Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-11-25
OUR ARMY OF THE DEAD.
BY WILL NJ. CARLETON.

BY the edge the Atlantic, where the waves of Free
dom roar,
And the breezes of the ocean chant requiem TO the
On the nations eastern hltops where its
was laid,
On the mountains of New England where our fathers
toiled and prayed
Mid old KeystOnes rugged riches, which the miners
hand await,
Mid the never ceasing commerce of the busy Empire
State
With the country's love and honor on each brave, de-
voted head
On the lakeencrcled homestead of the thriving VOL
VERNE,
On the beautious Western praes with their carpetng
of green
By the sweeping Mississippi long country's pride
and boast,
On the rugged Rocky Mountains and the wier Pacific
coast,
In the stless sunny Southland with its blossoms and
its vines,
On the bracing Northern hitops, and amid the mur-
Over all our happy country-over all our nation spread
Is a band of noble heroes-is Amy of the Dead.
Not with musket and with saber, and with glad heart
beating fast;
Not with cannon that had thundered till the bloody
past
Not with voices that shouting with the vim of vic
Not with gaily glistening and with flags that
proudly float;
Not with air of martial vgor not with steady soldier
Come they grandy marching to for the boys are all
in camp.
With fOrgetfuness uponit-each within his earthly bed
Waiting for the marching orders-is our Army of the
Dead
Fast asleep the boys lying, their low and narrow
tents
And no battle-cry can wake them, and orders call
them thence;
And the ycarning of the mother, and the anguish OF
the wife,
Cannot with their magic presence call the soldier back
to life;
And the brothers manly sorrow, and the fathers
mournful pride,
Cannot give back to his country him who for his coun
ny died;
They who for the treambng nation in its hour of lia
bled
Lie III the Sc its years of triumph with our Army CT the
Dead.
But npou the growing future and the strange eventfu
past
Our young martyrs i'll slumber have mighty in
fuence cast
But for them and for their couragebut for them anC
for their part
The great bands that hold Union would foreer bt
rent in twain,
And the tyrant mock the darkness of the patriots
hopeless night,
While the brightest star of Freedom sank forevermort
from sight
And the greatness of heroes shall future days b,
| read,
And historians tell the praises OF the Army of the Dead
Hstoys pen shall tell the story and its grandest word
employ,
To recount the Spartan courage of the dying sodie
boy;
| How mothers tears fell DER hiin-how father
step nigh,
When the darkness fell DER him. and he knew that 1t
must die,
How he sought t. meet it bravely; how he strove Il
! hush his mOan
When the King of Shadows called HIM, and he met hin
there alone,
How he eyed the Ghost of Darkness with boysh fea
and dread,
And then he went to sign the muster of our Army
the Dead
Historys pen shall tell the story; how the prisoner
unresigned,
In the helencOmpassed dungeon of the Southland la
and pined;
How he dreamed of bounteous tables spread by mothe
or by wife,
And then woke to face the hunger that gnawin
at his lfe
How the angels looked and ptied, and swung wide tn
prison door,
And the starving batte-convict left his cell forever
more;
By the hands of fallen comrades-by the smiles of
gels led
He went forth to join the legions of our Army of tn
Dead.
But if they who now silent in the sumber of tn
brave,
Could be made to stand before us in the garments {
the grave,
Aud if life promised to them-lf it only might b
so,
That the nation should but perish, they would proud
answer, "NO
Let US lie beneath the covering united land giy
And while shall lie in silence, let the grand old
tion live
Let Columbia live and conquer let US suffer death il
stead -
And It's such this that gather in our Army of tn
Dead.
When the years of Earth are over, and the cares
Earth are done,
When the reign Of Time is ended. and eternity begu
When the thunders Of Omnscieuce on our wakene
! senses roll,
And the sky above shall wither and he gathered like
scroll,
When, among the lofty mountains, aud across IL
mighty sea,
The celestial bugler Gabriel shall ring out the revelI
Then viii march, with brightest laurels, and wi
proud, victorious tread,
To their station up in heaven, grand Army of Il
Dead