Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year Part 44

When and between whom did this war take place? Name some of its great battles; its great commanders.

2 On which side was Little Giffen? Prove your answer from the poem. Who was Johnston, line 8, page 321? How old was Giffen? How much service had he seen?

3. Explain the meaning of: Utter Lazarus (see Luke xvi: 20); specter; gangrene; line 14, page 320; line 15, page 321.

4. Name some other writers of the South.

(Used by permission of the Neale Publis.h.i.+ng Company.)

MARCO BOZZARIS

BY FITZ-GREENE HALLECK

Marco Bozzaris (1790-1823) was born among the mountains of Suli, in Epirus, a province of Greece.

He had early military training in the French service; but at the age of thirty he undertook to battle against the Turks, who were holding the Greeks in heavy subjection. At the head of his countrymen, the Suliotes, he won many battles; but finally, through treachery, he and his forces were besieged. To relieve the siege, Bozzaris led his troops against the enemy in a night attack and won a complete victory, but the hero fell, dying in the hour of triumph.

At midnight, in his guarded tent, The Turk was dreaming of the hour When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, Should tremble at his power; In dreams, through camp and court, he bore 5 The trophies of a conqueror; In dreams, his song of triumph heard; Then wore his monarch's signet ring; Then pressed that monarch's throne--a king; As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing, 10 As Eden's garden bird.

At midnight, in the forest shades, Bozzaris ranged his Suliote band, True as the steel of their tried blades, Heroes in heart and hand. 15 There had the Persian's thousands stood, There had the glad earth drunk their blood, On old Plataea's day; And now, there breathed that haunted air The sons of sires who conquered there, With arm to strike, and soul to dare, 5 As quick, as far, as they.

An hour pa.s.sed on--the Turk awoke; That bright dream was his last; He woke to hear his sentries shriek, "To arms!--they come! the Greek! the Greek!" 10 He woke--to die midst flame, and smoke, And shout, and groan, and saber stroke, And death shots falling thick and fast As lightning from the mountain cloud-- And heard, with voice as trumpet loud, 15 Bozzaris cheer his band: "Strike--till the last armed foe expires; Strike--for your altars and your fires; _Strike_--for the green graves of your sires, G.o.d--and your native land!" 20

They fought--like brave men, long and well; They piled that ground with Moslem slain; They conquered--but Bozzaris fell Bleeding at every vein.

His few surviving comrades saw 25 His smile when rang their proud huzza And the red field was won; Then saw in death his eyelids close, Calmly as to a night's repose, Like flowers at set of sun. 30

Come to the bridal chamber, Death!

Come to the mother, when she feels, For the first time, her first-born's breath; Come when the blessed seals That close the pestilence are broke, 5 And crowded cities wail its stroke; Come in consumption's ghastly form, The earthquake's shock, the ocean's storm; Come when the heart beats high and warm With banquet song, and dance, and wine,-- 10 And thou art terrible!--The tear, The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier; And all we know, or dream, or fear, Of agony are thine.

But to the hero, when his sword 15 Has won the battle for the free, Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, And in its hollow tones are heard The thanks of millions yet to be.

Bozzaris! with the storied brave 20 Greece nurtured in her glory's time, Rest thee; there is no prouder grave, Even in her own proud clime.

We tell thy doom without a sigh; For thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's.-- 25 One of the few, the immortal names, That were not born to die!

1. This is a stirring selection to read aloud. What makes it so? Read the lines that you like best.

2. What has the first stanza on page 324 to do with the poem?

3. Explain: Suliote; Moslem; Plataea; lines 25-27, page 324.

SAN JUAN HILL

BY GENERAL JOHN J. PERs.h.i.+NG

Santiago, Cuba, was the center of some of the heaviest fighting of the Spanish-American War. The Spanish fleet had taken refuge from the American fleet in Santiago Harbor. The Spanish army had been concentrated there to protect their fleet. The American army, under the general command of Major General Shafter, invested the city. The following extract describes picturesquely the fighting three days before the Spanish fleet put to sea.

On June 30th the general order came to move forward and every man felt that the final test of skill at arms would soon come. The cavalry division of six regiments, camped in its tracks at midnight on El Pozo Hill, awoke next morning to find itself in support of Grimes' Battery, 5 which was to open fire here on the left.

The morning of July 1st was ideally beautiful, the sky was cloudless and the air soft and balmy, peace seemed to reign supreme, great palms towered here and there above the low jungle. It was a picture of a peaceful valley. 10 There was a feeling that we had secretly invaded the Holy Land. The hush seemed to pervade all nature as though she held her bated breath in antic.i.p.ation of the carnage.

Captain Cap.r.o.n's field guns opened fire upon the southern field at El Caney and the hill resounded with echoes. 15 Then followed the rattle of the musketry of the attacking invaders. The firing in our front burst forth and the battle was on.

The artillery duel began and in company with foreign military attaches and correspondents we all sat watching the effect of the shots as men witness any friendly athletic contest, eagerly trying to locate the enemy's smokeless batteries. A force of insurgents near the old Sugar Mill applauded at the explosion of each firing charge, apparently 5 caring for little except the noise.

