The Hartford herald., 1885-11-04

further sacrifice of human life was now
all to no purpose, fo- the two great CON-
manders had saluted each other at Ap,
pomattox. The victorious General
Grant, with a courtesy that marked
him great and magnanimous soldier,
declined to accept the sword Of General
Lee, the idol of the South, and who was
as great a soldier as Napoleon. The
southern soldiers were toli to take
home their horses, because said Gener-
al Grant, "you will need them to make
the next years crops" General Lee,
loved by the whole South and admired
by those who had opposed him, chung
the old sword in its place" and became
teacher in a school of learning in his
native state, which bears the name of
Washington and his own, and dying
lefS behind fame that can never per-
ish and "a name all untarnished with
dishOnOr.
General Grant, when he had 'sOund-
Ell all the depths and shoals of fame -
quietly retired to private life, and wrote
his memoirs Of the war even while the
hand of death was upon him, and when
he had finished the last line of the last
page, he beckoned the angel of death
aside, until he had dedicated the last la
Dor Of his life to "the American SOL
der" without reference 10 the side on
which he served, or the army in which
he fought.
Peace has come, but the two great
leaders of the armies who arranged its
terms are gone, and every day the rank
and file Of the armies they once COM
manded are growing fewer every day
some fellow-soldier falls from his post;
our once proud armies are being recruit
ell only for the other shore. By and by
old Father Time will have enrolled the
most of them on the other side Of the
river, little later and not one will be
left to form the rear guard of the grand
armies whose muster rolls once num-
bered a million of men, who were IA
gallant AS any whose names history
saeredly keeps upon its roll Of honor.
"By the shores of the inland river
Where fleets Of iron have ied,
Where the blades ofthe green grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks OF the dead;
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the Judgment day,
Under the one, the Blue.
Under the other. the Gray;
Thus In the realms of glory
Thus in the gloom ofdefeat,
All with battle blood CORY.
In the dusk of eternity meet;
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the Judgment day.
Under the willow the Blue
Under the laurel the Gray;
From the silence of sorrowful homes
The desolate mOurners go,
Lovingly ladened with flowers,
Alike for the friend and the foe;
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the Judgment day,
Under the roses the Blue.
Under the lilies the Gray;
So with an equal spIendOr
The mornings sun rays fall.
With a touch impartIaIly tender,
On the blossoms. blooming for all;
Under the sod and the dew
Waiting the judgment day,
'Broidered with gold the Blue,
MellOwed with gold the Gray;
No more shall the war cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red,
They Danish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead;
Unde. the sod and the dew
Waiting the Judgment day,
Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray
Comrades and fellow soldiers, it can
not in any event be long before those of
US who passed through the perils and
dangers of war, and who have lived tn
participate in the pleasures of this day,
will also be with our comrades who have
gone before us.
"Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day"
Let Us then thrust in our siekles and
reap as much OF the golden harvest Of
reconciliation and good will as We can,
let US profit by every lesson OF the past,
and by all that this day teaches.
"As the cedars of the Lebanon are
higher than 1.-The grass Of the valley, a.
the heavens are ''higher than the earth,
As men are higher than "the beasts of
the field, as angels are higher than
"men so are the virtues and victories
Of peace higher than the virtues and
victories of "war"
Comrades and fellOw-soldIers, in con- |
my agreeable task Of extend |
ing to you all n cordial welcome to
this reunion of surviving Federal ans'
Confederate soldiers, allow me, as an
humble survivor Of those who wore the
gray, to declare my belief that not only
is the "bloody chasm" forever closed,
but further to declare that this day wit
nesses the completion of the temple of
peace. Hereafter it will only remain
for US to beautify and adorn that temple
until all its spires shall be more attrae-
tive than lhe gold covered dome of the
under which the ashes o.
the hero of Lodi and Austerlitz sleep.