The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-14
BY HORSLEY BROS. & FIGUERS
AT ARLINGTON,
BY JAMES r. RANDALL.

ms poem. which has few equals in beauty
and point in the whole wide field of Southern
song, song, was founded on the following extraor-
dinary incident: Immediately after Grants
Inauguration there was a grand decoration oi
tne Federal graves at Arlington, the old bome
OF GENERAL Lee, near Washington, now Feder.
some TsteIy sonfhcr trusting to Let us Have Peace.
capitol, ladies principally, thought there would
oe no o21ectlon to placing flowers upon the
sIan, sLases oi thirty nnkHown Confederates who
Slept amlo the FEEDER al host. In this they were
doomed to Gisappoir. .tment. A file of marines,
WIN Dxed oayonetss, repealed every effort of the
Tes. laules. ana tramPied upon their floral offerings
mat night hurricane or whirIwipd, swept
the Confeder ate graves were covered with the
a. ies nt;p pps iced by hands hostile to them upon
'ns resting places of their former foes.
up9n tnis touching incident Mr.. Randall
nn, rounue' his poem. which Whittier has pro-
m1unc,ed the finest lyric since the war;" and
M tMhnnsh Mrs. Margaret J. Preston-hersef one of
f.ousehold of Gen. Lee.
The broken column, reared in air
To him who made our country great,
Can almost cast it's shadow where
The victims of grand despair,
In long, long ranks of death await
The last loud trump, the Judgment-sun,
winch come for all, and soon or late,
VIII come for those at Arlington.
In that vast sepu.chre repose
,, Inc thousands reaped from every fray;
Inc Men IN Blue W1O once uprOse
In battle front to smite their foes
Ihe Spartan Band who wore the Gray.
Inc combat Ger, the death hug done,
In summer blaze or winter SHOWS
They keep the truce at Arlington.
And. almost lost in myriad graves
vi those who gained tn unequal fight.
Who reck not how the NOrth-wind raves,
In dazzling day or dimmest night.
yer those who lost and those who won
Death holds no parley which was right
JEHOVAH judges Arlington!
The dead had rest; the Dove of Peace
Brooded o'er both with equal wings:
10 both had come that great surcease
The last omnipotent release
From all the worlds delirious stipgs,
To bugle deaf and signal-.un,
They slept, like heroes of old Greece,
beneath the gieRs at Arlington.
A nd In the springs benignant reign,
1ne sweet May woke her harp of pines:
.Sacning her choir thrilling strain
VI jubilee to land and main,
She danced in emerald down the lines,
,Denylng largesse bright 10 none,
She saw no difference in the signs
mat told who slept at Arlington.
She gave her grasses and her showers
TT 10 ali alike who dreamed in dust;
Her song-birds wove their dainty bowers
mid the jasmine buds and flowers,
And plped with an impartial trust;
-, Walfs of the air and liberal sun,
SteeS were KIM ana lust
10 friend and foe at Arlington.
And mid the generous Spring there came
- Seine women of the land, who strove
10 make this funeral field of fame
Glad as the May god 8 alter flame,
With rosy wreaths of mutual love.
Unmindful who had lost or won,
they scorned the jargon of name
oNoRTH, no SOUTH, at Arlington.
Between their pious thought and God
stood files of men with brutal steel,
The garlands placed on "Rebel-sod"
Were trampleo in the common clod,
Io die beneath the hireling heel.
Facing this triumph of the Hun,
Our Smoky Caesar gave no nod
10 KEEP the peace, at A rlinstoh.
J ehoyah judged-abashing man.
+ or In the vigiis of the night,
His mighty storm avengers ran
Together in one choral clan,
Re5uklng wrong, rewarding right
Pluektng the wreaths from those who won
The tempest hcaped them dewy- bright
On REBEL graves at Arlington!
ana w6en the morn came, young and fair,
Brimful of bushes ripe md red,
knee-deep in sky sent roses there,
ature began her earliest prayer
Above triumphant southern dead.
80, In the dark and In the sun,
OuR CAUSE SURVIVES THE IYRANTS TREAD,
AND sLEEPs, TO WAKE AT ARLINGTON