Now and then a slug of iron fell among the surrounding bushes or buried itself deep in the ground near us. Finally a projectile from an unseen Spanish gun disabled a Hotchkiss piece, wounded two cavalrymen, and smashed into the 10 old Sugar Mill in our rear, whereupon the terrorized insurgents fled and were not seen again near the firing line until the battle was over.

When the Tenth Cavalry arrived at the crossing of San Juan River our observation balloon had become lodged in 15 the treetops above and the enemy had just begun to make a target of it. A converging fire upon all the works within range opened upon us that was terrible in its effect. Our mounted officers dismounted and the men stripped off at the roadside everything possible and prepared for business. 20

We were posted for a time in the bed of the stream directly under the balloon, and stood in the water to our waists awaiting orders to deploy. Standing there under that galling fire of exploding shrapnel and deadly Mauser bullets the minutes seemed like hours. General Wheeler 25 and a part of his staff stood mounted a few minutes in the middle of the stream. Just as I raised my hand to salute in moving up the stream to post the leading squadron of my regiment, a piece of bursting sh.e.l.l struck between his horse's feet and covered us both with water. 30

Pursuant to orders, with myself as guide, the second squadron of the Tenth forced its way through wire fence and almost impenetrable thicket to its position. The regiment was soon deployed as skirmishers in an opening across the river to the right of the road and, our line being partly visible from the enemy's position, their fire was turned upon us and we had to lie down in the gra.s.s a few 5 minutes for safety. Two officers of the regiment were wounded; here and there were frequent calls for the surgeon, but no order came to move forward. Whatever may have been the intention of the commanding general as to the part to be played by the cavalry division on that day, the 10 officers present were not long in deciding the part their command should play, and the advance began.

White regiments, black regiments, regulars and rough riders, representing the young manhood of the North and South, fought shoulder to shoulder unmindful of race or 15 color, unmindful of whether commanded by an ex-Confederate or not, and mindful only of their common duty as Americans.

Through streams, tall gra.s.s, tropical undergrowth, under barbed-wire fences and over wire entanglements, regardless 20 of casualties, up the hill to the right this gallant advance was made. As we appeared on the crest we found the Spaniards retreating only to take up a new position farther on, spitefully firing as they retired and only yielding their ground inch by inch. 25

Our troopers halted and lay down for a moment to get a breath and in the face of continued volleys soon formed for attack on the blockhouses and intrenchments on the second hill. This attack was supported by troops including some of the Tenth who had originally moved to the left 30 toward this second hill and had worked their way in groups, slipping through the tall gra.s.s and bushes, crawling when casualties came too often, courageously facing a sleet of bullets, and now hugging the steep southern declivity ready to spring forward the few remaining yards into the teeth of the enemy. The fire from the Spanish position had doubled in intensity until the popping of their rifles 5 made a continuous roar. There was a moment's lull and our line moved forward to the charge across the valley separating the two hills. Once begun it continued dauntless in its steady, dogged, persistent advance until like a mighty resistless torrent it dashed triumphant over the 10 crest of the hill, and firing a final volley at the vanis.h.i.+ng foe, planted the regimental colors on the enemy's breastworks and the Stars and Stripes over the blockhouse on San Juan Hill to stay.

This was a time for rejoicing. It was glorious. 15

--_From an address given in Chicago, November 27, 1898._

1. When was the Spanish-American War fought? Why?

What were its greatest battles? Tell how each of the following figured in this war: Dewey, Sampson, Schley, Shafter, Wheeler, Roosevelt.

2. Imagine yourself in Lieutenant Pers.h.i.+ng's place on the field of battle. Describe the engagement.

3. Report briefly from notes taken on outside reading on the battle of Manila Bay, or the cruise of the _Oregon_, or the destruction of the Spanish fleet off Santiago.

4. General John Joseph Pers.h.i.+ng was born in Missouri, September 13, 1860. He was graduated from the West Point Military Academy; served in a number of Indian campaigns, was a military instructor; served with the Tenth Cavalry in the Cuban campaign, 1898, and in the Philippines, 1899-1903; commanded the U. S. troops in pursuit of the bandit Villa in Mexico in 1916; was in command of the American Expeditionary Forces in the World War. If possible, read an account of Pers.h.i.+ng's early life and report on it in cla.s.s.

BURIAL OF A SOLDIER IN FRANCE

BY GERALD M. DWYER

This is part of a letter home from Private Dwyer, Co. A, 121st Engineers, A. E. F. It is used here by permission of _The Springfield (Ma.s.s) Republican_.

Even far behind the lines of battle, in this beautiful France, little scenes take place which bring home to one the seriousness and sadness of life. Picture to yourself a dark-green hillside divided into sections by the hedge fences which the French peasant makes so much use of. 5 In one of these fields soldiers are at work making roads and little pathways. At one end are a number of flower-covered mounds, each one marked with a wooden cross, for this particular little field is one of the American Expeditionary Force's cemeteries. 10