Ballads and Tales; Fourth Reader Grade (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1896. Excerpt: ... THE HEART OF THE BRUCE. It was upon an April morn, AVhile yet the frost lay hoar, We heard Lord James's bugle horn Sound by the rocky shore. Then down we went, a hundred knights, All in our dark array, And Hung our armor in the ships That rode within the bay. We spoke not as the shore grew less, But gazed in silence back, Where the long billows swept away The foam behind our track, And aye the purple hues decay'd Upon the fading hill, And but one heart in all that ship Was tranquil, cold, and still. The good Lord Douglas walk'd the deck, And oh, his brow was wan Unlike the flush it used to wear When in the battle van.--"Come hither, come hither, my trusty knight, Sir Simon of the Lee; There is a freit lies near my soul I fain would tell to thee. "Thou knowest the words King Robert spoke Upon his dying day, How he bade me take his noble heart And carry it far away; "And lay it in the holy soil Where once the Saviour trod, Since he niio-kt not bear the blessed Cross, Nor strike one blow for God. "Now, by thy knightly faith, I pray, Sir Simon of the Lee--For truer friend had never man Than thou hast been to me-- Pronounced fret, a foreboding of good or evil. "If ne'er upon the Holy Land 'Tis mine in life to tread, Bear thou to Scotland's kindly earth The relics of her dead." The tear was in Sir Simon's eye As he wrung the warrior's hand: --"Betide me weal, betide me woe, I'll hold by thy command. "But if in battle front, Lord James, 'Tis ours once more to ride, Nor force of man, nor craft of fiend, Shall cleave me from thy side " And aye we sail'd, and aye we sail'd, Across the weary sea, Until one morn the coast of Spain Rose grimly on our lee. And as we rounded to the port, Beneath the watch-tower's wall, We heard the clash of the atabals, And the trumpet...