be supposed to have increased the difference. For Aristides had a gentle nature, and more nobility in his way of dealing; and, in public, acting always with a view, not to glory or popularity, but to the best interests of the State consistently with safety and honesty, he was often forced to oppose Themistocles and interfere to prevent the increase of his influence, seeing him stirring up the people to all kinds of enterprises and introducing various innovations. For it is said that Themistocles was so transported with the thoughts of glory, and so inflamed with the passion for great actions, that though he was still young when the battle of Marathon was fought against the Persians, upon the skilful conduct of the general, Miltiades, being everywhere talked about, he was observed to be thoughtful and reserved, alone by himself; he passed the nights without sleep, and avoided all his usual places of recreation, and to those who wondered at the change, and inquired the reason of it, he gave the answer, that the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep. And while others were of opinion that the battle of Marathon would be an end to the war, Themistocles thought it was but the beginning of far greater conflicts, and for these, to the benefit of all Greece, he kept himself in continual readiness, and his city also in proper training, foreseeing from far before what would happen. Greek History from Plutarch, by A. H. Clough. VIII. THE FAMINE.* O THE long and dreary winter! Hardly from his buried wigwam Vainly walked he through the forest, In the snow beheld no footprints, Fell, and could not rise from weakness, O the wasting of the famine ! All the earth was sick and famished, Hungry was the air around them, From The Song of Hiawatha. Hungry was the sky above them, Like the eyes of wolves glared at them! Did not parley at the doorway, And the foremost said, "Behold me! I am Famine, Buckadawin!" And the lovely Minnehaha Shuddered as they looked upon her, Wrapped in furs, and armed for hunting, With his mighty bow of ash tree, With his quiver full of arrows, D Into the vast and vacant forest Cried he with his face uplifted Through the far-resounding forest, Through the forest vast and vacant, Rang that cry of desolation, 'But there came no other answer Than the echo of his crying, Than the echo of the woodlands, "Minnehaha! Minnehaha ! " All day long roved Hiawatha In that melancholy forest, Through the shadow of whose thickets, Of that ne'er-forgotten summer, He had brought his young wife homeward, From the land of the Dacotahs; When the birds sang in the thickets, And the streamlets laughed and glistened, Said, with voice that did not tremble, "I will follow you, my husband!" In the wigwam with Nokomis, With those gloomy guests that watched her, With the Famine and the Fever, She was lying, the beloved, She the dying Minnehaha "Hark!" she said, "I hear a rushing, Hear a roaring and a rushing, Hear the Falls of Minnehaha "No, my child!" said old Nokomis, ""Tis the night-wind in the pine trees!" "Look!" she said, "I see my father Standing lonely at his doorway, Beckoning to me from his wigwam, In the land of the Dacotahs!" "No, my child!" said old Nokomis, "Tis the smoke that waves and beckons !" "Ah! she said, "the eyes of Pauguk Glare upon me in the darkness ! I can feel his icy fingers Clasping mine amid the darkness ! And the desolate Hiawatha, Far away amid the forest, Miles away among the mountains, Over snow-fields waste and pathless, "Wahonomin! Wahonomin !! Would that I had perished for you, And he rushed into the wigwam, 5 |