The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1864-03-01
The Returning veteran.

ANu"'s""ot'St correspondent OF ING Ol0-
cinnati Gazette pays the following just tribute
to the gallant heroes now visiting their homes
preparatory TO their service in the veteran
regiments:
But there is one thing you cannot under
stand. mean the feelings OF that Lronzed
and battered soldier who is going home to
spend his thirty days. furough among his
friends. Yo, cannot understand il, unless in
deed. you have had 40 experience similar TO
bis own. If you have marched with him ovei
the territory Of a iozsn States; If you have
exchanged the comforts aud the joys Of home
Tor the privatiops and dull monotony OF tie
camp; If for more than two long years you
have neithe, known a wife's warm welcomes
swcethear1s smile, sisters tender embrac.
or mothers ho'y kiss; is you have bee n OK
posed without roof or shelter TO the heat of
summer, the rains Of autumn, aud tho snovs
Of winter; il you have often toiIed on day
and night through mud and miro until you
would fain have cast yourself beneath tho feet
Of your comrades for moments rest; if YOU
had shivered hour after hour in frost and co d
and storm until you felt tha. life was horrible
and death blessing; il you have been so
consumed with hunger that you would snatch
the hardest, dirtiest, most loathesome crust
rom the gutter and eat it greedly; if you
bad been so parchod with thirst that you
drank with avidity from pool out of which
a moment before you had chased the hogs; il
tor days and weeks together you had been
cut off from all c,mmuncaton your residence
Southern swamp; il you had stood upsn
th. field where your comrades fell around you
nd L..Ilu
each fraught with death, whisiled past your
head; if you had fought hour after hour
where all the air was fIsd with the sound OF
shells. and where it seemed inpo 'sble for
mortal man to live, if you bad seen, suffered,
aud endured all this, aud more, much more
than can tell, or you, in your widest fancy
ing, can conceive; then you might under.
stand the emotions now swelling the bosom
Of that so odier as he now travels towards his
home.
Oh, friends, away up there in my own
strong,sturdy, loyal North! receive that SOL
dier kindly, deal with him gently, iI,a. him
lovingly! You cannot conceive the woe, the
sorrow, the desolation which his strong arm
has warded off from you. You may not ful
ly understand how he has stood between you
and the storm Of rebel malice, and hate, and
wrath, which, but for him, would have rolled
over your heads and the he,ds OF ur chill
dren, devastating and blasting your homes
But still you comprehend enough to assure
you that be is worthy Of your deepest love-
True, he is a mortal, and he has his faults. -
But while remembering his mighty sacrifices,
may not unkindly censure him for his trivial
errors; and while hs is with you, if, iu the ey
ubcrant fulness Of his heart, and the Joy of
his brief emancipation, be forgeis himself so
far as to offend, you will not approve, you
will doubtless condemn, and you will perhaps
punish; but in pronopnciug condemn.
alton, and administering punishment,
you will be considerate in the former aud
lenient in the latter; for you may not, must
not, dare not forget that with the courage eff
an ancient knight, regardless of suffering |
wounds, and death; while treason overspread |
the whole South like pail, and venemous
reptiles hissed and squirmed in tho North, he
has steadfastly stood amid smoke and fire,and
thunder of battle, and fought for freedom, for
God an ! for you!
From the fields of bis suffsrings and bis
glory, he comes 10 spend littlo time with
you. His brief holiday oyer, he will ag, in
return to endure, to struggle, to bleed, per.
haps to dic. While he is with you, o grugs
him not all you can bestow upon him, Il may
be your last opportunity. You may mover
again welcome home your strong defender
not from him the good thing Of the
world, and while bostowng then, ir abundance
forget not what to him will be moro precious
han fates and feastiugs-your smiles, your
.ears, your blessings and your prayers!