PS 2129 
 .J2 S5 
 1863 
 Copy 1 
 
 /^^. 77. 
 
 THE 
 
 SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCIS J)E HAES JANVIER, 
 
 AUTHOR OP "THE SKELETON MONK," "THE VOYAGE OF LIFE, 
 "THE PALACE OF THE C^SARS,'" AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 T. B. PETERSON k BROTHERS, 
 
 306 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 
 PRICE 10 CENTS. 
 
 C 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
THE 
 
 SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 33 
 
 BY 
 
 FRAN"CIS DE HAES JANVIER., 
 
 AUTHOR OP "THE SKELETON MONK," '<THE VOYAGE OF LIFE," "THE PALACE OP THE 
 C^SARS," AND OTHER POEMS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS. 
 
 1863. 
 

 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the j'ear 18G3, by 
 
 T. B. PETERSON & BROTHERS, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
 District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 PRINTED BY KINO & BAIRD. 
 
 2. 4 / ^ "^ 
 
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 
 
 The incidents here woven into verse relate to 
 William Scott, a young soldier from the State of 
 Vermont, who, while on duty as a sentinel at night, 
 fell asleep, and, having been condemned to die, was 
 pardoned by the President. They form a brief record 
 of his humble life at home and in the field, and of his 
 glorious death in defence of the Union. " 
 
 This Poem was first read on Monday, January 
 19th, 1863, by Mr. James E. Murdoch, the celebrated 
 elocutionist, to a select circle at the Executive Mansion, 
 in the presence of the President and Mrs. Lincoln. On 
 the evening of the same day he read it in the Senate 
 Chamber of the United States, which was specially 
 appropriated for the purpose, — the President and Mrs. 
 Lincoln being again present, together with one of the 
 1* 5 
 
6 PEEFACE. 
 
 largest and most distinguished audiences ever assem- 
 bled in Washington. It was presented on this occasion 
 anonymously, and produced a profound sensation. 
 
 On the evening of February 5th, 1863, Mr. Murdocb 
 read it, with a similar result, at the American Academy 
 of Music, in Philadelphia, to more than three thousand 
 persons, and then announced the name of the author. 
 He has also read it, with the same success, in Balti- 
 more, Albany, Boston, and other cities. 
 
 It is now published, in compliance witb a general 
 desire for its circulation. 
 
" ^he quality of mercy is not strained; 
 It droppeth as the g-entle rain from heaven, 
 Upon the place beneath : it is twice hless'd; 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 
 "Tis mightiest in the mightiest i it becomes 
 Ihe throned monarch better than his crown : 
 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
 The attribute to awe and majesty, 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings / 
 ^ut mercy is above this sceptred sway, 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
 It is an attribute to G-od himself; 
 Jlnd earthly power doth then show likest God's 
 When mercy seasons justice.'' 
 
 SHAKSPBA-BK. 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL, 
 
 'TWAS in the sultry summer-time, as War's red 
 
 records show, 
 When patriot armies rose to meet a fratricidal 
 
 foe — 
 When, from the North, and East, and West, like 
 
 the upheaving sea. 
 Swept forth Columbia's sons, to make our country 
 
 truly free. 
 
 Within a prison's dismal walls, where shadows 
 
 vqiled decay — 
 In fetters, on a heap of straw, a youthful soldier 
 
 lay: 
 
10 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 Heart-broken, hopeless, and forlorn, with short and 
 
 feverish breath, 
 He waited but the appointed hour to die a culprit's 
 
 death. 
 
 Yet, but a few brief weeks before, untroubled with 
 
 a care. 
 He roamed at will, and freely drew his native 
 
 mountain air — 
 Where sparkling streams leap mossy rocks, from 
 
 many a woodland font, 
 And waving elms, and grassy slopes, give beauty 
 
 to Vermont ! 
 
 Where, dwelling in an humble cot, a tiller of the 
 
 soil, 
 Encircled by a mother's love, he shared a father's 
 
 toil- 
 Till, borne upon the wailing winds, his suffering 
 
 country's cry 
 Fired his young heart with fervent zeal, for her to 
 
 live or die. 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 11 
 
 Then left lie all: — a few fond tears, by firmness 
 
 half concealed, 
 A blessing, and a parting prayer, and he was in 
 
 the field — 
 The field of strife, whose dews are blood, whose 
 
 breezes War's hot breath, 
 Whose fruits are garnered in the grave, whose 
 
 husbandman is Death ! 
 
 Without a murmur, he endured a service new and 
 
 hard ; 
 But, wearied with a toilsome march, it chanced one 
 
 night, on guard. 
 He sank, exhausted, at his post, and the gray 
 
 morning found 
 His prostrate form — a sentinel, asleep, upon the 
 
 ground! 
 
 So, in the silence of the night, aweary, on the 
 
 sod, 
 Sank the disciples, watching near the suffering Son 
 
 of God; — 
 
12 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 Yet, Jesus, with compassion moved, beheld their 
 
 heavy eyes. 
 And, though betrayed to ruthless foes, forgiving, 
 
 bade them rise ! 
 
 But God is love, — and finite minds can faintly 
 
 comprehend 
 How gentle Mercy, in His rule, may with stern 
 
 Justice blend ; 
 And this poor soldier, seized and bound, found 
 
 none to justify, 
 While War's inexorable law decreed that he must 
 
 die. 
 
