The Story of Gordon.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 2, 30 May 1885, Page 2

The Story of Gordon.

A Lay Of Modkbn Ekolahd.

England this day remembers with pricto ■, her Gordon's fame, When first he won m Chin* a great and deathless name, When the Ever Victorious Army, like thunderbolt aflame, Fell on the rebels' ranks, and the spall of Gordon's words ■ •' . And t|>e v niagic of his bearing, -more than hi* anny|B swordtp:"'!. m T , Saved China's tattering throne, and scat* tered the Taiping horde* |^ Twas sure s right of-WTJTRtfcr to see him Where boUey^hail M hottest— no weep- s * on m his hand ! . „_ By friend and eke by f.^maMtMS harm> Was deemed a wand enchanted, won by ... forbidden lore: : '■ '.[ And though we *miie, deriding a wonder* working rod, T > ;r \ Yet wondterf fought ijifttrJilXtylfearleM i faith;' in GO& } if. F )™ And when the fight was over, he spurned . the Emperor's gpld/.£ \ \ For Gordon waa no birißng that could be bought and sold. And England weUvfeiiwmbers he was the poor manVfrfond ; A holy war he* waged m the iackslums : : of &rave&&#- • IT} IfYhT With crime ahfl rfih'shd-'ignoranee ; for, many a gutter child ■ He trained to noble living, and oft his ac* cents mild . .. ■ • Were balm to wounded spirits, and sorrow f ound surcease ' '. t - In listening to the soldier of the gktriotra Prince of Peace. • , . • ; .' " God bless the noble Colonel !" the rescued lads woujt| pray ; "I've found m hint » brother," the dying lips' wouldL say. ',v :, . , Methinks. 'twas strange and. beautiful to * watch this Christtto flight, ' Wrestling with omvefrbf -, darkness—hia armour, truth and^ight—r With child-like faitn reposing* m the All-father's loTe. -. '■ And telling earth's^despised ones of hope and rest above. And England stillj remembers that m the far Soudan, V . Where women- and men are pining 'neath cursed slavery's ban, In yeare bygone- her Gordon was named the Good Pajma, And ruled the land with justice, by God's most righteous law. "My trust," he said, " unfaltering is m the aid of Heaven, God helping m his uierey— l'll hold the balance even." .. ■ • Slave-hunters, fierce and fiendish, with all their hellish crew, Slunk gram' his presence, cowering— i But, what could one man do <"• Standing alpuei anaidacL among the hostile tribes? :"' 77flr . , Their manhood, wpped jby slavery,, or " eaten away by bribes ? Unhealed as yet/ the,/ ulcer of AfrioV sunny land - ■ • , Awaits the hour t>f toiaKbffby Jews' gentle hand. . And England well rdmeMbert the mas- . date> big wj|b doom, That sent her,fased hpro.to fateful, dark Khartoum. '-'*>'} '-\.'U .51 He went, without a soldier, his life with* m his hand, --.--*» Obeying England's orders, across the desert Sand. \ t He" thought to raise a bulwark against the Mahdiy rage r < . Restore the old Chiefs' powers, and tribal fends assuage.; , " The God of nations," said he, ",in wirf dom formed His plan, . * „ And Soudanese should rule m the broad land of Soudan." •_ ' !• Butwlio c»n : t«n t«e'ati*yjdlH3ordon » • his need-, • • When English , sta.te|njpi coldly heard -■ -"• ; him ferTsueodar ft^m > To help him save the thousands he . guarded m Khartoum? . . "Flee, Gordp^'Verißd.a^aa^^leavt - Payoiiasrto th»li Joaoi, J. Tou cannot save these aliens : yourself , , .ryoujyetmay save.". ./ * "flay ! )>: rang tfe' c&rtofi" answer, "I'd The British Lion wakcth m wrath, tod, half,in_pain, |n rage and" anguish roar e A, and shakes . He hears atowatt the 1 'desert, from cruel, . . grim- Ehartoum. ',■■-■ '. ■■■ A plaintive: voice it&tftei&liijkjar help, thatifsjile to «ome. "* r Awake, ariae, ye Statesmen ! forspre lav „: Gordon's strait-; r(r iVV > The Arab tribes r a^'HwarMing and thundering at hiseajte i .^.j. Haste to the rescue, Wolgeley ! for dan* gers grow the while, Your barges creep , so slowly along the sinuous Nile. ■ /£ , And list ! a voice is 'tailing to Qladatont ; o'er the sea— r : ' . ""■ - -" My steamere waitj^or Wolseley, whd comes to set miriree ; Yet forty days, I-r&kon, I still can hold , my ground, . . The foe is pressiag harder, ( and soon wiH ' hem me round.'* l ? *'*- *• . . Full forty suns have risen, and still, with ! might arid mam ;* The lonely straggles.^ But hark)- -- his voice 'again 1 L/1"Iq. '.:■;• . • ,P, ierqes; . the . heart, . oi Engkpd—" The latest hour tecome P 1 * 3^ On three sidfe? 6?iM kfity, aroand the doomed Khartoum, ,- -^ .-_ • /every /qaarter. jfylfeiing, the , Mahdi's cou^t^esa host ABBail bur walls unceasing ; comb QUICKLY, '" ', ere .we're lost 1" A ,■'„>>.■ His vbifce 3ie^'inW r 4Jfe^e^o longer . • ; -oitn ! Ke J prayi- iu <« .. . • For help from England's Bulerg. The ' ■:• .: ; hunted stag's WihaHrfchgA Our men h^ye, (tossed the desert—the boats are%ained at last ; Why blanch the^hraye .and trembled? and each man 'stead -aghast? , O wofal hap ! th^'resciio^to^ tmofaed ■■:■■■• Khartoum too IAW $-■ Warn Two suns are set since traitors nnbarred ithe CSty's gate^ioW HA And England's/i heart is striken, -aid wrapped m blackest gloom ' For her unburied herein trattorbua Khar* toum ; . . _ . . : ' In fateful, grim Jnd cruel, and treaeher* . bus Khartoum, His body h^s uncofflned, hid |n the lurid • . ■' • V "' „. •;-'■,■. Curse on the jlaggard statecraft thai! : ' palsied England's might { And trebly cursed the treason that torned' her day tornijfht! fffffi*' " , A martyr's jdeath, . full glorious, bits .crowned her GoEdo^Mtanr,' But crimson ai^tW tilbodikaji that dim . ."• her GladßibrieVj^rf;*^-*- ' , . ' !■•'■ ".; ■■ '■•■.■■ ;i! • i-"! Jit-'MxM wto'tit? -JCoCL Castlemaine*: • .•:.:ij«» ! ,