The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1869-04-22
For the Home journal.
AP kIL 20.


as the day draws near Memory bids us
pausc--bids us to leave for one day the
the busy scenes Of life and contemplate
the past.
Obedient to her tender call, we turn
and gaze with mingled pride and sor-
row OH the years that are gone. AS
The Scottish Highlander, when he hears
the name Of Cullolen, where his ances-
tors bled and died for Charlie in un-
ayaiIing fight, feels the warm blood
course with unwoDled energy through
! his VEINS, as the Frenchman feels
! the lower deep of his heart stirred
when lie thinks Of Waterloo and st.
iiclcnn's dreary rock, so we, when
Memory points her wand to Apo
matlox and Greensboro, feel thrill Of
grief yet not unmiXcd with joy and
pride. We grieve that such heroic
souls as these bowed beneath Fortunes
| frowns should have met so sad Il fate
but We rejoice to know that such men
have lived and left their impress on
the world.
We see reproduced, as We look back,
The grand and bloody drama Of a four
years deso!ating war We remember
when we were nation, a people, a
country. We remember that once our
armies stood all paulopied for war-a
living wall around our homes. We
remember how u gigantic foe, unlimit-
ed in numbers, unbounlcd in resources,
bcleagucrcd us on every side; how
again and again that foe was beaten
back az be assailed our borders; how
prodigies OF yalor, Of daring, Of glory,
were performed by the heroic sons OF
the South; how our battle flag was
borne alolt through the smoke, and
flame, and blood, and dust of many a
crimson field how joyously it huttcred
in the aromatic breczcs OF our sunny
land, from the borders Of the Chesa-
pcake to where the Rio Grandc flows
onward TO the sea over the yellow
sand. All this and more 10 we recall
but then we also remember the days
when our hopes began to fade; when
our armies began to melt away; when
a gloom began to gather over our land,
as backward and backward our enemy
began o press US, and we were losing
the strength to repel him. Stronghold
after stronghold fell our lines were
stubbornly giving up the foot by foot
disputed ground, until at last, When
human nature could bear no more,
when valor could do no more, and
when honor asked no more, the immor-
tai band Of the faithful and true sol
diers Of the COnfederacy at last laid
down their arms. Our drums were
flushed, our cross Of blue was furled,
our last reycile was sounded, and our
war worn soldiers, on whose souls no
dishonor rested, and on whose record
caiumny itself cast no odium, turned
their faces from the last Of their fields,
and slowly sought their ruined homes.
We were a conquered people, and we
knew that we had lost all. But with
out a murmur we accepted the result,
md began as best we could to repair
our shattered fortunes.
But alas! IN the dreadful struggle
for independence, thousands of our
best and bravest, the flower of our
youth, the noblest Of our land, had
passed away. Some had gone down
beneath the iron slcct Of battle; some
had dc parted from the fevered couch
Of the hospital; some had fallen by the
waySide, These graves were scattered
far and wide, Some found their tombs
on the fields made immortal BY their
valor; some were buried where they
Tell Oh the picket line; some where they
'cll on the march, in camp or at the {
Jivouac. [
Thousands yet lie in unknown 5
graves where no friends will ever know ,
he places of their sepulturc. |
But the South could not forget her S
children. The warm south wind, laden :
With perfumes culled from her own /
wcet flowers, or gathered from the a
wright islands beyond the Gulf, sung b
laily requlems over their tombs, and t
he grass grew green, and fragrant v
blossoms bent from their tender stalks 5
boye their Wondering dust. And t
his was not yet all a year went by, u
nd Spring came round again, when an
liecting scene was witnessed, at which a
he world gazed with reverence and a
aspect.
Without prcconccrted action, with {;
ut little preparation, with no great 81
omp or ceremony, but with serene n
nd majestic dignity as belitted the oc- c.
lsion, and animated by some grand o.
impulse, the women of the W
Duth were seen moving in sad pro. as
.ssion to the spots where reposcd the oil
hes of their fallen kindred, and G.
rewing fresh flowers, gathered from til