Spirit of the age., 1860-11-07

aroused Americans to arms in the days OF
British aggression, ere the olrd Oh hoersy oe
shared by political demagogues' ana the
stars and stripes be buried oeneasn the RUNS
of an awful desolationl
Set aAoat on the air the shrieks of the
wifa and mother. as she shrank from the mur-
derous tomahawk of the savage or the pain
ted tory. or her walls of despair as she stood
over the corse of her murdered husband or
babes. Raise to the vision of distracted
Americans the tattered army as they march
ed barefoot to victory over the frozen battle
grounds or as they stood sentinel over the
graves of the slain pierced by the chill vim
ter's winds, or as they dropped off snpperess
to bed on sheets of snow and undercoyerlets
woven by the pelting storm Immortal pa
triot come forth stss spesk to this peopleof
their heroic progenit0rs that often staggered
in ranks for want Of nourishing food and for
want of repose, and that marched to battle
and to victory "as naked as they were born"
O that this generation could hear the last
sigh of but one dying soldier of the Revolu-
ton, as he turned for the last time to the
flag of his country, as it waved under the
doubtful issue of the raging battle; or that
demagogues and plotters for the breaking up
of this great confederacy, could feel but the
slightest touch of the soldiers anguish when
he returned from the tolls of war to find his
house mass of ruins, and the bones of his
family bleaching on the walks and green
banks, where once their merry songs made
| glad his heart
| | turned towards Savannah, and thought
saw the ''hero of the South" arise from his
unknown sepulchre. | could not mark the
spot; for ungrateful America
:" Carved not line, raised not stone,
But left him--alone with his glory"
He turned to his old battle grounds and
surveyed them again as when, long years
ago, cannons thundered over hills and wales
and then he stood by the mounds raised over
the dust of the fallen who sank to rest in
that dark hour before the star of liberty
arose to illuminate the land He then turn
ed to the Capital of the Country they died
to free, and there saw their descendants in
Congress, quarrelling over sectional questions
and threatening their country with di ssolu-
ton and intestine war. In moody silence he
looked on for a long time, then | thought he
said:
80 degenerate sons of heroic men, how
unlike to your fathers! Had ye lived in the
StOllu OdyO vi tuG hcSOluLlOu, yC WOulu
have been found in the ranks of those that
fought against liberty and the rights of man,
or ye would have fed to the mountains when
the British lion roamed and roared through
the land. Traitors, ye are plotting for the
l dissolution of the Union, ye stand up in the
Senate chamber and in the House of Repre-
senta,ives and proclaim to the world your
reasonable principles. Had ye lived in the
days of Washington, the infamy of the treas
enable Burr or of the traitorous Arnoc
would have been stafped on your names, o
ye would have beeri hung as traitors, ant
buried beneath the scorn Of the world"
Political leaders, who live by agitation, y,
are undermining the foundations of this grea
e Republic. Ye desire it's overthrow that V,
may gather spois from its ruins; for ye know
It that if ye strike but one star from the con
j. stellation of this glorious Union, that con
o volution for war Of all will speedily TAX
: place. Then will come the downfall of th
II great nation, and the extirpaiion of the yer,
: name of republic from the nations of tn
d earth. Then the whole earth will mourn
1t for the Stars and Stripes wherever unfurle
d plant hope of liberty in the breast of dow
k trodden subjects of tyrant kings. Dissolv
h this Union Who, possessed of the smalles
if particle of patriotism or philanthorphy, coul
;e desire it? Who SO insane as to proclait
n disunion to this nation? The tongue tha
is speaks it should never more utter speech, tt
y hand that writes il be paralyzed, and the ma
< that ever harbors such a sentiment in th
/. most secret receptacle of his heart, shoul
l. shrink from life as one too vile to snuff tn
to breeze that waves the Stars and Stripes"
I'd The hero ceased: and thought he shran
back under the curtain of night to his toni
es looked again over the country, and in
W moment saw thousands van ish from life fl
n the Union was dissolved, aud Mars the blood
e, wargod, with his engine OF death, was
er work to make its ruin complete. Armit
I'd were assembledin every section, laying vast
IS fertile fields, and leveling populous cities
n the dust Father was arrayed against sol
of brother against brother, indeed it was a nj
I'd ton of brothers at war. The cracking oftf
TX flames of burning villages, the sound ofthe
fall, the groans of the dying, and the shrieh
he of helpless females, all mingled--horr
O. sound was the music of their march.
,k thought that surely the prison doors of q
to nations had been unhinged, and their CO.
US victs poured out on this distracted countr
ed for despicicable men without even the mas
ed of humanity on, ravaged small sections til
at escaped the higher hand of war.
IN | looked on one of the many battle ground
IS, Ihe carnage had ceaSeu-nery Dali nad cea
ry ed to fly, and -glittering stee! was sheathe
m | saw the remnants of the contending armi
i !! meet, mournfully meet to hide the slain.
lat Heart sickening sight!- the father waded
he blood among the heaps of dead to find mis-
as ing son. What anguish filled his soul-t
nd brave boy was gone. How he wept as
es scaned the lived features of the corpse !?
- Again, the son, who, when the roll was ca
zee ed, heard not his aged fathers voice. stal
| on the melancholy search. saw him tn
.th the CHASTITY face of every corpse towards t
nd moon that shrank behind cloud the mome
ore the horrid work of death began, but no
ms half veied, steps out and lends beam
IN. this heart broken son that soon reveals t
ere object of his search. There beneath the
err on which the king of terrors rode he fou
of his sire bleached by death, and hoar loo
ted dyed crimson hue. But who can paint
zen horrors of such war Even spirits Il
md hover around the sleeper's head, paint
on the outlines of the picture, when at midnie
g's they draw frightful visions on the mind
len Swannanoa, n. G.
the "
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