Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1866-02-28

red death to continual torture, had but to
p,se this brittle boundary to be ushered
Instantly into the presence of Him who
las said, vengeance is mine, 1 will re-
py."
Turn this way. That board, leaning in
he corner. with its black figures 81 COG"
1t the top, is the head board which Wirz
--he has gone to his account, l will use
adjectives with his name, suffered to be
placed where one dear and nearly akin to
her who gathered these relics, was laid
away in that vast cemetery of murdered
men.
1906. Can you realize it? Seven
thousand six hundred and six prisoners,
who, starved, scorcLed in the burning sun,
naddeped, hopeless, prayed for death and
found in their shallow graves surcease
from anguish! Ara 7,6OG is scarce half.
On, on, on-up, up, up 90 the numbers
ito Il, ,920 that have been found, recogni-
zed, and marked. o. God Of mercy, is
there. can there be produced such another
record OF the results of slavery as this !.
But let US look further. These bayon-
cts were picked up in that Golgotha, and
this letter box, into which thousands, ay,
tens OF thousands of letters were dropped,
but never one went out to gladden. the
oppressed hearts of friends Perhaps no
FIVE pieces of timber were ever nailed to
gether, that have enclosed so many tales
of distress, Or SO few Of happiness or Joy,
as These.
This is the worn-out stump of hickory
broom, with which the skeleton hands
tried to keep clean ; this is ball from
one of the many guns that were mounted
on the seven forts surrounding the prison.
\ paroled prisoner asked Wirz one day {;
"What will you do with US if Sherman's
army comes 10 the rescue
"By tam! puts you in the stockade.
| turn de guns on you, and blow de brains
out Of every tam one."
But let me stay this fearful record, and
tell how these things came to be here in
Washington. Miss Clara Barton, in
whose little par!or find them, brought
them with her on her return from her cx-
petition to Andersonyille, where she went
by request of Secretary Stanton, in COM
pany with Capt. James NJ. Moore, A. Q.
NJ, to enclose the grounds of the Ander-
sonville cemetery, and identify the graves
and mark them with headboards, which
expedition was inaugurated, at her request,
BY the heads of the department.
81 gathered these things up" said Miss
Barton to NE, ''and was told their uses at
the places where found them. | brought
out some from the deep burrows our men
had made-those caves dug out by their
weak hands to shelter them from burning
heats and chilling dews, and into which
many crept, never to emerge again, til
their fellows bore them to their last rest
ing place"
Was wrong in saying her cabinet con-
tained the most unique and priceless treas
ures in the world? Many mother, wife,
or sister would gladly exchange her gold
and jewels for those records of the last
days of some loving heart, SO frightfully
stilled. One lady. looking at them with
tears coursing down her cheeks, exclaimed,
Il would exchange my diamonds for
"these"
Your diamonds could not buy them,"
was the answer of :he heroic woman who
has done SO much to ease the sorrow of
nation.
AS said, these tables bear the burdens
OF aching hearts. Six thousand letters
from bereayed friends, who have asked
her to hel p them find their missing dead
And still they come Still the mother
cries out in anguish and suspense, "What
has become Of my boy p Still the wife
pleads to know of him who was her all,
whom she gave tc her country to die for
Il, if need be; but net to be lost uncared
for, and uuscught. One tundred letters
day often lay upon Miss Bagton's table,
every one freighted with sorrow.
Do you wonder l sit in awe in this al
most sublime room? Do you wonder that
ask, "Is the theory true that spirits can
llnger near mortals upon earth 2" If SO,
will they not be near breathing over this
Kind, gentle woman, to help her in her
benevolent work Do they not long to
have those they loved, and who still wan
der IN life asking them, lei into the Sc
crets Of their fate ?