Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1856-02-20
Dslnme 4
Our loss is insignificant.

TIE year just passed has been a year Of
mourning. More than the usual annual IN
post Of tears has been dropped into the great
treasury of grief. Far and wide over Eng
land, Ireland and F~rancc-the country Of
singing shepherds and vine drsssers-on the
banks of sweet Loire and on the green cliffs
of the Rhone, humble, heart-broksn mothers
are mourning over broken households and
telling, one to the other, of their brave sons
who went away cheerily with gay ribbons
in their caps to the sound of the drum tap
to the Crimea-to the camp-to death.
The clangor of swords and the thunder Of
last years guns have died away bot the
soft undertones, in which the loved name. Of
those who fell in the iron storm of war are
| told, linger like a plaintive cadence still.
| How many hopes withered /! how MANY
hearts clcaVed in twain how many house
T holds broken that are not gazetted
We have become used to scenss Of carpare
c -"lst of killed" no longer strikes trem.
; bling chords Of sympathy. If great gene.
raj has fallen, we pause and moralise FOR .
), moment upon the ghastly havoc of war, snd
- then prick the ear waiting for more-suns |
:, "Our loss is Insignificant" were ths clos
ing words of one of Pelissier's dispAtch., =
the EmDSror- of Fr.p~~ TA~~~ IA 49,
an alarm-a skirmish-and a retreat. Only
a lew soldiers were stretched on the field. II
! 1t was hardly worth summing up. Our loss
:" is Insignificant" exults the General.
This IL ~ &C Al. Ill
his ord of a great war. Greas courage and bril-.
inv liant victories alone are worthy Of honorsb,.
mention. individuality is swallowed up IL
ito the great NAV Of national honor. There j
no time to make personal mention Of the ky,
thousand who bit the dust that nations aaG
TX eH, S4ui' 4 urlnh 'oAAts i
the quiet inn. And yet in the skirmish, #
man falls, how does it affect those by who's
he was loved. As the groaning victim falls
still there falls an idol of a far of home a. h
ices ""silvsr bowl is broken, so breaks q loyin
be- heart-as he falls, there falls the high bui
It hopes Of some gentle, loving soul far away.
in "Our loss is Insignificant; butinaginatic
ego will not sit at the side Of Pellissisr aud pc
end this brief dispatch to the Emperor and forg
dis the dead. Imagination throws aloft It's VII
Ieral and flies to Ireland-to England-to n,
that mandy-to the South of France, and wa
lsive in some quiet village for the arrival Of ne
pur- from the War. 1t come;-so many and cd
efec- have fallen-no names are mentioned
the names will come by-and-by. But ire 10,
Of this maiden-the brother Of this pale
Obey ter-the son Of this old palsied mother ",
oeace away to the Crimea with = gay ribbon in
alton hat.
Byand-by the names came slowly; Al
weeks the anxious ones at home learn &
.o so and SO has fallen, and the loss which
d, and so insignificant in the camp become q LOAF
ed has all in the home. And the mothers, the
tiers and the lovers will give the fallen : to-
great though it was denied them In the Crimes
unto will give them a tomb In the heart. Il
t Lib when the Spring comes again, and the '
yards and the meadows are in bloom,
pie of white-haired old Pastor in the old moss;
tional Church will assure the broken hearted
stares there really is a goodly land beyond thi
unto gain which our trials are naught and
nd re- loss is insignificant"