The Buchanan County guardian., 1863-12-22

bells and cannon that cracked their brs
gen throats to celebrate the victory di
not awaken her, nor could they had the
! clamored on to this day. a. =a
| 1t seems somewhat singular that Il,
same sun that looked down on the face
Of the slain, 'blsstering them, blotting on
from the bodies all semblance to hu
manity, and hastening corruption, sho'
have caught their features upon canvas
and given them perpetuity forever. Bu
so it is A hfaoTs &H.-
These poor subjects could not give th
sun settings, and they are taken as the,
fell, their poor hands clutching the gras
around them in spasms, Of pain, or reach
ing out for help which none gave
Union soldier and Confederate, side b,
side, here they lie, the red light Of bat
tie faded from their eyes, bat lips set a.
when they met in the last fierce charge
which loosed their souls and sent them
battling and graphing with each other
to the very gates Of Heaven. 1t is curl
ous to think how but yesterday, as il
were, these men who now repose in utlel
indifference to all external surrounding.
were busy with all the little cares o
camp and life. There was a complaint
Of loo few blankets. perhaps. and now
they are stretched on the ground with
nothing between them and the night bu,
the clothes in which they fell. There
was bitter complaint of marches and
ratons, the ones were too long and the
others to short there was struggling for
better places in the ranks, the notice oil
the captain or even a crumb Of favor
from the corporal. These little matters
concern them no longer, for they are
busy with the mightisr problems which
only the dead can solve. The secrets
which Rhamses knows are already made
plain 10 their growing vision, and the
dead private is wiser than the living
General. Oh, thou grey headed man OF
the pulpit, and thou, philosopher Of the
night fresh from the studies of the lamp,
look no, disdainful,y on the pale, cold
forehead that lies before you, for the
brain that once beat behind the prison
walls, clamoring to leap beyond, but
beaten back blind and baffled at every
turn from the mysteries it sought to ex-
plore, now knows positively of those
secrets beyond the world and the plan.
els at which you can only guess.
One.of these sun pictures, I remember,
struck me and haunted me for days, and
rises before me now like one Of the ghosts
which come TO one from out the cryp,s
OF memory at night. Groups of slain,
poor pale faces gazing upward but see.
ing no sky. twisted musksis, aud brok IN
cannon wheels. strew the foreground,
and in the perspective groaning smbu-
lances may be seen bearing away the
wounded. The ground is torn by shot
and shell, the grass is trampled down by
the tread ofhot, burrying feet, and little
rivulets that can scarcely be of water,
go trickling along the earth like tears
over mothers face. II is bleak bar.
ren plain whereon they lie, and above il
bends sullen, ashen sky-there is nc
friendly shade from The MONDAY sun nor
shelter from the midnight dews: coldly
and unpityingly the stars will look down
on them, and darkness will come with
night to shut them in. But there is ,
poetry in the scene which no green field.
nor smiling landscape can possess. Here
lie men who have not hesitated to sea
their convictions with their blood-mer
who have flung themselves into tn,
great gulf Of the Unknown TO teach tn,
world that there are truths dearer thar
life. wrongs and shames encompasset
by the ringed horizon more to be dread
ed than death. Out to the field the,
went. needing not the threate ming sha
ow ola terrible death which looked on
from the cloud where those al home sa,
only glory
The shrieking Of shot the Minnie balls singing
Were sweet 10 their ears as bridal bells ringine
And il there be on earth one spot whsr,
the grass will grow greener than on an
other, when the next summer comes
where the leaves Of Autumn viii dro
more lightly when they fall like benz
diclion on q promise fulfilled and wor
com pleled. it is these soldiers graves.
But there is one side of the pictur
that the sun. faithful rs j, is in fixing al
visible objects, did not catch. Wher
is the background Of widows an
orphans. torn from the bosom of 'hei
natural protectors by the red Iemorss
less rioht hand of Rattle and throw