Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1855-05-16
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LIFE GUARDSMAN.
BY JESSE E. DOW.

BY JESSE E. DOW.
The Life Guard of Washington ! Who
can think upon this band of gallant spirits
without feeling glow of patriotism warm
ing his heart, and stirring up the slug
gish feelings of his soul {? Fancy paints
again the figures which history has suffer
ed to fade away, as the shawdows depart
ed from the magic mirror of Cornelius
Agrippa; AID the heroes of the past start
up before us like the clan of Rederick
Dhu at the sound of their chieftain's whis-
tie. They come from Cambridge, and
from the Hudson. from Trenton and from
Princeton, from York town and from the
Brandywine, from mountain pass and
woody vale, gathering in battle array
around the lowly bed of their sleeping
leader, amid the solitary shades of Vernon.
The life guardsmen are fast fading
away. One by one the aged members
have departed, and now Lees corporal
slumbers beside his commander. Their
march of life is over.
A more efficient corps never existed on
this side of the Atlantic than the Life
Guard. Animated by one motive guided
by one object, they surrounded their be-
lowed commandment chief, and gloried in
being known as his body guard. Was
there any difficult duty to perform it fell
to this body. and CALAMITY did they per-
form the service entrusted to them. The
eye of the general glistened with delight
as they filed before him in the shade of
evening or retnrned into camp from some
dimes, ere
"Jocund day stood tiptoe on the mountain top
or the rereHs aroused the army from their slumbers
1t was the anniversary of the battle Of
Princeton, when an aged man, with a
stout staff in his hand, was seen trudging
manfully down Broadway. AS he passed
along from square to square, be cast his
eyes upon the signs and door-plates, and
muttering, continued on his course.
Here said he, was Clintons Quar-
ters''-" Edward Mallory silks and laces"
-. and here was the house that Wash
ington stopped att" John Kinpherhau-
sen. tobacconist," and here was where
the pretty Quakeress lived, who used to
furnish the coinmander-in chief with infor-
nation as to the enemies movements =
"Cafe de mile colonnes" 81" all, all are
changed; time has been busy with every
thing but the seasons-they are the same
the sun and the rain-the evening and
the morning-the icicle and the dew-drop
the frost and the snow-drift change not:
but man and his habitations-ay the
very nameso of places and people have been
altered, and the New York Of the Revo-
luton is not the New York of '55."
As the old man said this he seated him.
self upon a marble doorstep, and wiped
the perspiration from his brow; for he
had walked long way that morning, and
the thousand associations that pressed
npon his memory wearied him.
A company of volunteers, in all the
pomp and circumstance Of city war, now
approached by cross street. The bugle's
shrill note, mingled in with the clarionet
and cymbals; and the glance of the sun
upon their bayonets and polished helmets,
lit up the martial fire that slumbered in
the old mans soul. He rose upon his feet.
(" tits pleasant enough now to look upon
such gatherings" said he, but those who
have heard the drums beat to drown the
cries of the wounded and the dying, can
not forget their meaning, though youth
and Joy accompany them, and though the
smiles of beauty urge them on" And the
old man wept, for the men Of other days
stood about him; and the battle-6elds,
then silent and deserted, teemed with the
dead and dying; and the blood formed in
poo]s amid the trampled grass, or trickled
in little rills down the smoky hillside.
A servant now came out Of neighbor-
ing house and invited the old man in.-
He thankfully accepted the hospitality Of
the polite citizen, and stood in comfort
able breakfast room. A young man Of
twenty-one received him with kindness
and tall, prim woman of eighty-six cor
daily insisted upon his joining her family
at the breakfast-table A beautiful Cir
Of eighteen took the old mans hat and
cane. and wheeled up an old armchair tha
had done the family some service in an
Gent DAYS. The old man as she seated
herself beside him, patted her upon tht
head and firm God bless you"
capped from his wrinkled and pallid lips
The old lady suddenly paused in her tea
table duty, and looked earnestly at he
cuest. The old mans eyes met hers
fhey had seen each other before-but th'
mists Of time shrouded their memories
and blended names and places and period
strangely together. :
.sWill thee have another cup of tea !?
said the matron to the old man.
81 have heard that voice" thought tn
stranger. as he took the profered Gu
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