Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-04-04
ROBERT EDWARD LEE


On steamships that leave earth behind,
Away over mainland and ocean,
To the farthermost civilized shore,
The news has filed earth with emotion
The news that Lee is no more.
And now, Southern youth and sweet maiden,
Go Irvine me a wreath for the brave;
Bring roses bring hyacinths laden
With perfume to garland his grave.
And while your grief swells like billow,
o come and tread softly with me.
And let US hang wreaths on the willow
That droops DER the dust of our Lee.
Ye States that so long have been voiceless
And crownless in national woe,
While the tear-drops are gushing as nolseless,
Adown Southern cheeks they now flow.
Come out from defeat and disaster,
Each wreck meath the liberty tree,
Come mourn for the loss of the master,
And hallow the grave-stone OF Lee.
"Soft is thy name, Alabama,
And sweet is thy fower-laden gale"
But bark! from each winding savannah,
Come forth the low tones of wall
The wall that no respite can borrow,
The dirge of all joy and glee,
While wrapt in the mantle of sorrow
Thou mournest our brave Chieftain Lee.
Arkansas throned on thy mountains
Afar mid the wilds of the West,
Thy glades and thy silvery fountains
Still shadow the isles of the blest.
Though oppressors would fain mar thy beauty
And tramp on the hearts of the free,
Thy sons are still true to their duty,
And hallow the name of our Lee
Florida, true was thy host and
Their deeds are the theme of the brave;
But shadows now rest on thy coast-land,
And gloom settles down on the wave.
Beautiful bride of the ocean,
Sweet queen of the far-moaning sea,
We know that thy patriot devotion
Is true to the memory OF Lee.
The mothers of Georgia are weeping
Their wall may be heard on the air,
For many loved one lies sleeping
Where Sherman brought death and despair
But deeper than all is the sadness
That broods from her hills to the sea,
And hushed is the last tone of gladness
Since death waved his sceptre DER Lee.
Kentucky, perplexed on the border,
How stands thy account with the brave?
Thy sons-will they spurn the new ORDER"
And gather with us at the grave?
Let the shade of ''Old Hickory" number
Thy rifles that flashed for the free;
Let partisan faction now slumber,
And mourn for the great chieftain, Lee.
Beautiful Louisiana,
Realm Of the cotton and cane,
Now soft on each verdant savannah,
Steals mournfully onward the strain.
Each field and the dew spangled meadow,
Each fountain that rolls to the sea,
That looms. in the death of our Lee.
And Maryland, mother of Howard,
Of Carroll, of May, and of Key,
Sweet land that ne er nurtured a coward,
Now what need we say unto thee?
While Potomac rolls on to the ocean,
And Chesapeake kisses the sea,
Oh come with heartfelt emotion,
And mourn at the grave of our Lee.
Missouri, redeem thy ideal,
Come back TO thy faith and thy love;
And let the dark cloud Of the real
Thy soul from its lethargy move.
Remember the days of thy glory,
Remember the brave and the free;
Let Shelby and Price tell the story
And honor the great name of Lee
From the realm of the rich Mississippi,
Where the cotton was picked by the slave,
a requiem ascendeth to Heaven
WPung out from the hearts of the brave.
In the wall of her sad desolation
Now hushed is her JOY and glee;
While hers swells the grief of nation
That mourns for the loss of our Lee.
On the plains of old North Carolina
The home of full many brave,
While tyranny's letters confne her
To a doom worse than that of slave
While her sons and her daughters are weeping
That oppression should laugh Ger the free,
The fuil tide OF woe is now sweeping
All thoughts to the memory of Lee.
On the rice fields of South Carolina,
Where Africas flag is unfurled
Where the jet of Phillis and Dinah
Now vie with the queens of the world,
A still deeper gloom is now stealing
From Pickens clear down to the sea,
And depth in the deeps of her feeling
Is stirred by the death of our Lee.
Come, Tennessee, join in our numbers,
And help in our requiem strain;
The shade Of the hero that slumbers
Deserves now thy deepest refrain.
While greatness is honored forever,
And virtue immortal must be,
Come stand by the beautiful river
And hang up trophy to Lee.
The daughters of Texas are saddened
While her sons feel the terrible blow;
Each hall that with JOY was once gladdened,
Is draped in the cerements of woe.
We come with our offering of sorrow,
And humbly we now bend the knee;
We feel that our night hath no morrow
The grave will not give up our Lee
Virginia, proud "Old Dominion"
''Queen of the cliff and the wave"
No slime from the kiss of a minion
Has sullied the hue of thy brave.
But still in the high court of glory
Thy records the kind angels keep;
And the sod is still downright in story
Where the ashes of Washington Sleep"
Blest mother of heroes and sages,
Whose fame shall but brighten with years.
Whose names through a long line of ages,
A nation shall hallow with tears
Thy Lee is now laid on thy bosom,
Where Washington slumbered before,
Their dust shall but mingle to blossom e-
Till time and its sorrows are O. er.
But the portals of heaven are swinging!
A spirit from Earth's at the doorl
And choirs OF angels are singing
'Come rest now in bliss evermoren
And far on those upper heights laden
With flowers immortal and free,
N eath the sweet-gleaming splendors of Alden
Now WASHINGTON MANDERS WITH IErI