The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-04-29

ticians at the North and a half dOz
en- at the South would only die, We
should have no more sectional acrimO
nv. 1t is a case for the undsrtakers
If they will bury these few dema
gugues out of sight we will pay the
entire expenses of catafalque and cpl
taph, and furnish enough brass banc
to play the rogue's march. But time
under God, will settle it. The gener
ations that follow US will not share ir
the antipathies and bellicOse spirit Of
their ancestors, and will sit in amaze
ment at a state of things which made
the national graveyards of Murfrees
boro, Gettysburg and Richmond an
awful possibility.
On a clear morning of week before
last we took carriage and wound up
to the top of Lookout Mountain.
Up, up, up! We went out OH the
rocks and saw into FIVE states of the
Union-scenes so stupendous and
overwhelming that you involuntarily
take off your hat, in the presence OF
the gran lest prospect on the conti-
nent. Yonder is Missionary Ridge,
the beach against which the red bill
lows of Federal and Confederate cour-
age surged and broke-40,00 on
cne side, 65, 900 on the other. Yon-
der are the blue mouptains of North
and South Carolinas. With utmost
stretch of the eye, yonder see Ken
lucky and Virginia. Here at the
foot are Chattanooga and Chicka
mauga, the pronunciation of
which proper names will thrill
the ages with the thoughts of
valor, desperation and agony Turn
round on the tip top rock of Lookout
Mountain and see the earthwOrks to
the north and south, east and west.
There is the beautiful Tennessee river
curving and coiling all through the
plain in letter S after letter S, as if
that letter written on all the scene
might stand for shame that brothers
should go into such massacre Of each
other, while God and the nations look
on. l have stood on Mount Washing
ton, and on the Sierra Nevadas, and
on the Alps, but never saw so far
as that morning from the top of Look
cut Mountain. Why, sirs! l saw
seventeen years into the past and up
the sides OF the mountain on which |
stood rolled the smoke of Hooker's
storming party, while the foundations
of eternal rock shook with the cannon
ade. Yea, the four years of interne>
cine strife came back, the events with
out chronological order, ,and l looked in
one direction ana saw the navy yard
at Norfolk Oh fire, and Sumter on fire.
and Chambersburg on fire, and
Richmond on fire, and saw Ellsworth
fall, and Baker fall. and Lyon fal
and Bishop Polk fall, and Stonewal
Jackson fall, and | saw hundreds of
grave trenches finally cut into two
great gashes across the land, the one
for the dead men of the North, the
other for the dead men of the South,
and my ear as well as my eye quick
ened standing on Lookout Mountain.
And [ heard the tramp, tramp of en-
listed armies, and the explosion of
mines and powderbOlts and the crash
of fortiication walls and the mortar
batteries, and the swamp angel"
and the grsan of dying hosts fallen
across the pulseless heart of other dy-
ing hosts; and | looked still further
till | saw on the banks of the PenOn-
scot, and Hudson, and Ohio, and Ore
gon, and Roanoake, and the Yazoo,
and the Alabama, widowhood and or
phanage and childlessness, some in ex-
haustion of grief and others stark mad,
and said, Enough of the past have
l seen from Lookout Mountain. Oh,
God give me glimpse of the future"
And that morning it was revealed to
me, and saw another prospect from
Lookout Mountain-great populations
moving south an 1 moving north, and
| noticed that their footsteps oblitera>
ted the hoof-marks of the war-charger,
and saw the angel of the Lord of
hosts stand in their national cemeter,
les trumpet in hand, as much as to
say, 81 will wake these soldiers from
their long encampment at the right
time." and l looked ard l saw such
snowy harvests of cotton and such
golden harvests of corn covering all
the land as We have not dreamed of;
and / saw that all the earthworks
were down, and all the war barracks
down, and all the gun carriages down,
an1 the rivers wound through the
valleys, their letter S seeming no
more for shame, but S for salvation;
and when | found that all our weap-
ons of war had been turned into agri>
cultural implements, ! was alarmed
and cried: "Is this safe?" Then, stand
ing on the tip>top rock OF Lookout
Mountion, l heard two voices which
somehow slipped rhe gate, and they
sang, "Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation; neither shall they learn
war any more" And recognized the
two voices. They were the voices of
two Christian soldiers who fell at Shi-'
lch; the one a Federal, the other a
Confederate.