Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-03-01
From the Atlanta (Ga.) Crusader
THE OLD PI0N r.
BY LTDE MERIwETHER


BY LIDE MERIwETHER.
s.John Anderson, my 10 John, clam the hill the
gther and mony canty day, John, we've had wi'ane
auither: now we maun totter down, John, but hand
in hand we' go, and sleep egiter at the foot John
Anderson my jo
About three months ago received letter
from friend in Pennsylvania, in which il the
following passage: 81 must tell you of SIN
gular thing that happened here last week
the death of old Mr.. and Mrs. Bryson. two of
the oldest and best citizens of our town. The
old gentleman died on Sunday night, and his
wife on Tuesday, and they were both buried
in the same grave. Hewas ninety. five years
old, and she eighty-ive, and they had lived
together sixty-fye years."
Beautiful, oh! touchingly beautiful beyond
expression, are the thoughts suggested by
this singular incident. Long, long ago, In
the morning of our young republic, hand to
hand and heart to heart they started on lie 8
journey together. To them the hardy life OF
the pioneer seemed bright and Joyous as a
summers day. Were they not young and
strong. and were they not together? Toll was
lightened by gentle words, and simple fare
was sweetened by loving smiles. Ii dangers
were to be met, together they could meet them
bravely and cheeriuliy. Simple. gulleiess,
and pure in Gods sight were their lives.
Bold sons and fair daughters grew up around
| LQelE uOLDelJ anu WnCut &c 1ihiS
glided on, the sons girded on their armor and
went forth alone into the great battle of life,
and the maidens fair were wooed and welded
and like mated spring birds, went out from
the home nest to build in other branches. they
only drew more closely together; and as the
fire and ardor of youth gave place to the
calm and quiet of old age, the tie that bound
them grew still stronger, aud their deep, con-
slant love more touchingly, tenderly beautI-
full. Together they bore all lifes burdens, to-
gether they shared all its joys. And when.
in the sunset of life, the angel came to
whisper softly, "Come home," camly and
peacefully they passed away together. Weep
ing children of three generations stood
around their dying beds! Softly and rever-
emily, circled in each others arms, they
placed those aged forms in the same narrow
house. and together, still together. they laid them
down to their last long, dreamless slumber.
.They were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
and in their death they were not divided. /"
One house, one Eeart. one LIE, one grave,
one heaven. Softly and silently the winters
SHOWS will fall upon that hallowed grave;
closely and tenderly the ivy vines will circle
it; blithely and merrily the robin and the
wren will trill their melodies in spring time
'.'mid the boughs of the willow that over it
weep;r lowly and reverently their children
kneel around it, in subdued and broken
voices murmuring-'sTheL Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name
of the Lord"
Brave, true, pure-hearted patriots were
they. In early life they heard the proudly
booming gun" that told the tidings of ma
TONS birth. In ripper years they watched
with anxious eyes and proudly beating hearts
the struggles of that country, while now its
sun shone brightly out, and anon was dark
ened by the storm-cloud-till, when 1t had
reached its zenith splendor, they passed away
from it forever before the night of gloom and
dissolution had fallen on the land they loved
so we'll. But is it shut forever from their
view? Do they not even now look down up
on it? Do not even ransOmed spirits remem-
Der the joys and sorrows of the earth-life,
and will not their best and noblest affections
still cling to the loved they left behind? And
theirs are scattered far and wide over the
land. Some still live within the borders of
the old Keystone State; but others are far,
far away. Long years ago, a fair young
daughter, hand in hand with him whom she
had chosen for her destiny, left the old home
stead amid tears and signs, and broken muir
murs of God bless you," and sought home
in the land where "the flowers ever blossom.
the beams ever shine" Under sunny South
ern skies they cast their lot; here among us
they have ''lived and loved together" and
youths and gentle maidens. And are not
those pure spirits looking from "beyond the
clouds and beyond the tomb" watching with
alternate hope and fear, their children-still
sons and daughters of the same nation, but
separated widely, both by distance and by
discord? And are not the disembodied Spir-
its of all our patriots and soldiers watching
this unnatural contest? Do not Washington
and jefferson, Webster aud Clay, look down
III batr 70 SnnsS-
And does not the old patriot of Massachu-
sets, and the soldier who poured out his life
blood upon Carolina's soil, shudder ard turn
away, as he views this dark era in his coup-
try's history? When ministers. prefessed
followers of "the meek and lowly Jesus"
desecrate the affairs dedicated to the God of
Hosts by falsehood foul, and fierce denuncia-
tons of their brethren; when wolves in sleeps
clothing, under the guise of religion and hu-
nanity send fiends in human form to prowl
through midnight darkness round our peace
ful dwellings, TO mingle the death-draught
with the crystal stream, to light the incendi
ary's torch and sharpen the assassin's dag
ger; when sons of the true South breathe
curses loud and deep against their Northern
brethren, and in the name of loyalty and pa
triotism, strike the death-blow to the proud
bird of liberty that so long has sheltered us
with his o'ershadowing wings, and with sac
religious hands tear into shreds the starry
banner that for almost century has fioated
over land and sea, the glorious emblem of
nations freedomi
But must all these things be? Must this
glorious nation thus be severed limb from
limb? Must its hearts. best blood be poured
out by the hands of fierce fanaticism and de-
moniac rage? Must she be precipitated from
her high pedestal of fame. and become "a by
word and a reproach among the nations of
the earth ," Is there not one hope left-one
plank to which we can still cling, amid the
surging waves that roar around us =? Will not
the great, true heart-the life-pulse of our
mighty republic-the Border States, both North
and South. arise in their might, and to the
dark, wildly heaving pillows of discord and
desolation, utter the mandate. peace, be stlll2"
viii not her loyal sons devise some plan by
which this golden chain of Union may be
again united-re-fused by the refining fire of
loyalty aud patriotism, and welded by the
fine gold of charity and brotherly love?
Then may peace and prosperity again
crown our smiling land then, throughout
its length and breadth, may again be seen
bright eyes and beaming faces; then will
good and true men of all nations under the
sun "rejoice and be exceeding glad" and
then from CherHbim and Seraphim, from an
gels and from .'spirits of the just made per-
feet" shall go up to the Eternal Throne the
anthem, "GIory to God in the highest, peace
on earth, good viii towards men," then shall
echo and re-echo through Heavens glory
tinted arches, a paan. joyous, jubilant, tri-
umphant as when ''the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for
joy !"
MEMPHIS, Jan. 26, 1861.