Arabella [pp. 766-769]

.7Irabella:.t Story of the Texian Revolution.
Come flitting on the zephyr's wing,
With all the pleasures of the Spring,
Are freshening to our eyes;
These glorious gardens, boundless, tooFirst bursting on the traveller's view,
All sparkling in the morning dew,
Strike him with sweet surprise.
His heart dilates —a grateful sense
Flows out to Nature's Providence;
He looks around-he looks on high,
The earth's reflected from the sky;
He finds a Paradise.
Westward the mountains rise to view,
Softly, in waving lines of blue,
So faint, they seem unto the eye
But mountain shadows on the sky;
In the Eastern outline of the scene, (3)
Like islands in the blue 2Egean,
The forest-isles arise,
Surrounded by a sea of flowers,
That scent and tint the skies Was not-is not this Paradise This charming land of ours?
ARABELLA:
A STORY OF THE TEXIAN REVOLUTION.
Argument.-The muse having smiled without invocation,
the author proceeds to his story ill the description of a
Spring morning in Texas-Arabella, having offered, as
supposed, overtures of love to Campbell, he consents to
test her affection in a horse-race-Arabella wins, and ur ges the redemption of the Yankee's pledge-Affecting
and pathetic expostulation-Interesting predicament Prudent escape of Campbell from the archer-boy and the
old man-Meeting of a man and wife-Closing apology Notes. Scene near San Antonio de Bexar-Time: April,
1836.
The star-crown'd curtain of the night
Rolls back-the waters dance in light;
Up to the sky the mists are furl'dMorn brightens o'er the flowery worldLight floats across the sea-like scene,
In changing waves of gold and green:
Far as the eye can reach, all round,
Life wantons o'er the flowery ground,
And humming-birds of golden crests,
And flashing wings, have left the trees,
Where rock their young ones in their nests,
To the soft music of the breeze,Anrd flitting with industrious bees,
And butterflies, whose dress excels
The painter's art-they sip at ease,
The manna from the blossom-bells;
While in the prairie-island bowers,
The tanager and turtle-dove,
And countless birds-their vocal powers
Attune to harmonies of love.
Hundreds of nimble-footed deer, (1)
Dispersed around, are feeding hereAnd companies of spotted fawns,
Like lambs upon the vernal lawnIs
Of Juniata, pass in play
The morning of the holiday.
Marshal'd horses, fleet and strong,
In savage freedom bound along;
In mockery of war they play:
Now they're forming for the frayTheir milk-white chief, with bearing fine,
Now reconnoitres all their line.
With fiery eyes and nostrils lit,
They writhe beneath the imagined bit;
With chests expanded full and large,
TI'hey await the signal for the charge;
They rush to meet it;-now they wheel
In science, from the pointed steel:
With heads erect, and flowing manes,
They scan the intruder on their plainsThey pause-they gaze —in saucy mirth,
They thunder o'er the trembling earth!
Whoop! see the buffalo!-they sweep
Like porpoises through the booming deep,
And that mustang (2) with his rider swims
The y ielding w aves with rigorous limbs,
As conscious of his speed;
And the hunter rides as Neptune rides
His fav'rite ocean-steed.
"Whe n that happy per iod com es
That Love shall whisper in o ur homes,
' Peace!' returning to its joys, Happier far than dukes or earls,
With Victory's trophies for our boys,
And kisses for our bslue-eyed girls,Texas then will lovelier be
In possession of the free!
And as their right-and in their name,
'Tis ours; for we shall wi n the claim.
'Tis wrong that everv viler race,
Whose names Creation's book disgrace;
Hold, by preemption, right of birth,
The fairest portions of the earth; —
As if the Snake, who did deceive
Our own primeval mother, Eve,
Had thus secured a lease for time
To every Eden spot and clime.
While they, whose every end and aim
Is to obliterate the shame
Of man-the glory of the nameAre driven to snows, and rocks, and san(ls,
As all unworthy better lands:
While the poor farmer's doubtless hopes
Of compensation from his crops,
For months of unremitted toil,
The elements unite to spoil.
Lady, return-till Texas is free,
How can I give my heart to thee?"
Thus spoke a Texian trooper as he stood,
Upon the skirts of an embowering wood,
To Arabella, smiling in his face,
The winner of the premium of the race.
As the wild Tartar gains his Tartar bride
By speed superior in the nuptial ride,
Had she accomplish'd the important goal
Of life or death to her impassioned soul.
Nor own'd a doubt but he would cancel now
With manly chivalry his gallant vow.
She stood at his side, (4)
Altono's lone daughter-delis idol and pride,
A melting beauty of a Spanish tribe,
Impossible to fancy or describe:
Her form —unwarp'd by torturous art, Shaped by the light and air —was free,
And light and airy —every part
Heighten'd the general symmetry
"Our prairies grand-our ocean-land,
When Love and Flora, hand in hand,
766
[NovEmiBP,R,
BY GEORGE B. WALLIS.
PART 1.