Within
a thousand Cambridge homes,
The hearths gleamed warm and bright;
And
happy children played their games
Beneath the evening light.
But
fathers, mothers, anxious sat, –
It was election night.
The
evening waned, the little ones
Were snugly tucked in bed;
And
on a snowy pillow case
Was
laid each little head.
Things
were not so, “ten
years ago,”
The tender mother said.
“Eight”,
“nine”, “ten”, the parents sat,
Now full of hope, now fear;
Listening
for those joyful bells,
Which spread the news each year
Unto
the weak, that they should have
No cursed tempter near.
“Clang,
clang, clang, clang,” the bells rang out,
A thousand heart grew light;
“Thank
God!” they cried, “our homes are safe,
From ruin, curse and blight.”
And
peacefully they laid them down
On that election night.
Nov.
20, 1894
Pub.
in Camb’
Press,
Dec. 8, ‘94
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