 'Twas night. — In a secluded room, with measured 
 
 tread, and slow, 
 A statesman of commanding mien, paced gravely 
 
 to and fro. 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 13 
 
 Oppressed, lie pondered on a land by civil discord 
 
 rent; 
 On brothers armed in deadly strife: — it was tbe 
 
 President ! 
 
 Tbo woes of thirty millions filled his burdened 
 heart with grief; 
 
 Embattled hosts, on land and sea, acknowledged him 
 their chief; 
 
 And yet, amid the din of war, he heard the plaint- 
 ive cry 
 
 Of that poor soldier, as he lay in prison, doomed 
 to die I 
 
 *Twas morning. — On a tented field, and through 
 
 the heated haze, 
 Mashed back, from lines of burnished arms, the 
 
 sun's efiulgent blaze ; 
 
 2 
 
14 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 "While, from a sombre prison-house, seen slowly to 
 
 emerge, 
 A sad procession, o'er the sward, moved to a muffled 
 
 dirge. 
 
 And in the midst, with faltering step, and pale and 
 
 anxious face. 
 In manacles, between two guards, a soldier had his 
 
 place. 
 A youth — led out to die ; — and yet, it was not death, 
 
 but shame, 
 That smote his gallant heart with dread, and shook 
 
 his manly frame ! 
 
 Still on, before the marshalled ranks, the train 
 
 pursued its way 
 Up to the designated spot, whereon a coffin 
 
 lay— 
 His coffin ! And, with reeling brain, despairing — 
 
 desolate — 
 He took his station by its side, abandoned to his 
 
 fate! 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 15 
 
 Then came across his wavering sight strange 
 
 pictures in the air : — 
 He saw his distant mountain home; he saw his 
 
 parents there; 
 He saw them bowed with hopeless grief, through 
 
 fast-declining years ; 
 He saw a nameless grave; and then, the vision 
 
 closed-^in tears ! 
 
 Yet, once again. In double file, advancing, then, 
 he saw 
 
 Twelve comrades, sternly set apart to execute the 
 law — 
 
 But saw no more : — his senses swam — deep dark- 
 ness settled round — 
 
 And, shuddering, he awaited now the fatal volley's 
 sound ! 
 
 Then suddenly was heard the noise of steeds and 
 
 wheels approach,— 
 And, rolling through a cloud of dust, appeared a 
 
 stately coach. 
 
16 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 On, past the guards, and throngb. the field, its 
 
 rapid course was bent, 
 Till, halting, 'mid the lines was seen the nation's 
 
 President ! 
 
 He came to save that stricken soul, now waking 
 
 from despair ; 
 And from a thousand voices rose a shout which 
 
 rent the air ! 
 The pardoned soldier understood the tones of 
 
 jubilee, 
 And, bounding from his fetters, blessed the hand 
 
 that made him free ! 
 
 'Twas Spring. — Within a verdant vale, where 
 
 "Warwick's crystal tide 
 Eeflected, o'er its peaceful breast, fair fields on 
 
 either side — 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 17 
 
 Where birds and flowers combined to clieer a 
 
 sylvan solitude — 
 Two threatening armies, face to face, in fierce 
 
 defiance stood ! 
 
 Two threatening armies ! One invoked by injured 
 Liberty — 
 
 "Which bore above its patriot ranks the Symbol of 
 the Free ; 
 
 And one, a rebel horde, beneath a flaunting flag 
 of bars, 
 
 A fragment, torn by traitorous hands, from Free- 
 dom's Stripes and Stars ! 
 
 A sudden burst of smoke and flame, from many a 
 
 thundering gun, 
 Proclaimed, along the echoing hills, the conflict had 
 
 begun ; 
 While shot and shell, athwart the stream with 
 
 fiendish fury sped, 
 To strew among the living lines, the dying and the 
 
 dead! 
 
 2* 
 
18 THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 
 
 Then, louder than the roaring storm, pealed forth 
 
 the stern command, 
 " Charge ! soldiers, charge !" and, at the word, with 
 
 shouts, a fearless band. 
 Two hundred heroes from Vermont, rushed onward, 
 
 through the flood. 
 And upward, o'er the rising ground, they marked 
 
 their way in blood ! 
 
 The smitten foe before them fled, in terror, from 
 his post — 
 
 While, unsustained, two hundred stood, to battle 
 with a host ! 
 
 Then, turning, as the rallying ranks, with murder- 
 ous fire, replied. 
 
 They bore the fallen o'er the field, and through the 
 purple tide ! 
 
 The fallen ! And the first Wio fell in that unequal 
 
 strife, 
 Was he whom Mercy sped to save when Justice 
 
 claimed his life — 
 
THE SLEEPING SENTINEL. 19 
 
 The pardoned soldier! And, while yet the conflict 
 
 raged around — 
 While yet his life-blood ebbed away through every 
 
 gaping wound — 
 
 While yet his voice grew tremulous, and death 
 
 bedimmed his eye — 
 He called his comrades to attest, he had not feared 
 
 to die! 
 And, in his last expiring breath, a pr?oyer to heaven 
 
 was sent — 
 That God, with His unfailing grace, would bless 
 
 our President ! 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 r 
 
 018 597 783 3 
 
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