Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1869-06-08
Our Brave.
Written for Decoration Day at Derby, by
Miss NJ. L. SMITH.

Written for Decoration Day at Derby, by
Miss NJ. L. SMITH.
With throbbing hearts and reverent tread,
We gather here to-day,
And to the brave immortal dead,
Now slumbering in grassy bed,
These grateful honors pay
And these are sacred hallowed names!
Their graves are doa6ly dear!
All weakness which our pity claims,
All errors which our honor blames,
Alike are buried here
o lonely hearthsdes, where the light
Went out in rayless gloom
When these rushed forth in manhood's might
To clash of arms and fiercest fight,
And cannon's laundering BOOM
o pallid lips, whose rising prayer
Was but whispered moan
When thro' the waiting hours of care
The dark winged messenger did bear
Naught save their dying groan
stricken soul, whose shrouded life
Breathes in the faded years
And views the fearful battle strife
Or scenes with prison horrors rife
Thro' binding scalding tears
Your hearts its treasured Oto,a will claim.
Its niche one hero fills!
Yet here would write each honored name,
In characters of living flame
Eternal as the halls!
Aye, long as yonder mountains stand
And guard this peaceful vale,
o sound throughout a rescued land
How brayely fell this martyred band,
Mid storm of leaden hail
Or how with eager longing sight
With haggered cheek and eye
To keep our country'S altar bright,
A sacrifice for God and Right,
They laid them down to die
The Nations heart shall be their shrine,
The Nations tears their fame!
And loving hands shall proudly twine
The laurel wreath and ivy vine
Around each soldiers name!
Our hearts in terror quail
Yet Faith which blossoms from the sod
Which thine avenging angel trod,
Shall never, never fail!
bright awakening of the gorgeous Spring
And voiceess murmurs of the summers day,
flowers that bloom upon each lowly grave,
Waving and dropping DER the paIlid brow,
o birds that wake morns' tuneful melodies,
And pearly teardrops of the mourning eve!
plying stars that bend SO lovingly,
Watch .ng their slumbers thrO' the tranquil night
Pointing to Life, immortal, fadelesS, pure
leaflets wlthered by the Autumn'S breath
Fading and falling by the sacred mound!
winds that murmur in the signing trees,
And sbrouding mantle of the faded flowers!
o sobbing tempests and deep moaning storms
Earth and Skies, with youl unnumbered ton
! CUES,
| Chant the wild requim for our fallen dead
! o rolling years that sweep resistless on.
Bearing us struggling down Lifes rushing streaI
Fraught with the changing seasons bloom an
death,
Wen pluck their brightest blossoms from you
arms,
And weeping, strew them on our heroes tomos
| Earth Earth thou foldest to thy bosom cold
/ The forms that wther from our longing eyes,
1 And to thy dull unheeding sense, unseen
Is unreality yet just beyond
The dim Immortal's to the mortal joined
And snowy piniOns sweep our garments oft
Fen tho we know it not! and oh mayhap
Swift speeding from the shadowy spirit land
The loved one comes with gentler ministries,
And tho we vainly grasp the ethereal form
1t surely hovers on the viewless air
Unfold ye FURNISHED portals of the sky
Dispel oh dark'ning mists that earthward lowe
And mid the bright unnumbered thrOng, ,disclo
The vanished treasures of each household banC
o shadowess break on the shadowless shore
These darksome waves we are journeying Ger
Surging earthward mid tempest and wind
And a light streams far DER the billowy tide
For the cleaning gateway is opening wide
And the shining forms on the farther side,
Wait and watch for the loved ones behind
Earth, Earth may not claim the spirit so brigh
And vainIy we'd trace the pathway of light
The snowy white pinion now sweeps!
Yet on thro' the gathering mists of Time,
Still glimmers the light of that beautiful CLINE
And catching the sound of its rapturous chime
We forget that mortality sleeps!
o the "Green Mountain Boys" SO loyal and tru
Who meier will dishonor the garments OF blue
4.
The braUeSt of heroes in blue!
o the heart will thrill, and the eye will fill,
Fer these noble brothers in blue
Undaunted and brave firmly stood side by sic
Or daringly strobe thro the dark CRIMSON tide
And manfully fought in their patriot pride
These mountain heroes in blue!
the heart will thrill, and the eye will fill,
For the noble heroes in blue!
o proudly we'll speak of the time honored bar
Whose staIwart right arm and streng sweepi
I hand
Gave back to our hearts all that's dear in Il
land,
g; And fought in the garments ofblU
: o the heart will thrill. and the eye will fill,
For the Sc noble brothers i'll blue !!
2 o Glorious Land Peace spreads her shini
E wing
!, Ger heart and hearthstone, where we sorrowi
stand
o Between the darkness past and risen day
n Thou hast outlived the fearful hour priceless
Assd terrible the Offering for thy sin
: o by the fearful pruning knife ofwar,
. !, Its written history of scar and wound
}, o by the wailings of each stricken soul,
And by the death groans ofth, slaughtered so
: Come forth, bright and untarnished from
fame,
e Henceforth "deal justly, humbly walk with Coz
II Last year a Polish gentleman hs
g ing caught a stork upon his esta
near Limburg, put round his neck
Q iron collar with this inscriptit