May 10, 1775 TICONDEROGA. After the news of Concord fight, a volunteer expedition from Vermont and Connecticut, under Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, seized Ticonderoga and Crown Point, whose military stores were of great service. From its chime of bells, the French called Ticonderoga "Carillon." HE cold, gray light of the dawning THE On old Carillon falls, And dim in the mist of the morning No sound disturbs the stillness Save the cataract's mellow roar, But up from the wakening waters Comes the cool, fresh morning breeze, Lifting the banner of Britain, And whispering to the trees 21 Of the swift gliding boats on the waters That are nearing the fog-shrouded land, With the old Green Mountain Lion, And his daring patriot band. But the sentinel at the postern Heard not the whisper low; He is dreaming of the banks of the Shannon As he walks on his beat to and fro, Of the starry eyes in Green Erin That were dim when he marched away, And a tear down his bronzed cheek courses, 'T is the first for many a day. A sound breaks the misty stillness, A challenge, the firelock flashes, Blood staining his bright yellow hair. Then, with a shout that awakens All the echoes of hillside and glen, Through the low, frowning gate of the fortress, Sword in hand, rush the Green Mountain men. The scarce wakened troops of the garrison Yield up their trust pale with fear; And down comes the bright British banner, Flushed with pride, the whole eastern heavens And up springs the sun in his splendor Bathing in sunlight the fortress, Turning to gold the grim walls, Since the taking of Ticonderoga And the cataract's silvery music Of the capture of old Carillon, V. B. WILSON. GRANDMOTHER'S STORY OF BUNKER HILL BATTLE. June 17, 1775. 'T AS SHE SAW IT FROM THE Belfry. IS like stirring living embers when, at eighty, one remembers All the achings and the quakings of "the times that tried men's souls"; When I talk of Whig and Tory, when I tell the Rebel story, To you the words are ashes, but to me they're burning coals. I had heard the muskets' rattle of the April running battle; Lord Percy's hunted soldiers, I can see their red coats still; |