Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1883-05-02
The Judgment of the Living
by the Dead.
1Fro,n the Richmond st.te.l

ing. The corpse. duly emoalmeu' was
placed by the margin of the Ackerusian
Lake; and, before it might be consigned
to the bark which was to bear it across
the waters to its final restng-place, it
was permitted to the appointed judges
to hear all accusations of the past life
of the deceased, and, if proved, to de-
prive the corpse of the rites of sepul-
ture.
We cah imagine another ceremonial
of like solemnity and grandeur-the
judgment of the living by the dead. We
can imagine the buQle-blast calling out
from their graves the buried army OF a
dead Confederacy, nile after file moving
in solemn order into one vast amphilh-
atre, formed by the Virginia noun
tains, around which they so often
fought. Only the hush Of night could
beft such an occasion, only shadowy
rivulets of fight could lllumine the faint
outlines Of these gaunt spectres as
command after command wheels into
the dim delle and takes its piece. until
from terrace behind terrace the skeleton
army looks down into the hollow OF
that conyexed midst awaiting the en-
trance of the living who are TO be jndg-
ed by the dead.
And set, before The proceeding, and
ushered by the lrumpet's eloquent in-
PRODUCTION, we can imagine the coming
into that presence Of well-knOwn
form we can imagine in all the state
liuess of person, in all the calm de-
meanor, IN all the earnestness which
crowned the brow and spoke from the
sad eve, erect, majestic and as in Ate
they last saw him Robert Lee. How
wild the cheer heaved from that skele-
ton host, how the heshless arms wave
to him. how the darkened caverni OF
the sku Il are relit as the sightless orbs
once more brighten in the ccstacy OF
love and swim in the conyuls ION OF
tears as the grand old cammander is
adored by the un-graved ranks OF his
ragged legions! Aud while the tremu-
Ions cheer rushes into a swelling dla-
pason. we can imagine cleavlng sharp
ly above it all, another flourish ol
,rumpets and another form move past
The skeleton sentincls unchallensed to
meet the concentered gaze OF the army
Of The dead. We see him again as he
was-the slouch cap, the kindly smile,
the face frightened by devotion to his
God aud cause; grand, firm, self-reliant
-Stonewall Jackson. VAN every ef-
fort to describe the greeting of those
gathered voices, vain all words to tell
of the acclaiming shouts, vain the es-
saved portraval Of the exultant pride
OF those who followed him, OF those
whose hearts were with him. Days oil
RAGS and starvation are lost IN mist
out of which rises only the vista OF the
slories of Valley, and, from rank 10
rank. we can hear the undulating'roll oi
voices until they carry in united harmo-
nv the rugged music OF "StonewaIl
Jackson's way" After the announc
ing trumpet we see other figures ol
those who had once generated that
summoned multitude, aud, as one by
one each moves TO the centre OF thai
sreat circle, we would yet look on him
whose martial port had early Yadlshed
from those ranks ID precedence 10 the
crave. As he now receives the war
rior's homage, we know by the flashing
eye, by the cLiyalric bearing, the
dauntless champion whose heartbeat
was honor, whose purpose was country
Albert Sydney Johnston land as be
moves reviewed by those he once re-
viewed he Is accorded an ovation oil
love and admrlng trust. With 'hatall
sourd is hushed.
Column In rear of column, brigade
behind brigade, division at back o.
division, all in their wonted bait le
fashion the dead army Of a dead Con-
federacy is ranged -tbe lost soldiers o.
a lost cause are drawn up, and from
the encircllng mountain sides look
down and wait. The sharp outlines oi
the feshless bones project each figure
in stern prominence. The bleached
members of a human structure are
beneath those uniforms, the cereme nt'
of the grave, and those grim forms are
as they were shorn by the mutilation'
of death aud the wasting OF the tomb
We can imagine lnat the rusty musket,
with bayonet fixed, is stacked along the
1
lines: that God the Almighty this
NIGHT loaned each soul to the skeleton
which once encased iJ, that though the
parchment over the shrunken visage i;
tightly drawn, il has rehabited it with
something Of its former likeness, and
that from its blanched surface the eye
breaks forth again with recognizing
CLEAN and the empty skull is refurnish'
ed with all It's senses; while the nigh
luminary casts its veiled irradiance
shifted through passing clouds ant
tapestries with strange surroundings
over the figures and the place. AND
then we can see, as at sudden sigma
that dsheveled array seated, and from
above the awful silence hear the loud
publication how now in this grand as
size begins the judgment OF the Living
by the Dead.
We can hear The herald's proclama
ton. 1t tells that of their generals who
survived them two stands before the
country. Two in the highest couucl
of the nation, two whose records mus
be reviewed aud upon whom ludgmen
IN o l..