"The Whip-poor-will sung notes most shrill,
Doves to their cots retreated,
And all the fowls, excepting owls,
Upon their roosts were seated.
"The herds and flocks stood still as stocks,
Or to their folds were hieing,
Men young and old, dared not to scold
At wives and children crying.
"The day of doom, most thought was come,
Throughout New England's borders,
The people scared, felt unprepared
To obey the dreadful orders."
In Connecticut the legislature was in session at Hartford. It was
like night in the streets of this city and candles were burning
in the windows of all the houses. Men grew anxious and uneasy. As
the darkness became deeper, the House of Representatives
adjourned, finding it impossible to transact any business. Soon
after, a similar motion for adjournment was made in the Senate,
or Council, as it was then called. By this time faces could
scarcely be distinguished across the room and a dread had fallen
on the assembly; "men's hearts failing them for fear and for
looking after those things which were coming."
Then up rose Honorable Abraham Davenport, a judge of Fairfield
County and councilor from Stamford, a stern and upright man,
strict in the discharge of his duty.
"I am against adjournment," he said. "The Day of Judgment is
either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause
for adjournment; if it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. I
wish, therefore, that candles may be brought."
His strong words held the assembly. Its members rallied from
their fears and, following his example, turned steadily to the
transaction of the necessary business of the hour.
"And there he stands in memory to this day,
Erect, self-poised, a rugged face half seen
Against a background of unnatural dark,
A witness to the ages as they pass
That simple duty hath no place for fear."