Home / Bolton, Robert Jr. The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. I. New York: Charles F. Roper, 1881. Revised posthumous edition. / Passage

The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester (1881 revised edition, Vol. I)

Bolton, Robert Jr. The History of the Several Towns, Manors, and Patents of the County of Westchester, from its First Settlement to the Present Time, Vol. I. New York: Charles F. Roper, 1881. Revised posthumous edition. 309 words

He finds each suplication vain ; The weary prisoner turns aside, To hide his laboring bosom's pain.

Tumultuous thoughts upon his mind,

In quick succession wildly crowd, As urged by the resistless wind,

Spreads o'er the sky the tempest's cloud. Why bends his sad and languid glance

Where, near his heart, that picture lies, Affection's fond inheritance.

With sunny smile and loving eyes !

Alas ! Upon that face no more

The eager gaze of hope can turn, The dream of early love is o'er,

And ne'er again its fires will burn ; A shade is gathering o'er each tress,

A gloom is lingering on the brow. And all its budding loveliness

Is stained with tears of anguish now,.

Brave, yet devoted ! On thy head

The bolt, by others forged, shall fall; And history on thy name shall shed

Of fate, the wormwood and the gall ; Yet wert thou noble -- and thy soul

The battle and the storm withstood, Till bending to a stern control,

'Twas by a traitor's lure subdued.

Peace to thy shade, ill-fated one !

Though in the abbey's lengthened aisle, Scarce lit by the day's meridian sun,

Thy marble bust may sadly smile, Yet is there darkness on thy name,

Though gentle pity mourns for thee, While patriots bless the holy flame,

Which kept thy captor's spirit free. ' -- [ WestcJiester and Putnam Republican.

A remarkable incident is said to have befallen the celebrated whitewood tree near which the spy was captured. It was struck by lightning on the same day that the intelligence of General Arnold's death arrived at Tarrytown. This tree was a fine specimen of the ancient forest, being twenty-six feet in circumference, and its stem forty-one feet in length. At the present day not a vestige remains of " Major Andre's Tree," as it was familiarly called.