National Republican., 1883-09-21

The forest echoes to the crash;
The sahcrs CLEAN, the rifles fash,
While over all the war cloud rolls,
Electric with dead heroes souls.
Before that charge the brayc,t finch
And yield the ground, but inch by inch.
The opening work /, iairly done,
Now halt aud hold the vantage won.
Halt! with the foe in full rvtrent
Haiti with the blood at fever hCntl
Aud Growers ilnc right onward sweeps,
Leaving its dead behind in hGOIs.
Evans brigade is scattered wide
~ vain does Early Cursr nnd chiic;
Not stonewall's sell could stem tnat tide.
but war IS war aud when the foes
Are matched In yAlUr like to those
Who ON this field in dead strifJ
For an idea gave limb and life,
lis rash to risk Il hcndlnng sally
'GBin,t We etans who know how TO rally.
Nuw BruNton's gnns b. .Ch forth their fires,
IN Rodes and Gordon each aspres
TO CUvCr quick the first retreat
Aud back the union lines TO beat.
That their blue line Is melting flst
Bco' cthG deadly southern blnst
Anu shattered crushed, almost wiped out.
The catered fragments face about,
win loud, triumphant, shout aud yell
Thnt cry We all temcmb ,rwcll-
The gray b ttnliUu> on ward come.
ln'ent to drive their mumeu home.
Not yet tic south has " on the day.
Fo; Dwiphts division blocks the way.
An see! the Greek c.ois flies in front,
And Russell bears The battles brunt.
While Victory fans them with her wings,
a darker angel comes aud sings
Another song IN Russol's ear,
a sud zen pnIlur, not OF fear,
rnu thHt brave spirit mounts on high
Where souls like his can never die.
But not alone, for with him goes
spirit choice from mid his foes.
Aud, now, when PASSIONS hour has past,
a, north anu south in friendship fast
Discuss while Reason cool Irgsides,
The deeds OF heroes on both sides,
Thy gal ant Rodps o southern men!
Due tribute claims from northern pen,
His manly lite aud death he sung
With candid hcnrt by northern tongues.
With steady nerve the old corps fight
The southern tidc has reached its height,
\ lull broodS o'cr the stormy scene.
a irc.h force now appears In sight,
The Eighth corps marching TO the right,
That old Eighth coris whose brave career
Nirginia's loyal hearts hold dear
The battle rages fierce again,
Inc southern charge is made in vain;
Hurled back bliOro whitening fire.
I Iheir broken ranks once more retire.
The south still lights but fights in vain;
Ah! never shall tucv see ugan
Their banner fly DER this fair town,
Their dear loved valleys pride and crown;
a pnnic spreads throughout their host,
The die is cast, the day is lost.
Iatthose who stnid at home in case
Nh,m il'. aIN DatilG mag nags waved on ne breeze;
wuut tley little understood
:"y, ~ these piping times OF peace,
.''i memories Of the war should cease.
l'ut we who mingled in the fray,
v ether we wore the blue or gray,
VIII cherish to our dying days
Ihc memory of those thiIllns hours
When life and death alike were ours
o, civil war, beneath thy trend
Slow many souls rose from tho dead,
The grave where sordld love of gain
Mans nOblest impulses had lain.
And throbbing with new born life
Grew strong and true amid the strife;
What, though that strife was sharp and stern,
That each side felt defeat in turn
That brother breast to breast met brother!
Twas there we learned to know each other;
And down along the coming ages
Not all the wisdom OF the suGeS
VIII keep our union finn aud true
As memories Of the Gray and Blue
When tho applause elected by the rcadin,
of the poem had subsided, Col. Carroll ID
Wright delivered the Grafton of the occasion
Ills audience followed his line of thought
with close attention, and while in the rcgn
ming his white auditors seemed only cOldly
curious to hear what a northern orator wouli
have to say on n southern battlefield it WI.
not long until they began to show their ap
probation Of the broad patriotism Of th
model address. In opening his remarks Col
Wright said:
"We live in three epochs at once: the past
the present, and tho FUTURE that is, ou
mental existence consists in recollections o
knowledge of the past, the activities OF th
present, and in authorizations or speculation
as to the future am speaking of our cnrthl,
experience only. The recolcctions or Il par
ticular period in our national history is th
past for us to-day, but it demands of us
philosophical consideration of its relation
our national present and our national future
80 we come to this consccrated ground in II
spirit of goriication of the events which or
Cured here nineteen years ago, but in q broad
catholic spirit, willing to discuss tho event
of the civil war, rs they have influenced an,
will influence the prosperity and well bcini
of our whole country, and glad to roCOgnih
the victories won here as victories of Amcri
can valor; for the battles of tho civil Wa
We're triumphs Of the valor of American sol
diers, no matter which army won the indi
Vidual victories. Tho stirring scenes CnaCtO,
in this beautiful valley twenty years ago, tn
iatigung and exciting marches and counter
marches of alternately victorious and dc
teated armies, tho disastrous and the success
tul campaigns, the brilliant personal expert
enccs, the stories Of the camp-all these will
be toldan roIold by participants on both side
the great struggle when the clmpfres shal
be lighted at Winchester ut Fishers HILL n
Cedar crcck-and the veteran shall live owe
and over again the ono great luxury of hi
life, his share in ono OF tho most giganti
military strifcs of which history gives an
record, At these Campfrcs tho foes of wa
will be tho warm friends of the present, q
ready now, rs ever in tho old days, to fratcl
nize and ready too to do honor TO tho valO
which mado tho glorious battles of the vallo
possible"
Discussing then tho war in philosophical
manner, Col. Wright said that its iniuouU
upon national existence upon the growth q
civilization, upon religion even, was one {
the most fascinating studies that was oncrC
to the attention of man. He traced the cours
OF the Aryan race, which was mt once west
ward and upward through war to the glori
Gus intellectually of the Greeks, the mas
niliccnt organization of tho Romans and til
matchloss civilization of tho Teutonic races
the civilization of to-day. Tho right
landed property was the most potent factor q
that civilization; and this right had bee
evolved by war. War, then, was ono of th
factors with which God evolved mankin
through higher and higher gradations. Th
history of the race was one of conflict,
might be said that all good things came only
like remission of sins, through the sheddin
Of blood,
Thus, dwelling philosophically upon tn
abstract question Of war, no came down
tho struggle through which tho nation In
lately passed, and of which representatives
both sides now stood before him in amicabl
reunion. This war--although, like almo,
all Others, organized for political purposes
was IN reality contest for tho rights of IL
hur. IL was another of tho many phases
the conflict between lruGalism and the right
of labor. Economic forces wcro the OnC
really underlying the struggle. Slavery an