Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1864-09-09
DAILY DEMOCRAT


OF Burns OF Getty sburg !-No! All, veil
Brief u the glory that hero earns,
Briefer the story OF poor John Burns:
He Was fellow who won renown-/R
The only man who didn't back d0wY
When the rebels rode through hisnsuve Town
But held his own n the tight 9s4t 0sys
When Ill his townsfolk ran Wy.
. That was IN July sIxfx-SH9H, -.
The very day that Generf Lee
Flower Of Southern chYAsry.
Bafied and besten, b,ekWacd !eeied fse
From stubborn Made and barren seld.
I might tell how tut the dag before, an 81,
John Hurns Sod NJ his cottage door, r
Looking doya the yll.:e: street. L. ca.
IL hear the low Of his gathered kine.
And fsN their breath Of incense sweet;
Or Jmight say, when the sunset burnsd
Tt< old farm gable, he thought it turned
2he milk that fell in babbiing food
4 Into the milk pail - red - blood
Or. how he fancicd the hum Of bees
Were bullets buzzing among the trees.
But all such fanciful thoughts as these
Were strange to . practical man like Burns,
Who minded only his own concerns,
Troubled no more by fancies fine
Than one Of his calnl- eyed, long tailed kline
Quite old-fashioned and matter of-fact,
Slow to argue, but quick to act,
That Was tine reason, some folks say,
He fought SO we'll on that terrible day.
And it was terrible. On the right
Ragged for hours the deadly fight,
Thundcred the battery's double bass
Difficult music for one to face
While on the le;t-where now the graves
Uudulate like the living waves
That all that day unceasing swept
Up to the pits the rebels kept
Round shot ploughed The upland glades.
Sown with bullets, reapcd with blades,
Shattered fences here and there
Tossed their splinters in the air;
The very trees were stripped and bare;
The bar rs that once held yellow grain
Were heaped with iiarycsts 81 the slain,
The cattle beloved the plain,
The turkeys screamed with might and main.
With strange shells bursting in each nest
just where the tide of battle turns,
Erect and lonely stood old John Burns.
How do you think the man was dressed?
lie worcan ancient long butt vest,
yellow az saffron but his best,
And, buttoned over his manly breast,
Was a large blue coat, with rolling collar
And large gilt buttons-slc OF a dollar
With tails that country folks call ''swaler"
He wore a broad brimmed, bell crowned hat,
White us the locks on which il sat.
Never had snch sight been seen,
For forty years the village green,
Since old John Burns was country beau.
And wcni TO the ''quiltngs' long ago.
Close at his elbows all that day,
Veterans OF the Ponncnsua,
Slnburnt and bearded, charged away;
And stripplinss, downy OF lip and chin
Clerks that the Home Guards mustered iu-
Glanced "a lie passed at the hat he wore,
Then at his rifle bis right hand bore;
With scraps Of slangy repertoire,
claw are Won white hat >, "put her throu0h ~
Your heads level, and "Bully for YOU"
Called him Daddy begged he'd disclose
The name Of the tailor who made his clothes
And what was the value he set on those,
While HurIs unmindiul Of the scoH,
Stood there picking the rebels Off
With is long brown rifle and bell or own hat.
Aud swallow tails they were laughing q.
Twas but moment, for that respect
Which othes all courage their voices checked
And somel thing the widest could undo rstand,
Spoke IN the Old man strong right handt
Aud his corded throat and the lurking irown
Of his eyebrows under his old bel-crown
Until rs they gazcd there crept an awe
Through the rank. in whispers, and some men
saw
In the antique investments and long white
hair
The Past of the Nation in battle there,
Aud some Of the soldiers since declare
That the CLEAN Of his o d white hat atar
Like the crested plume of the brave NaAarre,
Inat d.iy >i.s.., ar,a-,na nf war
Thus ragged the battle. You know the rest
How the rebels, beaten and backward pressed
Broke at the final charge and ran
At which John Burns IA practical man
Shouliered his rife unbent his brows,
And then went back to his bees and COWS
This il the story Of old John Rurns
This is the moral the reader learns;
In fighting the battle the questions whether
Iou'll SHOW white hat or Il white feather.