Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-10-20

A gain we are IN the great struggle for
national life. We hear the sounds of
preparation-the music of the boisterous
drums-the silver voices of heroic bu-
giles. We see thousands of assemblages,
and hear the appeals of orators; we see
the pale cheeks of women, and the flush
ed faces of men and in those assem-
blages we see all the dead whose dust we
have covered with flowers. We lose
sight of them no more We are with
them when they enlst in the great army
Of freedom. We see them part from
those they love. Some are walking for
the last time in the quiet woody places
with the maidens they adore. We hear
the whisperings and the sweet vows OF
eternal love as they lingeringly part for
ever. Others are bending over cradles,
kissing babies that are asleep. Some are
receiving the blessings of old men. Some
are parting who hold them and press
them to their hearts again and again,
and say nothing; and some are talking
with wives, and endeavoring with brave
words spoken in the old tones to drive
from their hearts the awful fear. We
see them part. We see the wife stand
ing in the door, with the babe in her
arms, standing in the sunligh sobbing,
at the turn of the road hand waves,
she answers by holding high in her
loving hands the child. He is gone, and
forever.
We see them all, as they march proud
ly away, under the Haunting flags, keep
ing time to the wild, grand music of the
war,-marching down the streets of the
great cities, through the towns and
across the prairies,-down to the fields
of glory, to do and to die for the eternal
right. We go with them, one and all
We are by their side on all the CORY
fields,-in all the hospitals of pain, on
all the weary marches. We stood guard
with them in the wild storm and under
the quiet stars. We are with them il
ravines running with blood, in the fur
rows Of old fields. We are with then
between contending hosts, unable tc
move, wild with thirst, the life ebbing
slowly away among the withered leaves
We see them pierced by balls and tori
with shells in the trenches by the forts
and in the whirlwind of the charge
where men become iron with nerves o.
steel. We are with them in the prisons
of hatred and famine but human speecl
; can never tell what they endured. w,
are at home when the news comes tha
they are dead. We see the maiden il
the shadow of her first sorrow. We Sc,
the silvered head Of the old man boweC
with the last grief.
The past rises before US, and we Sc
four millions of human beings governed
by the lash we see them bound, hanC
and foot we hear the strokes of crue
whips; we see the hounds tracking wo
. men through tangled swamps. We Sc,
babes sold from the breasts of mothers
Cruelty unspeakable Outrage infinite
Four million bodies in chains, four mil
lion souls in fetters. All the sacred re
lations of wife, mother, father and chill,
trampled beneath the brutal feet o
might. And all this was done unde
our own beautiful banner of the free.
The past rises before us. We hear tn
roar and shrek of the bursting shell
The broken fetters fall. These heroe
died We look. Instead of slaves, W
see men and women, and children. Th
wand of progress touches the auction
block, the slave-pen, the whipping post
and we see homes and fresides, anC
! school l-houses, and books, and where al
was want, and crime, and cruelty, ant
tetters, we see the faces of the free.
These heroes are dead. They died 70
: liberty-they died for us. They are a
rest. They sleep in the land they mad
free, under the solemn pines, the sa,
> hemlocks, the fearful willows, and tn
embracing vines. They sleep beneatI
, the shadows of the clouds, careless alik
of the sunshine or of storm, each in tn
windowless palace of rest. Earth ma,
run red with other wars-they are a
peace. In the midst of battle, in th
roar of conflict, they found the serenit,
t of death. A voice" Glory.'] l hav
one sentiment for the soldiers living anC
dead-cheers for the living, tears for tn
dead.
He must have been a bold man VIII
' would jest with Tudor but John Hey
t wood even ventured to joke with Queer
5 Mary. 1t was very mild joke. Tn
{ Queen asked him what wind blew him t,
court. He answered: Il was blow
! here by two winds. One was to see you
Majesty" We thank you for that. Blu
/ pray tell me what was the other. Tn,
IL