Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-08-14
Selected Miscellany.
HER STORY.
BY WARRINGTON GLADDEN.

81 WARRINGTON GLADDEN..
HERE at the gate let us stand and wait
Till the grand procession pass;
The marshal first in marvellous state,
With the drums and the sounding brass;
Then the veterans brave, in blue, draw near,
With sober, sOldierly air;
And the halt and the MANNED are riding here,
And the priest and poet there.
And now the troop of children comes,
In wavy, hesitant files,
Ali bright with the blush of the early blooms,
All wreathed in roses and smiles.
They are haltlng now at the graves of the bows,
And dirge will be softly sung;
And the parson will give to faith voice.
And the poet TO love a tongue.
But you and |, my Harry and Bess,
VIII turn from these well meant words,
Apart through the woodland silences-
Alone with the brcezes and birds
Here, at this grave, where the pine bOughs grieve
Where the solemn south winds roam,
Our rosemary and our rue Wen leave,
And carry our hearts home.
Did promise? Well there's nothing new,
But the joy and the pain one,
Sit down on the bank here, Bessie, and you
Lie on the grass, my son.
Fourteen next month"; You were only four
When your father went away:
And you, little queen, were scarcely more
Than babe that desolate day.
A sudden and terrible call had come
For an army Of volunteers:
And the tidings brought to our happy home
Hard struggles and boding fears.
That night he sat i'll solemn mood,
And held you both to his breast;
saw his brow the shadow brood
And darkun-I knew the restl
He carried you M to your crib that night,
And watched with you till you slept;
Then praying that God would guide him aiIght,
The strong man wrestled and Wept.
found him praying, and left him there
Al one with his father and yOu
The He'll er lifted his load Of care,
And lightened his sorrow too
And then he came forth and told me all;
l could neither strive nor cry;
He would follow his suffering country's call,
Who would dare to forbid? Not
You know the sory-the parting word,
The year hat drearily passed,
The drowning pain of a hope deferred,
The binding blow at the last.
But here is a picture you never saw
On this side mother and Bcss,
Hal on the other; the little flaw
Is the dint of 4 ball guess
He carried it always here, by his heart;
And when they led him away
Faint from the field where he bore his part
So CALAMITY on that day
When they laid him down in a sheltered nook
(The chaplain told me this),
He drew il forth, and with many look
And many passionate kiss,
He gazed till he heard the order Rest"
And then when his spirit passed.
II dropped from his hands upon his breast,
And they found il there at the last
That Is all my darrgs, have to tell,
Like another dyiner friend,
Having loved his own in the world so well,
He loved them unto the end.
The love thai he left TO you and me
Is our fortune and our pride;
The truest manifest man was he
And he loved us all till he died.
Come hither Harryl I'll lean on you
His brow and his mouth there
And yours. little Bcss, his eyes of blue
And his wealth OF golden hair
So here at his grave, where the pine boughs griev'
Where the solemn south winds roam,
Our rosemary and our we'll leave,
And carry our heart's-ease home
-CongregGti0nGliSt.