University of Virginia Library

II. PART I. THE LAST HOUR.

The interior of a poor dwelling.
Woman.
Speak low, methinks he sleeps. I smoothed his pillow
Scarce fifteen minutes past, and he since then
Hath hardly moved.

Man.
Sleeps he? He will do well;
God grant he sleep till eve!

Child.
I will not stir;
But I will lay me down upon the hearth
And sleep too, lest I wake him. But think you
That really he will die?

Man.
Come life or death,
All will be well with him. I heard last eve
More than I knew before, though we so long
Have known him and the holy life he led.
'Twas he, who like an angel stood between
The living and the dead, when raged the plague
I' th' city; it was he, who in the war-time
Lived in the hospital among the wounded,
Tending them with the kindness of a woman,
And comforting and cheering them in death.

Woman.
God's blessing on him!

Man.
He was one time sent for,
When or wherefore I know not, to the court;
And lands were offered him and place and wealth,
So he would sell himself to do their will,
Which was for evil.

Woman.
That would he not.
Gold could not bribe him to an evil deed.

Man.
Yet he was poor, and had an aged mother
Dependent on him, but they could not buy him.
He loved, he said, far more his peace of mind
Than lands or wealth; and that the favour of God
Was higher than that of kings.

Woman.
'Twas a brave man!

Man.
Brave! thou shouldst hear old Nathan talk of him.
Nathan and his grand children were in bed
When flames burst forth, and all the house was fire,
For 't was a gusty night. The neighbours stood
In panie terror, wildly looking on;
And, though poor Nathan and the little children
Cried out for help, none dared to rescue them:
When suddenly that young man, hurrying forward,
Without reproaching those whom fear made cowards,
Seized on a ladder, rushed into the chamber,
And, amid raging fire, brought forth the inmates,
As if his life were nothing unto theirs.
Ay, thou shouldst hear old Nathan speak of him.

Woman.
The deed was like him: thus he ever did;
His life was a self-sacrifice. Those whom
The world looked coldly on, and, with hard judgment,
Spurned from its presence as a thing unholy,
He sought out, pitying their blind ignorance,
—Harsh was he unto no one but himself;—
And first he taught them to respect themselves,
And then with goodness lured them on to virtue.
He hated sin, but the poor outcast sinner
Was still his human brother. This was goodness,
And this was greatness too; but, to my thinking,
It does not show such strength of innate virtue
As that refusal of the offered wealth,
Seeing he was poor, and had an aged mother
Dependent on him, loving so that mother.
Why, most men would have snatched the gold in triumph,
Smoothing the prize on 't to an easy conscience.

Man.
He was not of their sort.

Woman.
But I must to him.
How calm he lies with parted smiling lips!
—Oh God, thou hast ta'en thine own!

Man.
Ah! is he dead?
Yes, this is death; sleep ne'er was calm like this.
But what an angel's face it is in death!

Woman.
He's with his mother now, a saint in heaven.

Man.
Well mayst thou weep, nor can I keep back tears.