Collecting Delaware Books
Dear little Delaware, my native State,
Tho' but a speck, not least among the great
To thee my weary footsteps ever bend,
For thee to Heav'n my fervent pray'r I
send,—
That thy fair fame in splendor still may rise,
And catch the smiles of patriots in the skies.
Land of my fathers— cradle of the brave—
Nurs'ry of genius and the tyrant's grave
To thee I strike the golden string of praise,
And sing thy glories of departed days.
. . .
This is the joy, O Delaware, to thee,
Since stern resistance set the nation free
Not the dark scheme ignoble North design'd
To sink the noblest race of all mankind
Thus may the sons of freedom ever stand,
And deal affection to old Albion's land
But when oppression shows her iron chain,
Then liberty shall rend the tie in twain,
All commerce cease, vindicative vengeance rise,
And TYRANNY resound thro' all the skies
Man shall remember brother man no more,
And murder drown blest peace in human gore,
The lion tremble as he hears from far,
The roaring tumults of approaching war,
And shake e'en Britain, with the stern decree,
That freedom's home shall still be great and free.
[A party of settlers, including Nicholas Brabant, his wife, and child, having landed at Lewes, are making there way in winter through the swampy forests of lower Delaware.]
Just as the day was about to dawn, when the flames of their fires no longer glared on the gloom of the surrounding forest, Nicholas was awakened by a grappling, as if some person were feeling and endeavoring to awaken him. He partly threw off the bed-clothes of blankets, with which he had enveloped his head, and Merciful Heaven! he was greeted by the gaze of a pair of the most awful flaming red eyes he had ever beheld. A large, black, demon-like creature had succeeded in getting his paws around the body of his darling child, and raising her so gently from her resting place, that she had not been awakened. But at this moment Mrs. Brabant awoke, and seeing her child in the arms of an enormous bear, she gave one wild shriek that rung in many an echo through the gloomy forest. Neither the father or mother had ever seen a bear, and it appeared as a demon in the wilderness, in the act of carrying off their idolized daughter.
It is well known that the bear, like the boa constrictor, destroys its prey by hugging or squeezing until life becomes extinct but ere the ferocious animal had time to do this, the affrightened, though fearless father, leaped to his feet, and grappled with the monster. His gun was his first thought, but then he might shoot his child, for the bear pertinaciously refused to give up his hold, until Nick grappled with him, and they together rolled down the hill. At length, having relinquished his hold upon the child, the bear rose up with him, until he stood on his hind legs, in which position the battle continued. Bruin, being one of the largest of the species, was, when erect, as tall as his antagonist, and much larger in body. Before the sleepers had arisen, the bear would have overpowered Nick, had not his wife ran to his assistance with two knives, one of which she gave to her husband, while with the other she stabbed the animal in the breast. This, at first, only rendered him more furious, and he must have inevitably proved the victor, had she not dealt him a well-aimed blow just behind the fore leg, which reached his heart, and he fell dead at their feet.
"You have saved my life, my dear wife," exclaimed Brabant, as he clasped her to his bloody bosom.
"And you have saved that of our darling child," she returned.
[By the way, they ate the bear.]