The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-12
-Bi,sgem on the Rhine.
BY THE HON. MRS. NORTON.

lHerc was lack OF woman S nursing, there was
dearth of woman's tears;
But comrade stood beside him. while his life
blood ebb'd away,
And bent, with plying glanees, to hear what
he might say.
The dying soldier falter'd as he took that COM
And he said, II never more shall see my own,
my native land;
Take message, and token, to some friends
of mine
For I was born at Bingen-at Bngen on the
Rhine.
y Tell my brothers and companions, when they
meet and crowd around
To hear my mournfll story in the pleasant Vine
yard ground,
That we fought the battle bravely, and when
the day was done,
Full many a. corse lay CHASTITY pale, beneath
the setting sun.
And. midst the dead and dying, were some
grown old in wars
The death-wound on their gallant breasts, the
last OF many sears:
But some were young-and suddenly beheld
lifes morn decline;
And one had come from Bngen-falr Blngen
on the Rhine!
"Tell my mother that her other sons shall
comfort her old age,
And l was aye u truant Bird that thought his
home II cage:
For my father was Il soldier, and even as q
child
My heart leap d forth to hear him tell of strug-
giles fierce and wild;
And when he died. and left us to divide his
scanty hoard,
let them take Whate' er they would but kept
my fathers sword,
And with boyish love I hung it where the
bright light used to shine,
On the cottage wall at Bingen-calm Bingen
on the Rhine!
Tell my sister not to weep for me, and sob
with dropping head,
When the troops are marching home again,
with glad and gallant tread;
But to look upon them proudly, with calm
and steadfast eye,
For her brother was soldiertoo, and not afraid
to die
And if a comrade seek her love, ask her in
my name
To listen to him kindly, without regret or
shame;
And to hang the old sword in its place-my
fathers sword and mine,)
For the honor of old Bingen-dear Bngen on
the Rhine!
"There's another-not my sister; in the hap
Ply days gone by,
You have known her by the merrlment that
sparkled in her eye;
Too innocent for coquetry,-too fond for idle
scorning,-
Oh! friend, | fear the lightest heart makes
sometimes heaviest mourning;
Tell her the last night of my life (for ere the
moon be risen
My body will be out of pain-my soul be out
l dream 4 stood with her, and saw the yell
low sunlight shine
On the yine-clad hills of Bingen-fair Bngen
on the Rhine!
II saw the blue Rhine sweep along-I heard
or seemed to hear,
The German songs we used to sing, in chorus
sweet and clear;
And down the pleasant river, and up the slant
ing hill,
The echoing chorus sounded, through the even
ing calm aud still
And her glad blue eye was on me as we passed
with friendly talk
Down many path beloved of yore, and we'll
remember walk,
mine:
But We'll meet no more at Bingen--loyed Bin
gen on the Rhine!''
His voice grew faint and hoarser,-his grasp
was childish weak,
His eyes put on a dying look, he sighed and
ceased to speak:
His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark OF
life had fled,
The soldier of the Legion, in n foreign land
was dead!
And the soft moon rose up slowly, and calmly
she looked down
On the red sand of the battlefield with bloody
corpses strown;
Yea calmly on that dreadful scene her pale
light seem d to shine,
AS it shone on distant Bingen-fair Bngen OF
the Rhine.
NOTHING is so fallible as human judg.
ment, but nothing so pitiless. The one
black spot in our hearts-the devils
share in us-is that the general impulse