Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-07-11

1t is the brave that first forget,
And noble foes that first unite;
Not they who strife and passion whet,
Then Sink when comes the need to smite,
IT'S mutual courage that forgives,
And answering honor that outlives
The onsets hour, the battles day;
The hearts that dare are quick to feel;
The hands that wound are soft to heal;
The blood that dims a heros steel
His proud tears wash away!5
One holier sun avakes at last
For North and South the blithe, bright hou1
No more upon our dead are cast
The once divided gift of flowers;
But where the live oak hides in moss,
And where the plumy lareheS toss
Their arms above the mayfiowers bed,
And where wide waves OF prairie crawl,
To meet, far west, their mountain-wall,
The Peoples voice says " Peace to ALL
We honor equal dead
Oh, never from our eln-tree shades
So sweetly piped the thrush as now;
Nor mid the lonely Everglades,
The mocking-bird on cypress bough!
Nor wlld-graSS woye by meadow rllIs,
Nor clover on the happy hills,
So soft carpet for the Spring.
Bound is each hand that fain would spoil;
The Truce of God upon our soil
Descends, like sabbath after toll,
His pensions to bring!
IT'S time your bard restrung his harp,
That long has echoed in its note
The yOlley's rattle, fierce and sharp,
The thunder-bass of cannon-throat;
That sang Of fields where Glory swayed,
But wingless Victory paused, and stayed
To see her only flag unfurled;
That summoned, as bugle blown;
That challenged as a trumpet'S tone;
That quickened, as bolt is thrown
From heaven. to shake the world!
All must we then renounce the theme
That first can rouse and best inspire
The splendor Of the soldiers dream,
The ardor OF the patriots fire?
When each, TO sternest duty bowed,
Makes all, as common kindred. proud,
And blots the long reproach of Time
When Youth forgets what most is fair,
And Age assumes a nobler air.
And Manhood as q wave in air,
Heaves high, TO fall sublime.
The virtues, poured in lavish flood
To whelm our coarSer Self in shame;
Khe pure infection OF the blood
That burned for ioftier need than fame
Must these be lost or absent now
The song OF lip, the light of brow,
Remembering they were doubly ours?
And, though we honor both as one,
That strain of blood, in both begun,
Say, lies it buried from the sun,
Beneath memorial nowerS?
Not sol the summit OF his deed
Is the true measure OF the man,
Though once alone he caught the speed
That every baSer aim outran.
What once moment is, assures
The certainty OF what endures,
And thus its sacred law DEGREES;
So We, whom battle spared or SCARED,
Sale sheltered now from disregard,
Hearken to England's blind old bard:
Peace hath her victories!"
What once in fiery test OF war,
So proved itself, must ever stand,
To make the land worth living for,
Since Others died to save the land
Take from their lips the parted breath
Make Life as glorious as in Death
To them the triumph when they fail.
Still bid the phantom squadrons throngs;
Their purpose and their will prolong
To guard the Right, repel the Wrong,
And giving, gain their all
Are they but soldiers who enlist
When peril shocks the nations heart?
Who leave the maiden's lips unhiSSed,
Or kiss the wife and child and part?-
But soldiers then, when calls the drum
And calls the flashing bayonet; '.Come!'
And batteries challenge: g Ii you dare!n-
When all the standards wave unfurled,
And other clouds than Heavens are hurled
To dim the beauty of the world
And death floats free in air?
X.
They most are soldiers, who shall keep
That climax of their manhood yet;
Who stand on guard when others sleep,
md hear n mi, md -hat oil