Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-05-30


fields, and which to-day waves triumphantly
over thirty eight United States, admonishes
us to remember how great were the sacrifices
Ofered upon our cOuntry'S altar to preserve
our glorious Union and protect that emblem
OF free and now (thanks to the God of bat
Ties, that gave US the victory,) aunited people.
here to add their tributes to the memory of
our departed comrades by music and song by
heroic poetry inspired by love of country, and
words of eloquence which will find response in
the heart of eve " patriot.
Rev. Or. j. w. Parker followed with an
inToeaatl9n n at on NE next an appropriate chorus was
Rev. Dr.. j. E. Rankin was introduced and
read the following poem.
THE DEAD AT ARL1NGTON-ls7S.
Year, again thou bringest round the day,
On which the widowed Nat .on weeps her dead:
Paus!ng, with bloom to grace each soldier bed,
And Loves sad ritual DER their dust to say.
Again we tread thine aisles, fair Arlington.
Wrested by war, from late unfial hands:
Eastward, spread out the old ancestral lands:
Beyond, Potomac waters wild ming run.
Beyond, Potomacs yellow waters flow.
Ress;I RReeseSndiEg Ing grandly to the grander bay;
Kissing Mount NeTnon'S nlarge upon their way
linking these patriots with the One below.
And they are worthy of this rest they have.
Great Hero, sleeping meath Mount Vernon'S
This nation, which the patriot fathers made.
This nation one, these patriots died TO save.
Virginia. Yes, thy soil is sacred now!
Mount Vernon, treasure is thy birthright trust;
The nation makes thee guardian of this dust;
This tWo-fold wreath thou wearest on thy brow.
Sweet Spring returns! and brings to us again,
The libei ated ri, the leafy tiee;
The seasons perfect, each in its degree:
The promise OF the golden harvest plain.
But, ah the dead, the dead for native land.
Io gladden. burdened hearts. they come no more:
NO more to greet tnem at the welcome door,
Do sire and dame, do wife and children stand.
How calm their Slumher, meath this clover sod.
NO more infested by these mortal years,
Above, the worlds fulfill their silent spheres,
ODedlent to their Maker, and their GOd
And these, their sphere filled out. their duty done,
Serenely sleep Oh Mother Nature heart,
~ Ihese iettered slabs portray the noble part
They played in FreedOm's battle lately won.
Each morning sun steals through the oaken shade
An KHhlndiing with light, the letters of each naue;
I'LL ca! lsht into stariit darkness fade.
These flow rs will wilt to- night bH not their fame.
me me deeds, they wrought for m an can neverdie.
Inc stars which set, but seek another sky:
On other ey es, they kindle still their flame.
Better, thousand fold, one hero dead,
Than myriad towards clothed i'm flesh and blood:
Inelr very mem ry does the living good;
And voices come from every hero's bed.
This soil; God ,simage, bought and sold, once trod:
here played the children. that he called his own
1t took the blood of frcemen TO atone
ana make II mt for freedom and for Ged
1t took the blood of men. for man who died,
I To litt the curse of bondage from the land
10 stay the judgments OF jehovah 3 hand
From man who In His image, Him denied
God II ade man free, and we had made him slave:
That sacrileSe was written in our laws;
twas blood, that made the startled nation pausa
Fetters and treason burying in wars grave.
So these men died. that we might live for ave:
And this why we call this haowed ground:
And this Is why these annual rites We pay.
Removed. indeed, the dark and bloody days,
The cloud of fire. in which God went before:
Inc S sra OF Dlood, through which We sought the
What are we now, that we deserve self-praiss.
Our days of triumph, were they voiced in vain?
In vain, this martyr seed, God spread broadcast;
And We, Temolten in wars furnace blast,
Recast, in wars dread anguish, and its pain?
What were the rights, we to the Bondman gave.
When God, the shackles from his limbs had
To call the country his, where he was born,
We made him citizen, who'd been a slave.
To call the country his, for which he d fought:
To give his children, heritage with our S:
To clothe htm with a freeman's riphtful powers,
THESE were the fruits that late conflict WrOught
And have we kept the GOV nant that we made,
Wnen 900 had brought the nation near DEATHS
A nations wards, we called His helpless poor;
TheSe wards to bloody hands have we betrayed.
Are we fit company for such as these?
Ihe1r graves yet fresh the fruit is set aside:
AND, we who live compacent take our ease.
Sumner and Wilson both are with the dead
&Teat Me Douglass silent 10 the Marshal chair;
VINO speaks OF late, the words they need have said
The man supremest of US all to-day.
The man elect by votes of martyred men,
Who Wields of war the sword. Of state the pen,
LOOKS On serene, without one word to say.
PLATE and Herod, then, are friends once more,
- A brothers. blood 10 G cd for vengeance calls:
Or ready Judas stands at AHnas' door.
We think, twas but the strife OF man with man.
This war. which rent apart che bondman's
In which, now one, and then the other gains:
In Freedom cause, the Lord has His great plan.
There was day when Lincoln bowed In pray,r,
And vowed vow unto our fathers God,
should have freeman ighss son ustions wdS care
We think that man can give the nation peace
The debt once paid, He'll give us full release. s
The debt once paid. He'll give US full receipt;
We need less peace with man, than peace with
with Him, the truth is truth, and fraud is fraud;
He is no partner to mans deceit.
As well to God, as man that solemn vow.
Inc ne natlon aatl DieeGang, then, at every pore;
The serVile badge was torn from Aries brow. oi'
We think that man new channels can create
In which, like living tides, our gold shall flow:
we thlnk the secret do our statesmen know:
That they can solve it, in their high debate.
Have nations stepping-s stones on which to rise
TO GODS first thought in giving them a place?
We should be nob,er, then. by His own grace, |
Ihan any other nation meath the skies.
This lard can have but one bright polar star: |
Free vantage here, for all the rights of man.
For God has put us into Freedom IS yan;-
Ii we recsde. the fathers work we mar.
Not peace for US, at first, but sword!
Not white-winged Commerce crowding ey,ry
mart:
Not IOrdIy luxury, and pride. and art;
But equal rights for all through Christ, the Lord.
For this, the little band of Pilgrims came,
Se-ex1led twice, before they sched this strand:
To this by pray'r. they set apart the land:
And this. for them, and for their God. we claim.
One blood we re made, and yet men idly prate,
As though the Saxon blood were made the best.
AS though the Saxon blood must rule the rest
Nor lift the humber to its high estate.
Ii Saxon blood be blood the best to.dav.
Then. by that sign, we owe the nobleSt deed.
We may not dare neglect the men we freed
And still to Christ OF Bethl em dare to pray,
Be not discouraged, men. whose comrades tbese,
w no saw these souls licked up by MARTYR tame.
The God, who led them, then. is still the same.
AHnougn his sun gees up by slow degrees