ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS 117
Good-Night, Friend
WHEN you meet a countryman after dusk he greets you and wishes
you Good-night; and you return his greeting and call him
Friend. It seems as though a feeling something like brotherhood
rose up in every heart at the approach of the hour when we are ail to
be gathered together beneath the wings of sleep. Augustus Hare
Nouveau Riche
MY babe and I in muddy ditch
Lie newly side by side ;
Praised be the God who made me rich,
But keep my soul from pride.
Lean arms I clasp and bitter rags
For shelter round my boy ;
Forgive the queen in me that brags,
Oh You who sent the joy.
Janet Begbie
Old Ironsides
AY, tear her tattered ensign down 1
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky ;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar ;
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with hero's blood*
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
Where winds were hurrying o'er the flood*
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee ;
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea.
O better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave ;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave ;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale.
Oliver Wendell Holmes