Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-06-23

tains the following poem, with the above title, |
which will be perused with special interest by our
reade rs AZ 1t is from the pen Of a Rutland lady
Mrs. Julia c. r. DosR.l
All day long the storm Of battle through the
startled valley swept;
All night long the stars in heaven DER the slain
sad yigils kept.
Oh the CHASTITY, uptuned faces cleaning whitley
through the night
Oh the heaps Of manged eorses in that dim se-
pulohral light
One by one the pale stars faded, and at length the
morning broke;
But not one Of all tho sleeptrs on that field Of
death awoke.
Slowly passed the golden hours OF thatlong briro,
summer day, 'o'
And upon that field Of carnage still . ,..,un-
buried lay 'n' 1e"N ~"
Lay there 9 rs and cold su, plesding with a
-amb, uneeasing prayer,
sun and air.
But the foemen held possession Of that hard won
In snholy wrath denying even burial to our
slain.
Once again the night dropped round them-night
That the moonbeams hushed the spirit, like the
sound OF prayer or psalm.
On a couch of trampled grasses, Just apart from
all the rest,
Law a fair young boy, with small hands meekly
folded on his breast.
Death had touched him very gently, and he lay
as il in sleep;
Even his mother scsrce had shuddered at that
slumber calm and deep.
For a smile of wondrous sweetness lent a radi-
ance to the face,
And the hand of cunning sculptor could have adj
ded nought OF grace
To the marble limbs SO perfect in their passion
less repoSe, z
Robbed of all save matohless purity by hard, un-
plying foes.
And the b. oxen drum beside him all his hfe's
short story told;
How he did his duty bravely till the dea,h-tide
GER him rolled.
Midnight came with ebon garments and diadem
of stars,
While right upward in the zenith hung the fiery
planet Mars.
Hank sound of stealthy footsteps and of voices
whispering low
Was it nothing but the young leaves, or the
bro oklet's murmuring flow!
look round
AS they passed with silent shudder the pale eStsss
on the ground,
Came two little maidens-sisters-with light
and hasty tread
And look upon their faces, half of sorrow, half
of dread.
And they did not pause nor falter till, with throb-
bing hearts they stood
Where the Drummer Boy was lying in that par
tial solitude.
They had brought some simple garments from
their wardrobe's scanty store,
And two heavy iron shovels in their slender
hands they bore.
Then they quickly knelt beside him, crushing
back the plying tears,
For they had no time for weeping, nor for any
girllsh fears.
And they robed the icy body, while no glow of
maiden shame
Changed the palor of their foreheads to flush of
lam bent fame.
For their sanity hearts yearned GER it in that
hour of sorest need,
And they te. that Death was noly and e sapcti-
fed the deed.
But they smi ed and kissed each other when their
new strange task was DER,
And the form that lay before them its unwonted
garments wore.
| Then with slow and weary labor a small grave
they followed out,
And they liued il with the withered grass anC
| leaves that lay about
| But the day slowly breaking ere their holy
work was done,
! And in crimson pomp the morning again heraldet
the sun.
And then those little maidens-they were chill
dren of our foes
Laid the body of our Drummer-Boy to undisturb
ed repose,