Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-04-11

am only woman, comrades.
No great thing can I achieve,
NO epaulets wear on my shoulder,
No golden bands on my sleeve;
But may ten you g story
Concerning the haud-var ana heart-,Far
The women folk fought aloneg
When our boys went or To- .he army.
We tearfullys helped them away:
stood Watching while we could see them.
1hen turned to the work OF the day.
Our farms were nearly deserted,
ana LETT Tor the women 20 till;
They planted the seed in the furroVy,
Iley carried the grain 20 the mill
/ They gathered the grass IN tne meadow,
[ They slowed 1t away in the NOW,
They hauled, too, the rails for the fencing,
and some of them followed the pillow
] But these things were easy Of doing.
Tho our hands became sunburned end seres
/ For there were no Inen-fOlk to hinder
No critics 20 interfere.
I Then, too, there was work for the soldier
I 4lnI7 bandages, socks, and the like.
/ SleeLs, blankets and shirts for the sick ones,
! And kind, hopeful letters 10 write.
me aged the young, and the middle
! - tould each ind @ part they could do,
/ TO help on the Christian Commission"
/ And tne sanitary too.
/ And once when some "boys'' from our Township
Wrote home that their Gag was no more
/ Had suceumed To the wilcs 0f'the weather,
And the 5eatngs of bullets that tore,
/ How quickly our forces were gathered,
/ TIL "Colors' OF silken texture
! waved over those heroes again.
/ But the heart-war, Oh, the heart-7arl
] Was when we went for the mail,
! And were handed the black bordered letter
That told as the sorrowful tale
! Of how our loved ones were fallen,
In hospital battle or pen:
! How fierce was the struggle within us,
And bitter the conflict was then,
/ AS yesterday do I remember
! The day when they brought us the word
/ That our brother had fallen in battle
J shot down as "a boy shoots bird.
/ ana the long uEG1r nights that came after.
/ Nnen comfort seemed mockery lrown,
/ And our mother was sick with her sorrow,
/ And hopes every sand had run down.
And when the next morning at worship,
/ Our father broke down i'm his prayer,
| And his trembling lips could not utter
/ The dOOd-gates seemed suddenly opened,
! We all were 50 ready TO cry.
] And SO our petitions We're ended
! With tears streaming down from each eve.
/ The long, lonely lane to the pasture,
/ Grown ionelier since he was gone,
/ Seemed 10 echo his name from the fences
! As the COWS plodded slowly alOngi
/ And the birds, as they sprang from the branches
/ Seemed calling his name o 'er and DER,
! And nature, above and beneath me,
/ Seemed sadder than ever before.
/ Then vengeance rose mighty within me,
For now that my brother was dead,
! WANTED TO take up his musket,
/ And stand in the ranks in his stead.
/ But the neighbOrs would say il was shameful
And fashion rproud lip would curl,
/ FOrl was only woman,
Nay, then was only a girl.
J And the Government wanted the fathers,
The husbands, the sons, brave and tail,
] As targets Tor enemies bullets
/ And girls wouldn't answer at all.
/ If they only had wanted the daughters,
/ Then two from our house could have gone;
/ And couldn't two girls stop bullet
AS we'll as our brother had done.
Did they think we would fear and be hckle,
! And scamper before we were hitt
/ Well, maybe-but women are tested
] In places which show they have grit.
| and TO think that our beautiful brother,
Gle may not have seemed so to you,
/ But to us, TO us, who so loved him,
He was beautiful, good and true.)
/ And then too, 70 think of the thousands
OF fallen, all fallen for me!
Oh, God! / can never be worth It;
Such sacrifice ought not to be.
/ might have protected one soldier
By stopping one bullet myself;
I 1 might have saved somebody's darling,
Laid one victim less on the shelf.
! And thus the heart-War ranged within ne,
With these thoughts and more Of their kinds
I So we pushed the haud-WaF with more vigOri
To drive the heart-WQr FROM the mind.
/ j have told yOu my simple story,
! But sisters ali over the land,
| Could tell you a similar story,
If asked for the same from their hand.