The National tribune., 1881-09-24

spectators, resumes his head covering, and
presently disappears, followed by the bold horse
men he had so often led to the charge
WHEN DEATH BARRED THE WAY
to many steed and rider. In front of us, upon
the lowest seat, sit an elderly couple, who since
early morning have been watching for particu-
lar regiment. Their boy is in it, and they have
travelled from the far North to see the grand re-
view and him. Innocent souls, they little real
lied the changes wrought in the appearance OF
man by single campaign and they had not seen
their son since he volunteered in 1861. Over and
over again they described him to those of us who
sat near by-"a laughing, blue-eyed, fair-haired,
rosy-cheeked boy seventeen when he enlisted"
The regiment came. The aged people and many
anther one beside looked for the fair-haired boy,
but looked in vain. Tears came into the eyes of
more than one looker-on upon witnessing the
grievOus disappointment of the chief watchers.
Their boy was not there they said; and yet he
had passed
WITHIN THE LENGTH OF A MUSKET
of them and they saw him not. Next day it was
our great good fortune to meet the same old cOu-
pie again Their son was with them, but he was
no smooth faced, laughing boy as they had pic
tured him. He was man; in stature taller than
his father broad shouldered bronzed and bearded
like pard. The laughter had long since died out
from his blue eyes, and g given place to the stern,
determined look of one who had faced death often,
and was ready ifneed be- to do so again and again.
They were proud of that son-one could see it
from the almost reverential manner in which they
looked up to and addressed him. He was only a
bnt iu6O
ance he was well worthy of their love-a man of
whom even the Nation might well be proud
Meantime, while we have digressed to relate this
incident
THE COLUMN HAS MOVED ON,
and so it keeps moving on from morning until
night. And the next day it is the same, only that
the Western army of oad-shouldered, stalwart
men who fought under Sherman are substituted
in place of those who did so nobly under Grant.
They march over the same route, greeted by the
same enthusiastic demonstrations of JOY, and sa-
lutte their chiefs as did their brothers who pre-
ceded them; and then they, too melt away in the
distance, and soon the army of the Union is dis
banded The victors lay down the crown of might,
but retain the laurel wreath bearing it with them
to their quiet homes to wear forever more.
Glorious Army of the West. Tried soldiers and
brave men all! Men who in the East saw the
first as we'll as the last battle of the war: who
were christened at Manassas in 1861; lay in the
trenches under the dropping fire of the enemys
guns a Yorktown: passed through the fearful
ordeal of the Seven Days" who climbed the
deadly, fire-swept slope on that chill December
day at Fredericksburg; who stood at Gettysburg
and hurled Lees legions back broken and dis
heartened mass; who plOwed furrow through
the Wilderness from the Rappahannock to the
James with the bayonet: wbs dwelt under the
canopy of shot and shell at Petersburg and who
were at Five Forks and Appomattox. Men who
in the West stood at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Stone
River; who fought below the clouds, in the
Clouds and above the Clouds wherever the enemy
were to be found; who
CARVED A PATH TO GLORY
and the hearts of their countrymen when they
cut their way from Atlanta to the sea, stopping
only long enough on the route to win the glorious
victories of Lookout, Mission Ridge, Chattanooga,
and numerous other hOt-cOntested fields; and
men who, after the firing of the last hostile gun,
iourneyed over half continent to clasp hands
with their comrades of the Potomac Army and
assist in paying homage to the genius of American
liberty in the Nations Capital They were sep
arated once by the necessities OF war Now they
no longer belong to either the East or the West,
but to the whole country-tO the Union; and, as
soldiers of the Union, we would thus call the
memory of their deeds to life, so that a grateful
people may not cease to do them equal honor.
They are entitled to it, for they preserved the
unity of the States. Long live the grand old
Army of the Republic in the hearts of loyal men
everywhere!