The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-12-25
a MERRY, MERRY CHRIsTMAs!
Then nnd Now.


sabres keen, whatever might betide. The
mighty love of the South still fired their
souls. And when drum beat, or bugle blew,
when the scrried ranks were formed and the
blood-red cross with flaming stars was way
ing over head, sorrow and forcboding were
all forgotten, and the Confederate lcgions,
each man IL Palatlin, surgcd madly onward
to grapple with the foe. Thcn-
Grew the smile TO laugh,
Rose the laugh 10 yell,
As the iron-clal hoOfS
Cla;tcrcd back into hell
rom oul b .rcfooted boys.
Or else, crushed and shattered by heavier
guns and stronger batsalions, the Southern
line fell sullcnly back to renew the fight OH
the morrow.
The glories of Manassas and Richmond,
of Gettysburg and Wilderness of Chanccl-
lorsvillc and Chickamauga, were not forgot
ten; nor had time healed the scars of Nor
folk and New Orleans, Shiloh and Donclson,
Roanoke and Vicksburg. They who barred
their breast to the iron hail in earlier days
woald do their dcvoir now: But they saw
with their own sad eyes that the thin gray
line grew thinner every hour. The bravcs,
of the brave, the men who look not back
while there's duty before, were claspcd for
aye to the loving bosom Of the States they
had died TO defend. In the long summer
days the wood birds sang their dirgc; in the
winter nights the pallid stars smiled swcctly
OH their grave. And their comrades lived
TO mourn thcm-livcd to peer into tie
gloomy future, and wonder when they in
turn should bite the dust of death.
God knows! this was sad outlook for
the soldiers Of the South Gil that dark Christ
mas day. Well might they
- need assurance In their Doubt
If God yet have Il servant. man Il friend,
The weak Il saviour and the vile foe
The tolls were drawing closely around them.
They looked toward the South and wcll-nigh
lost heart. There IN the orange groves,
under the magnolias or meath the symbolic
palmetto rested some fair Southern woman
creature not too bright. or good,
For human natures daily food. :
VINO euyr,,, .."uited tidlnSs ol nm more
dear than life. and who, on Christmas morn,
poured out fearful supplication that he If
only he, might pitcously lie spared till peril
and carnage were over. Before the sad
dened soldier rise the shadows OF tender
maiden, OF faithful wife, Of modest home
stead where little footsteps lightly print the
ground, while the chimes fall duly on his
ear, and the straining eyehails mark not the
eaguered city around whose gildcd spires
is drawn belt OF steel Falling numbers,
q falling cause, traitors III council, mourn
ing and dcsolation at home What wonder
that the Southern soldier yearncd for peace,
though it came as "long disquiet merged in
''rest."
Hand in hand with the blooming spring
tide of Nature came the black winter OF
despair. The men who had borne the Con-
fcderate hammer across the mountains OF
Maryland, over the broad plains of the Key
stone State, and amid the marshes OF the
Chickahominy, ut the bidding Of the great
captain, yielded ur their spotlcss swords.
From the capes of Virginia 10 the mouth Of
the Father of Waters stretched the strag-
Cling line Of wounded and wayworn soldiers,
carrying to every district and every State
the tidinys OF mortal disaster. They in
dulgcd no vain regrets. The hand which
and hoe; the SCARED war-horse dragged the
peaceful plough. Desperately these gallant
soldiers fought with want and famine, and
they have won harder fight than their
four years struggle against the hordes of the
boastful Union. What is callcd-Peacc,
ho =, to, No ,,;,tor,oa THO Co,tl, orrou,o orou
porous and rich, and it is time to remember
that there is more to live for, and more to
die for than fertile acres and stately homes.
Absorbed in the struggle for existence,
the Confederate soldiers, too many of them,
have forgotten that they ever wore tho gray.
The talking and tho mouthing has been done
by the laggards who never set squadron
in the field, whatever their iervid oratory
before the dread game Of war began. Too
many of our braves, careless and reckless
of life, have pressed to their lips the chalicc
of dissipation. In every district there i; n
weakening OF the moral fibre, disposition
to finch and quail. All this Is the fruit Of
the incessant labor OF four years OF varying
fortune; but now the rotten limbs should be
cast into tho fire, tho knife should DO used
without stint Without this South Carolina
cannot become rs hale and hearty as of yorc.
Let by-goncs be by-gones. Let the dead
past bury its dead. Forgetting these last
four winters, let US return to the days when
the Confederate soldier proudly said
I had not loved thee dear, 30 well,
Loved not honor more
For II the men who wore tho gray and bore
the flag, who have made historic the rivers
and hills OF tho South, who were led by
Johnston and trusted by Lee, iftlicy will sell
their souls for place or power, II they will