North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1870-03-23
MRS. NORTON,

Asoldier of the Legion lay dying in Algiers,
There was lack OF womans nursing, there was de.rtl
Of woman's tears;
But comrade stood beside him, while his lfe-bo I'd
ebbed away,
And bent with pitying glances, to hear what hs
might say.
Tie dying soldier fatered, he took that comrades
hand,
And he said : IT never sha II gee my own, nv
native land;
Take message, and token, to some distant friends
of mine,
For was born at Bingen-at Bngen on the Rhine.
''Tel my brothers and companions when they meet
and crowd around,
To hear my mournf,l story in the pleasant yiseya.d
ground,
That W, fought the'b.ttls brAvcly--and when the
day done,
Full many corpse lay CHASTITY pale. beneath the
And mid the dead and dying, were some grown old
The death wound on their gallant breasts. the last
OF many scars /;
But some we've young,-and suddenly beheId Iife's
decline,-
And one had come from Bingen-far Bingen on the
Rhinel
''Tell my mother that her other sons shall comfort
her old age,
Aud I was aye a truant bird that thouI Iht his home
cage;
For my father a SC dier. and even as a child,
Ny heart leap-d forth to hear him tell Of struggles
fierce and wild;
And when he died, and left us to divide his scanty
hoard,
let them take whate'-r they would-bnt kept my
fathers sword
And with boyish love I hung it where the bright
light usrd to shine.
On the cottage wall at Bingen--caln Bingen on the
Rhine!
"Tell my sister not to weep for me, and sob with
dropping head,
When the troops marching home again, with
glad and gallant tread;
Bat to look upon then, proudly, with calm and
steadfast eye,
For her brother soldier, too and not afraid to
die.
And, il a comrade seek her love, ask her in my
name
To listen to him kindly, without regret or shame
Aud to hang the old sword in its place. my faith e,
swsrd and mne,)
For the honor of old Bingen-dear Bingen on tn.
Rhine
There's another-not sister-in the happy days
gone by.
You'd have known her by the merriment that
sparkled in her eye;
Too innocent fol- coquetry.too fond for idle scorn.
ing;-
friend. fear the lightest heart makes sometimes
heaviest mourning!
Tell her the last night Of my fe-(for ere this moon
Ny body will be out OF pan,-my soul be out of
dreamed stood with her, and saw the yellow sun.
light shine.
Or the vine clad hills OF Bipgen,-fair Binyen on
the Rhine!
~ saw the blue Rhine sweep along,-I heard or |
or seemed to hear,
The German songs we used to siag, in chorus sweet
and clears
hill,
calm and still;
And her glad blue eyes wcr ON me, as We passed |
with friendly talk,
Down many path beloved of yore, and well rem. l
embered walk
And her little hand lay lightly confdinsly in mine
But we'll meet at Bingen-l loved Bingen on |
the Rhine.'' |
VII.
His voice grew faint and hoarser-h grasp was
childish weak,
His eyes put dying look,-he sighed and ceased
to speak;
His comrade bent to lift him, but the spark of life
had fled -
The soldier of the Legion. in a foreign Iand-was
And the soft moon up slowly, and calmly she
looked down,
On the red sand of the battlefield, with bloody
corpses strown;
Yes, calmly on that DR. .ldsu her pale light
seemed to sh inc,
As 1t shone distant Bingen,--fair Bingen the
Rhine