“Far in the night, as we were falling asleep on the bank of the Merrimack, we heard some tyro beating a drum incessantly, in preparation fora country muster, as we learned, and we thought of the line, When the drum beat at dead of night. We could have assured him that his beat would be answered, and the forces be mustered. Fear not, thou drummer of the night; we toowill be there. And still he drummed on in the silence and the dark. This stray sound from a far-off sphere came to our ears from time totime, far, sweet, and significant, and we listened with such an unprejudiced sense as if for the first time we heard at all. No doubt he was an insignificant drummerenough, but his music afforded us a prime and leisure hour, and we felt that we were in season wholly. These simple sounds related us to the stars.”
