"Courtship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Longfellow Henry Wadsworth)

Etext of The Courtship of Miles Standish
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Boston: Ticknor and Fields.
MDCCC LIX.

Entered According to Act of Congress, in the Year 1858, by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court
Of the District of Massachusetts. Cambridge: Electrotyped and
Printed by Metcalf and Company.

CONTENTS.

THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH.

I. MILES STANDISH
II. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
III. THE LOVER'S ERRAND
IV. JOHN ALDEN
V. THE SAILING OF THE MAY FLOWER
VI. PRISCILLA
VII. THE MARCH OF MILES STANDISH
VIII. THE SPINNING-WHEEL
IX. THE WEDDING-DAY

THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH

I. MILES STANDISH.

IN the Old Colony days, in Plymouth the land of the Pilgrims, To
and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling, Clad in
doublet and hose and boots of Cordovan leather,
Strode, with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain.
Buried in thought he seemed, with his hands behind him, and
pausing Ever and anon to behold his glittering weapons of
warfare,

Hanging in shining array along the walls of the chamber, --
Cutlass and corslet of steel, and his trusty sword of Damascus,
Curved at the point and inscribed with its mystical Arabic
sentence, While underneath, in a corner, were fowling-piece,
musket, and matchlock. Short of stature he was, but strongly
built and athletic, Broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, with
muscles and sinews of iron; Brown as a nut was his face, but his
russet beard was already Flaked with patches of snow, as hedges
sometimes in November. Near him was seated John Alden, his
friend, and household companion, Writing with diligent speed at a
table of pine by the window;

Fair-haired, azure-eyed, with delicate Saxon complexion,
Having the dew of his youth, and the beauty thereof, as the