Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1863-11-02
FOR II SPIRIT OF THE AGE.
A VISIT TO A MILITARY POST.
ny FRATO
BY ERATO.
CHAPTER SECOND.

arTaISeu Win as mucn taste as could be
exhibited in SO small a compass. We
said this to him, but he declares "no
place. not even a tent, could be tastefully
arranged-save by fair hands" The men
esteem their Colonel very highly. Their
esteem is not mis~placed-he deserves
their warmest love and admiration.
Could l do him justice, l would give a
d. description of him however, l will try :
He is somewhat above the medium
size--form perfect, grace in every move
menk, hair dark but slightly sprinkled
with gray. although his face betokens a
man Of ability eyes dark and penetra-
ting. sparkling with intelligence; mouth
finely chiseled and firmly set, yet with an
expression of b~enevolence that charms
every one. But his greatest attraction is
his bearing as a soldier he is a strict
disciplinarian, yet when he is compelled
to punish those in his charge, he shows
none of that tyranical spirit that is ex-
hibited in every deed of Gen. Bobadillo.'
He is as kind to his interiors as a mother
to her child; there is a certain indepen-
dence about him that is commendable
the manly tread bespeaks a heroic spirit
His name will yet do honor to history's
page; his Regiment will ere long be one
of the best disciplined and best drilled in
the Confederacy. 1t is now one of the
bravest! May it and its gallant Colonel
escape the missiles,of the enemy, and long
live to defend the right and enjoy the
freedom for which they fight.
/ am DEPRESSING. The hour we spent
with the Colonel will long be remember
ed: while there, our friends DR.. -
and Sergt. - came in we were pleas
ed to hear their honest praise of the Col.
who had left us for a few moments
pleased, because the Col. had spoken so
highly of them-and' thus we saw the
good feeling between them, and know
ing, too, that nothing had been said that
they did not richly merit. We were
sorry when
"The length'ning shadows DER the mead
Proclaimed the close OF day."
and we were forced to depart not, how
ever, without a promise to visit them
again. Long will the memory of that
visit live in my heart.
When starting, we requested the Band
to play "Lorena," which they did with
taste and skill. As the soft, sweet strains
foated forth on the evening breeze, we
sighed and thought "Lorena'' heartless,
or she would surely have " eloped" with
"Paul." The Band is composed of fine
looking, intelligent soldiers.
Some days after this, we visited a grave
yard, where sleep many dear soldiers
Seating myself on a broken pannel of
fence, l gave vent to the tears that were
yelling, up. Alone with the dead =!
(my company being in a distant part of
the grounds.) How my thoughts on i'm
agination's pinions winged their way to
their desolate homes. In the mountains
of Carolina the mother wesps because
her "boy is not" in the low lands
of Georgia the fend sisters bewaif the
lost brother; from the Palmetto State
we hear a wall of woe, the maiden shed
ding bitter tears for the lover who slept
the last sleep and was meath the flowers
that waved before me. Away in the dis.
tant States there are scores that would
have experienced a sad pleasure in wa
tering those graves, as l did, with tears
But sven this poor privilege is denied.
wept more fer the living than the dead.
The sight Of a soldiers grave always
makes me sad. No monument of marble
speaks the virtue or fame of those sleep.
ing kerosene flowers attended by aftec-
TONS hand-no epitaph of hope or love
no evergreen Notwithstanding that
makes the grave beautiful, save the wild
flower that blooms and weeps DER them
The tiny birds resting upon the graves,
make the air vocal with their sad notes
Thus Nature, sympathising with the
methers and sisters far away, has caus-
ed those flowers to grow among the grass
and weeds. Sleep on, heroic men SLEEP
q" until the last great trump shall loose
the shacklss that bind thy noble FERNS t.
earth And then, as ye shall arise, may
We in one glad bard be borne to Heaven
Poor soldiers soliloquized-' tn,
weary mvrch of life is past. Is it wei
with thee? No answer came: none bu
the echo "is it we'll p How l longet
for some spirit, some angel to answer, i
well with all of u.s. Boys whe ha'
known no hardship, went forth to battl
-died-and now they lie here at m.
feet, all unconscious that a stranger weep
over their unmarked graves-knowin
not that a fond mother away is weepin
because their places around the heart
are vacantl Sleep on Though the roa
nc flo cannon IL now heard in the dis