POETS' CORNER.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 43, 29 May 1880, Page 4

POETS' CORNER.

BINLET .AND "46? - Bt-Bbbi Haste j *■*-• TJp»ii Wasatch's peaks of Bnow Night holds illimitablO'Bway, Where but a single hour ago - The crags and ohams, high and low,' Resplendent ■hoao -with day. t > From out the sky no star-ray ihinei ' Uy> en' th» awful solitude ; While moaning thro' the tossing pines, Like some unquiet spirit's brood, The winds sweep to and fro, And seem m saddened mood To breathe a wail of woe. At first they only sighed, But naw they moan and sob ; And since the er^ntide Their maddened pulses throb In quicker, faster flow, i \s tUeir fleeting footsteps glide. O'er the cold expanse oE snow. And nil the upper air Ib filled With drifting clouds, While fields that revel there Are wearing shifting shrouds ; Tossing m endless whirl, They reel m goblin mirth, f And then the shrouds they hurl ; Oil tempest's wiugs to earth. • ■'■'■ '■'•■.:■■ * ...■*' I * 'Twai 'leren o'clock near Bridger's G-ap,' ." f ln a station thu£ swayed m fche tempast's sweep, - ■ Where a lightniiig-jei'ker enjoyed bis nap, When a call from the Canon broke utiis ttleep, 1 1 . And he caughVtlie : wbrds from the subtle clicks, j " Send Binley down here with 46." ' Soonfßinley ; had' mounted h'is'iron steed,.-. And the fires of the furnace glowed again, As the ponderous monster devoured 'his feed, - : And rolled from the> side-track on tb tlie main.'- > - : * Out ongthe night where the snowflakes fell, Out where the t bksts of the tempests roar, Binl«y shoufced hia friend farewell, ■' Aa he opened the throttle-valve one notch more. .% - Then over the winding track ho sped, Where the path way with chasms arid crags wns lined ; •The glare of his great light gleamed ahead, And' the snow like a bride's veil streamedbehind, ! And soon the sound of the, clanking steel Was drowaied m the echoes from hill to hill j | Ho felt the engine sway and reel, j But the throttle went ono notch further still. ' v : And down the grade like a couwer fleet, ■ < Ploughing through mountains of drifted sndtr, ' _ . „_; . 3Jhe engine ploughs through the crusts of i sleet, And hurls a thousand 'feet below „ . ; The' ponderous misses ,that blook its way ; Throw's them far to the left and right, Jnto the black oblivious night, ' To reach the Canons by break of, day. And kow old Binlay feels the thrill That the soldier "feelc when he meets his foe; 'He -opens the throttle-valve, wider still, And his furnace burns with a fiercer glow, As the piston flashes m faster stroke ; j " B.ut firm as a rock stands the engineer, , And m his honest-old heart of oak "Jhare beats not the slightest pulse of fear. But sootftht engine isjru^hing slower, i " Th"»agh ibs pathway lies on a level grade j And Vhfln a tremor cornea stealing e'er Binley/s hand aa. the throttle laid. ¥hera's a slacking- up of the driving-wheel, While tht engine struggles with human -Trill j Then slowly ceases the clank of steel, , And the panting monster is standing etill. Thicker and faster the drifting snew ; Throwji. round its ..victim its winding "t -. . she»fr, '." • - ; Aad quesches the glare of the headlight's glow, As Binlfey mutters, ?' I give up beat," .#. .'■■■■•■■.■. t * ■' : ■*' W»xfc morning a snow-plough forced,its way^ To the spajjf where the buried ."engine lay 5 I TTiejr hewed a path through th« frozen erusfc, * * . 'I And then was the ghastly story (pjd :\ •' , , There sat Binl»y beside bis trust, ■ m \ , » WitS his/han4 en the throttle^valve, stiff } ancßC'old,