The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-10-06
The soldiers lseunion
BY REV. o. Q. WHEELER.

struggling TO pay a loving tribute there,
Beheld the veterans In their grand review
Just sweet and cool enough to take tho burn
Out OF the sunbcams, famed their bearded
Beautiful was their camp-the snow-white
tents.
The smooth green field, with here and there
While meath them lay the broad bright lake.
Gilttering like moulten silver bed
Above, calm sweet tinted sky without
a cloud-between. the clear red, white and blue
The eve before, the tents with moonlight vie
In whiteness-never was q sweeter night,
Ana there the soldiers talked of aud lang syne,
Laughing or weeping as the story ran,
Along the mingled tides OF memory,
or o., Silent lay, and wondered II 'twas true
Tnat they were ever really engaged
In wars red struggles and ever laid,
Ana listened TO the foeman's stealthy step,
Ben nah tne canvas roof whence comrade rose
10 llgnu anu die Sweet. tranquil Silvery night,
camp!
How pleasant twas to see the brothers meet,
hIIer 50 many years, and parting last,
Upon the bloody field, or at the prl son gates,
u welcome mastering out. What tender glow
or loving eyes what warm and lingering grasp
vi hands! surprise at unexpected change,
In guise and manner, and the wear OF years,
That thinned and tinged with frost snce shin
And how their meeting seemed to gather dim
Shadows OF lost but not forgotten ones
Their Dyes spoke this without n word to tell
Their thoughts, that looks and pressure OF th
hands
Speak palmer than any words can speak
command was given, and those men came forth
AS II the voice they heard, was clothed with
power
They dared not dlsooey, as they were wont
10 do, when duty baoe them I'LL the ranks.
The one-armed soldier led them, and we smiled
TO see him try to see with his words
" stern authority, his fond commands
He ordered back the eager surging crowds
Impatiently, but when he spoke to those
He loved. rs only one can love who shared
The fearful perils of the battlefield,
W. In .iN y.a.fu
Half chidng and half pettlng was tho tone.
AS OF a doting father to his boys
They looked like men who had outworn all
thought
OF war, IN common toll, and yot methought
- ;, ,v In every soldiers eye, the memory sad
Where the dear blood was shed, of those they
loved,
With whom they left their sorrowlng yearning
with whom they marched and toled and stern
~ fought,
They were not gay. their step was firm, their
Heavy, as If their hearts were heavy too.
Some laughed, whene'er the sympathetic crowd
Were clarified by the lannon's laundering peal,
TO them pop-gun, heard amid the deep
Each regiment upheld the little flag,
That told US OF It's number, minding us
OF what what the living and the dead had done,
|
Omcers, men, were only brothers now.
| Peace had removed distinctive marks, and all,
| shoulder TO shoulder, heart to heart, marched
| on,
Before our grateful gaze. Rst whence those
| tears?
All, he, thy cherished Darling is not here
He went with these, but come not back again !
HIS precious grave. where Is 1T Where, O
| where
My friend, 1t may be that in this sweet air,
| The brave, whom men call dead, are lowering,
| Their pinionS tanning thine. and comrade
brOwS,
Though full of tears, thine eyes look tcndcrly
Upon these men, as If they too were thine.
A grey-hared man looked on without a smile
| HIS thoughts were all away with the dead boy
| Whose fall was the dread thunder-bolt that
| crushed
His Joy, and made the rest of life to him
| only waiting for a lOnged-for death.
| We all were thoughtful as II some old dream
| Were haunting us, and we tried to marshal
| scenes
| In set array, that once absorbed US so,
| And made us glad, or frenzied with despair,
| During these long old years OF tears and blood
Gould 1t be so? We're these men OF whom
| we thought and read-fOr whOnIRe sighed ant
Listening breathless to the deathly click,
| or fearful telegram, that whispered woo
To many trembling heart Are these Tho
men
on whom our hopes were lying, these the men
Who bore to burial, or to Victory
Our Flag, the worlds lone star OF Liberty?
Aye, these and such as these, though now they
seem
AS II they neer were trained but in the arts
or peace. God bless you, Braves, and music
oft
Till Heaven has gathered all the comrades in.