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Conductor Bradley (always may his name
Be said with reverence!), as the swift doom came,
Smitten to death, a crushed and mangled frame,
Sank, with the brake he grasped, just where he stood,
To do the utmost that a brave man could,
And die, if needful, as a true man should.
Men stooped above him; women dropped their tears
On that poor wreck beyond all hopes or fears,
Lost in the strength and glory of his years.
What heard they? Lo! the ghastly lips of pain,
Dead to all thought save duty’s, moved again:
“Put out the signals for the other train!”
No nobler utterance since the world began
From lips of saint or martyr ever ran,
Electric, through the sympathies of man.
Ah me ! how poor and noteless seem to this
The sick-bed dramas of self-consciousness,
Our sensual fears of pain and hopes of bliss!
Oh, grand supreme endeavor! Not in vain
That last brave act of failing tongue and brain!
Freighted with life the downward rushing train,
Following the wrecked one, as wave follows wave,
Obeyed the warning which the dead lips gave.
Others he saved; himself he could not save.
Nay, the lost life was saved. He is not dead
Who in his record still the earth shall tread
With God’s clear aureole shining round his head.
We bow as in the dust, with all our pride
Of virtue dwarfed the noble deed beside.
God give us grace to live as Bradley died!
( John Greenleaf Whittier )
smitten : in love with someone or something
wreck : a accident in which something is destroyed
A) Answer the following questions.
1) What great service did Conductor Bradley perform?
2) How did Conductor Bradley act heroically?
3) What does it mean that “the lost life” was saved?
4) What does the poet wish for in the last line?
5) What is the theme of this poem? How is it similar to other poems you have read recently?
B) Tell about a time when someone did something great to help you.
C) Summary—Write a short summary of this story.