[Footnote 74:  An active writer, chiefly known as a newspaper correspondent from Washington; a native of Vermont, has published a novel of much descriptive vigor.]

CHAPTER IV

POETS.

=_Francis Hopkinson,[75] 1737-1791._=

From “The Battle of the Kegs.[76]”

=_316._=

  Gallants, attend, and hear a friend
    Trill forth harmonious ditty;
  Strange things I’ll tell, which late befell
    In Philadelphia city.

  ’Twas early day, as poets say,
    Just when the sun was rising,
  A soldier stood on a log of wood,
    And saw a thing surprising.

  As in amaze he stood to gaze,—­
    The truth can’t be denied, sir,—­
  He spied a score of kegs, or more,
    Come floating down the tide, sir.

  A sailor, too, in jerkin blue,
    This strange appearance viewing,
  First rubbed his eyes, in great surprise,
    Then said some mischief’s brewing.

* * * * *

  Some fire cried, which some denied,
    But said the earth had quaked;
  And girls and boys, with hideous noise,
    Ran through the streets half naked.

* * * * *

  The royal band now ready stand,
    All ranged in dread array, sir,
  With stomach stout, to see it out,
    And make a bloody day, sir.

  The cannons roar from shore to shore;
    The small arms make a rattle;
  Since wars began, I’m sure no man
    E’er saw so strange a battle.

  A hundred men, with each a pen,
    Or more,—­upon my word, sir,
  It is most true,—­would be too few
    Their valor to record, sir.

[Footnote 75:  A prominent author of the revolutionary era.]

[Footnote 76:  In the revolutionary war, while the British held Philadelphia, some floating torpedoes were one day sent down the river to destroy their vessels, and this novel mode of attack caused the alarm described by the poet.]

* * * * *

=_John Trumbull, 1750-1831._= (Manual, pp. 490, 512.)

From “McFingal.”

=_317._=

  Though this, not all his time was lost on,
  He fortified the town of Boston,
  Built breastworks that might lend assistance
  To keep the patriots at a distance;
  For, howsoe’er the rogues might scoff,
  He liked them best the farthest off;
  Works of important use to aid
  His courage when he felt afraid.

* * * * *

  For Providence, disposed to tease us,
  Can use what instruments it pleases;
  To pay a tax, at Peter’s wish,
  His chief cashier was once a fish.

* * * * *