Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1873-07-08
@-TRANsIENT BILLs-cAs
battle, without fear.

r. er =,
While he stood arraying himself in that
werm-eaten coat of blue and silver, the good
preacher spok to him of faith in jesus
Yes of that great faith which pierces the
clouds of human guilt, and rolls them back
from the face of God.
ssFaith " echoed the strange man. who
stood there erect. with the death light in his
eye. "Falths Lean it give me back my hons
er2 Look, ye priest, there, over the waves.
sits George Washington, telling to his CONS
rades the pleasant story of the eight years
war-there, in his royal hall, sits George of
England, bewailing, in his idiotic voice, the
loss of his colonies. And here I--I-who
was the first to raise the flag of freedom, tho
first to strike the blow against the king
here am /, dying like dog % g
The awe>stricken preacher started back
from the dying man ile-throb-throb-
throb-beat the death>waich in the shattered
wall.
Hush / silence along the lines there =,
he muttered, in that wild, absent tone, as
though speaking to the dead; s'silence alopr
the lines! aark you. Montgomery, we viii
meet there in victory or in death Hist, SIS
lence, my men, not whisper, rs you movc
up those steep rocks Now on, my BOYS.
now on Men of the Wilderness, we will
gain the town. Now up with the banner of
the stars !; up with the flag of freedom. tho
the night is dark, and the snow fallsl Now,
now." shrieked the death stricken man, cow
eting there in his blue uniform, with his
clenched hands moving in the air-s.now.
now! One blow. and Quebec is ours ~ :,
And look. His eyes grow CLASSY. With
that word on his lips. he stands therc-ah.
what a hideous picture Of despair, erect, lvid,
ghastly! There for moment. aud then he
falls. He is dead! All look at that proud
form, thrown cold and stiff upon the damp
floor In the CLASSY eye there lingers evon
yet horrible energy. sublimity of despair.
Who is the strange man. dying here alonc
in this garret, this man who, in all his crime,
still treasured up his blue uniform and faded
flag Who is this thing of terrible rcmorse
this man, whose memories link somethingof
heaven and more of holl? Let us look at
that parchment and that flag
The old minister unrolled that faded flag
it was blue banner, cleaning with thir-
teen stars. He unrolls that parchment. 1t
is Colonel's commission in the Continental
Army. addressed to Benedict Arnold Z
And there, in that rude hut, while tho
dea,h>watch throbbed like heart, in the
shattered wa!l-uukuown, unwept, in all the
bitterness of desolation, lay tho corpse of that
patriot and traitor.
", that our own true Washington had been
there, to sever that good right arm from tho
corpse, and while the dishonored body rotted
into dust, to bring home that good right arm,
and embalm it among the holiest memories OF
the past For that right arm had struck ma.
ny gallant blow for freedom yonder at Tie
conderoga, Quebec, Chamnlain, and Saratoga
tina. arm yondcr. beneath the snow white
mountain, on the deep silence of the dead
first raised into sight the Banner of the Stars
1t was during the renowned expedition
through the wilderness to Quebec, that Ar>
mold encsmped for two or three days beside
the River of the Dead, near snow white
mountain. which rose in lovely grandeur over
all the other mountains into the autumnal
sky. A single soldier assembled the mouns
tain with the hope of beholding from its sum-
init the rocks and spires of Qnebee When
he came down. Arnold took from his breast
where, four days in privation and danger, he
had carried it, blue banner cleaning with
thirteen stars. He raised it into the light,
and for the first time the Continental Banner
foated over the solitudes of the Dead River.
This is fact attested by history aud corrobl
grated by tradition. f