal wiser than it used to he. Everybody knows something of everything now. Do you not think, sir, that knowledge is all excellent thing?”