Rebounds our heavier hail
From each iron scale
Of the monster's hide.

"Strike your flag!" the rebel cries,
In his arrogant old plantation strain.
"Never!" our gallant Morris replies;
"It is better to sink than to yield!"
And the whole air pealed
With the cheers of our men.

Then, like a kraken huge and black,
She crushed our ribs in her iron grasp!
Down went the _Cumberland_ all awrack,
With a sudden shudder of death,
And the cannon's breath
For her dying gasp.

Next morn, as the sun rose over the bay,
Still floated our flag at the mainmast head
Lord, how beautiful was Thy day!
Every waft of the air
Was a whisper of prayer,
Or a dirge for the dead.

Ho! brave hearts that went down in the seas!
Ye are at peace in the troubled stream;
Ho! brave land! with hearts like these,
Thy flag, that is rent in twain,
Shall be one again,
And without a seam!

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

THE MONITOR

TWO old Spanish ships had, prior to the sinking of the _Cumberland_, met
a like fate at the hands of the Confederates; and the signal success of
the _Merrimac_ now augured well for the break of the blockade.

The South was greatly elated. The North was disquieted.

Twenty-four hours later the trend of events was changed.

There appeared in Hampton Roads a strange new craft, called the
_Monitor_. It was unlike any vessel before seen, having a revolving
round tower of iron, that enabled the gunners to train the guns on the
enemy continuously, without regard to the position of the ship. The hull
had an "overhang," a projection constructed of iron and wood, as a
protection against rams.

The inventor and builder of this little giant was John Ericsson.

His,

"The master mind that wrought,
With iron hand, this iron thought.
Strength and safety with speed combined."

The vessel had been launched in less than a hundred days after the
laying of the keel, in an effort of the Federal government to have her
in service before the completion of the _Merrimac_ (the _Virginia_.)

The new warship attracted the attention of the navies of Europe and
brought about a change in the construction of war vessels.

As if indignant at the actions of the _Merrimac_ in preceding her, and
in attacking the Union fleet, the _Monitor_ bore down upon her