Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1870-06-21
sTAUNToN VA, TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 1870

fathers. Another closed his eyes in a drear
hospital, with but one to bear messages home
Another with blessings upon wife and children
consecrating them to has God, leaving sue
wealth OF faith and trust in the goodness Q
God that we knoto he was a man in Christ
Io another, another, another death came, oh
so suddenly, 1t was but stepping across mar
row deep abyss, bringing such stunning grie
the strength imbedded in our hearts to suffe
till death comes thus. Here is one whose sis
ters and brothers gathered in the far West t.
weep over him whose grave they will never see
Another, another lies here somebody's dar
ling At this grave with fir and myrtle lei
US pause. We see carried back, back, b,
memory's breeze to communion season, wher
Christ's children were gathered around Christ
table to receive comfort-O we needed it
the cannon's boom was heard above the voice
OF prayer, offered that we might have power
given US to bear any tidings from the battle :
the benediction pronounced amid sobs of min
lister and people, when above the cannon roar
the thunder's roll, the rains dash, there came
wall from a sisters aching heart-anothel
who had gone out from happy home, cheered
by woman's fearful smiles had been gathered
with deaths trophies
Here at this one we are taught the lesson oil
patience through suffering; long weary days
and nights, longing for day, when no shadow
OF SIN will darken our visions of full redemp-
ton. And what of this ones history? We
see handsome manly form borne from battle,
| wounded, to a hospital, cared for by one of
that mighty host of matrons, whom the living
| bless and whose names the dead have carried
with them to Heaven where they are recorded
''inasmuch as ye did it unto the least Of these
ye have done it unto me- We see through
a concourse Of mourners, pale mother borne
trembling to the grave of her boy. O.! we
felt" there is none in all this cold and hollow
world, no fount of deep, strong deathless love,
save that within a mothers heart''-but we
must bow the head in silence, hush the heart 8
murmurs, when God calls for what we love-
| And here is a group of graves. We feel we
could linger long over this sacred spot-three
of them '~
~ Grew in beauty side by side, ~ rf
| They filled one home with glee; 81 t.a.
| The same fond mother bent at night
O'er each fair sleeping brow;
They rest beneath the same green tree,
| 4 w hose Voices mingled as they prayed
Around one parent knee; r a alC9aa4
| They that with smiles lit up the hall,
And cheered with song the hearth z
| Must we tell of this other one in this group +?
| He followed Ashby through winter cold until
he longed to pass over the cold river and live
in the sunlight of the celestial city. He fol-
| lowed Ashby through summers heat until he
yearned for the land where cooling waters
would bathe bis aching .brow in the beautiful
shadow Of the throne of God When Ashby
fell he wept manly tears, for he loved him. -
''in the land where we were dreaming" it was
to be faithful even to death. Wounded r.
Oh it looms in all its bitter, bitter, black
ness-the midnight carriage ride-the railroad
journey, where steam even seemed laggard, ,and
for what? 'Ehere are sacred moments, which
like the wings of the butterfly, are injured by
the slightest touch of the human hand-words,
which no human ear ought to listen to-tears,
which God alone should count"
I'm his own cherished valley we've buried him
| there, aa1
Meath her skies so blue, mid her flowers so fair,
And her grand old mountains their vigils now
| keep .,.r
Ger the grave of the soldier, there, there, let
| him Sleep
These graves have their lessons of bright
ness and Of gloom. We know that some of
them live as they never lived before We know
they have homes and peace, and crowns and
love. We know that the life Of nature this
beautiful June morning, is but symbolical of
the verdure in the Life-land that will burst up
on US in the resurrection morn, when we will
see gathered from prison grounds-from name
less graves-from battle felds-from city and
rural burial grounds those who, living, gave joy,
who, dying, left sorrow, but who are enshrined
In every Southern heart Or Dead!
AN INDIAN PLEA.-Col. Downing, Chief Of
the Cherokee Indians and an attendant at the
session of the United States Indian Commission
in New York in an address on Wednesday week
thus eloquently defends the policy of the Govern
ment towards his people. - }.s,sas2 bf5
| Nations ought not to suffer for what few
people do. Suppose two or three men go from
New York, into Pennsylvania, and kill a few
men. Would it be right for Pennsylvania to rise
and with sword and cannon and destroy this
great city If a great power should come from
over the water and say. Leave your homes,
your gardens and your children graves how
sad it would be tor you to leave the place where k
tfal country in the South, full of bright streams
and beautiful valleys. The trees were filled with
the sweet singing birds which made our hearts
glad. In a day you came with bayonets and
| bade us 90. !"