There was a tumult in the city,

In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down—
People gathering at the corners,

Where they whispered each to each,
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.

As the bleak Atlantic currents

Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made a harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut

Was all turbulent with sound.

"Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?"
"Who is speaking?" "What's the news?"
"What of Adams?" "What of Sherman?”
"Oh, God grant they won't refuse!"
"Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!"
"I am stifling!" "Stifle, then!

When a nation's life's at hazard,
We've no time to think of men!"

So they surged against the State House
While all solemnly inside
Sat the Continental Congress,

Truth and reason for their guide.

O'er a simple scroll debating,

Which, though simple it might be, Yet should shake the cliffs of England With the thunders of the free.

Far aloft in that high steeple
Sat the bellman, old and gray;
He was weary of the tyrant,

And of Britain's royal sway.
So he sat, with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell,
Where his eye could catch the signal,
The expected news to tell.

See! O see! The dense crowd quivers
On through all its lengthy line,
As the boy beside the portal
Hastens forth to give the sign!
With his little hands uplifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair,
Hark! with deep, clear intonation,
Breaks his voice upon the air:

Hushed the people's swelling murmur,
Whilst the boy cries joyously;

"Ring! O ring!" he shouts, "Ring! Grandpa,
Ring! O ring for Liberty!"

Quickly, when he heard the signal,

The old bellman lifts his hand,
Forth he sends the news, outpouring
Iron music through the land.

How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
While the clang of freedom sounded
Far across the Delaware!

How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night's repose!
Like the fabled flame from Phoenix,
Glorious liberty arose!

That old State House bell is silent;
Hushed is now its clamorous tongue,
But the spirit it awakened

Still is living—ever young;
And when dawns the smiling sunlight
On the fourth of each July,

We will ne'er forget the bellman

Who, betwixt the earth and sky,
Rang out, loudly, "Independence!''

Which, please God, shall never die!

NOTE. It had been agreed that as soon as the Declaration of Independence had been. adopted the old bellman was to ring the bell that hung in the tower of the old State House. The old bellman had taken his place up in the tower and his little grandson was to tell him when he should ring the bell. At the word the young patriot ran and clapping his hands, shouted: "Ring! Ring! Grandpa, Ring!"

seize

Åll'ĕn town

LESSON XIV.

Christ

Åt lăn' tå

In' ter-State'

South Cărō li' nå

în serip' tion, explanatory words engraved.

poş şěs' sión (sesh'un), controlling, holding.

Ex' pō şi' tion, a place where

articles are shown. ǎm' mu ni'tion (nish'un),

powder, balls, shot, shells, etc. ăr rival, act of arriving or coming, act of reaching a place from a distance.

eon vẽrt' ed, changed. pro claimed', called out.

guärd' ed, watched.

po lice' man

ex hib'it ed, given to view. shrine, object of interest and

reverence.

chief, head man.

her' ald, announcer, proclaimer.
Zion, name of a city.

pil' grim ag es, people making
journeys to a sacred place.
sub dued', quiet, mild.
chimes, bells.

hid' den, put out of view.
rē east', made anew.
tōll'ing, ringing of bell.
ĕn' trançè, door, passage.

THE LIBERTY BELL.

The ponderous bell which rang out the peal of Independence was cast in England in 1752. It broke in ringing after its arrival and was recast in Philadelphia in 1753. It rang out for the first time to call the people together to hear the Declaration of Independence read, but it did not ring the first peal of Independence until July 8, 1776, as the Declaration was not signed till then. Some time after this the following inscription was put on it by order of Congress: "The Liberty Bell Proclaimed Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto the Inhabitants Thereof."