THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM.

BY T. HOOD, ESQ.


[The late Admiral Burney went to school at an establishment where the
unhappy Eugene Aram was usher subsequent to his crime. The admiral
stated, that Aram was generally liked by the boys; and that he used to
discourse to them about _murder_ in somewhat of the spirit which is
attributed to him in this poem.]


'Twas in the prime of summer time,
An evening calm and cool,
And four-and-twenty happy boys
Came bounding out of school:
There were some that ran and some that leapt,
Like troutlets in a pool.

Away they sped with gamesome minds,
And souls untouch'd by sin:
To a level mead they came, and there
They drave the wickets in:
Pleasantly shone the setting sun
Over the town of Lynn.

Like sportive deer they coursed about,
And shouted as they ran,--
Turning to mirth all things of earth,
As only boyhood can;