The Placer herald., 1872-03-09
I fancy. when q chlld.

VI love, anu nope, anu Vrutn.
She being true to him
He thought the more Of her.
They grew SO fond it seemed sin
That any trouble should begin
Which would require the help Of him
That trouble to deter.
Alas! there was sound
A war-whoop from the west;
As through each vale and over mound
The pealing echo did resound,
1t was not lost upon the ground,
But smote our hero's breast.
"My darling, must go,
Ny country calls me, now;
But would have thee, dearest, know
That when we've beat the savage foe,
Twill return the way go
And execute my vow"
The maid In her reply.
Said, "Go, my own true love;
Although the tear may damp my eye
To part with thee my life, my Joy,
I'll pray that He who dwells on high
May guard thee from above"
Then to the West he fed,
Where war and bloodshed reign;
Where friend and foe in heaps lie dead;
Children lie murdered in their bed;
Women, with scalp torn from the head,
Are found among the slain.
When two years he had been
A soldier in the West,
A band of brave young hearts were seen,
AS on they marched through valleys green.
Bunker was there, and from his mein
You'd thought he led the rest.
The war was not yet DER.
Though little more to do;
Some forty-fve or fifty score,
(There might have been as many more)
Were told they were not needed more,
"But, Bunker, we need YOU"
Thus Bunker was detained
Until the very last
Twas known, tho that who now remained
Had for their brav'ry honor gained.
At last, with gladness unrestrained,
He comes-three years have passed.
Alas! with Bunker now,
His joy is turned to grief;
The cold sweat gathers on his brow
As his old mother tells him how
Jane was deceived. He made VOW
He'd never find relief.
This was the story told:
NV hen JOhn came Dack last year
He said that you had proven bold
In rushing on the chiefs stronghold;
And when surrounded, you had sold
Your life to them, quite dear.
"Our hearts were filed with pain
To think that you were dead,
And when the news was told to Jane
That You were numbered with the slain,
We feared she would become insane
At times her reason fed.
"JNln thus had set her wild
That he might work his aim,
With sympathy he on her smiled,
And said TO her. Pray be more mild
And think not of the savage wild.
He'll ser come back again.
Pray lean on me, my dear,
In me you'll find friend
Who will be ever by to cheer
Your heart from sorrow, pain or fear
And thus he had, in just one year
Accomplished his mean end.
She was but made Johns wife
The day but one before
You came back from the field Of strife.
But, son, don't let this mar your life;
OF others who would be your wife
! could now name score"
"Mother, that all may be,
But that don't give relief
To a stricken heart. Don't you see
The sorrows not alone with me?
could my part endure if she
Could live and know no grief.
No, to the South I'll go
And throw my life away,
I'll rush upon some deadly foe
Who'll put an end to all my woe.
But, mother, please don't let her know
That was home to-day"
Then to the South he fed,
Where jackson did commando;
At New Orleans he fought and bled
Mid swamps Of gore and heaps of dead,
In hopes that he might lose his head,
Or be swept from the land.
Though years now passed away
He still retained the hope
That soon, while in some bloody fray,
He'd meet foe that would him slay;
He thought not then he'd end his day
Out on this western slope.
On Texas plains he fought
As one not born to die;
Where balls few thickest, there he sought
To meet his death; but there was nought
Did do him harm; he often thought
He was watched from the sky.
When gold was here first found
In eighteen forty-eight,
The war then o 'er, he sought around
Where man or boy was to be found
Who was for California bound,
To try Dame Fortunes fate.
He came in forty-nine;
Not filled with dreams of gold,
But hoping that the change of Cline
The distance, and TIE lapse Of time
Might lull to rest his fevered mind
Now he was growing old.
But here he found no ease,
Gold to him had no charm,
In vain he tried mankind to please
In vain he hoped his mind would cease
To curse that wretch whom it did please
To do him so much harm.
Betrayed by other men,
He to himself did say:
"I'll 60 and build little den
In some pleasant place, and then
I'll leave the walks and ways Of men
Until I'm called away"
Thus was the fate of him
Who once was young and brave.
Oh, who can tell what tlitiing sin,
What disappointment may begin
Our downfall, and confne us in
Grief and sorrow? Though we have been
Young, true and brave, we may like him
Go despised to the grave.