The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1889-06-26

bons, and read by Miss Grace Glib
bons at the entertainment given by
the ladies of Point Pleasant, for the
benefit Of the Harpers Ferry and
Jamestown sufferers, June Is, 1889. 4
Deathl you have seen him; you had once a
Pride OF your heart, ANA sunshine OF your
home;
Al eve he came and stood beside yorr knee,
With tired feet TINT couid NO farther roam,
You bathed his restless hands and burning
brow,
And said TO Death, Il can not let him CO.,,
a little mound kept green with bitter tears
a marble cross, Is len you, in yonrswo
Your mother, weary with the weight or years
Lay down and slept, for rest was very sweet;
The day was long and night came slowly on
Zen death was patient With her weary feet.
1psi sit At twilight, by the saered spot,
Where you have buried LIES most InIIowed
And press the turf, as once she pressed your
Aud know she watches from her home
above.
Tn. boom Of cannon startles MI the land;
death;
For home, and country and honor's sake
They count but lightly Meeting mortal
breath.
Mangle'i and bleeding mid the heaps OF slain,
Shrouded IN glory, ON the field they lie;
And leave their children but fathers maine,
Who for his country's honor dared to die.
We have the soiace when death comes like
TO bear our loved avay-..rhe grave !.
And when We chose between the grave and
We had our choice. although of love bereft.
And every year confirms it, when we strew
With flowers. the Iowly graves OF honored
And proudly claim the blood Within our veins
The same as that by sires in hattie shed.
But think of death as one vast wall of fate!
No choice; no comfort; and which leaves
no grave;
This is the death which we must view to-
night
These are the rnourners who our pity crave.
No kiss upon the lips of loved ones pressed,
No clasp Of hands upon the nearer shore;
No last forgiveness and no tender hope;
It cnme-it went-their loved ones are no
Blest are the dead Perhaps God lets them
know
why children cry and Widows grief is
dumb, 49,
Why those whom they had gladly died to
are faint with hunger, and with cold are
Great Godi We have our loved ones, where
are theirs3
The hood holds fast her dead to feed the
And wrecks of homes are mingled with the
forms
OF all that made them worthy of the name.
The mills are silent and the works are gone;
What is the meaning OF the silent gloom?
Not loss of wealth. or power, or even mime,
The deepest meaning OF each quiet room;
To many II may mean some Thousands less
OF notes in bank or bonds to hide away;
To some. less luxury, less case OF life;
Some in the race for fortune met delay.
'sTIle loss will 'moun. to millions" We arc
An, have we learned to coin the drops of
That slowly ooze from hearts that break with
They are Gods measure for this awful Hood.
Fathers and mothers, you have dnughters
grown;
Your vic elings to your arm with tender
grnce;
It means that such must face tue world alone,
The same hard world that you have had to
face.
Ii means that children cry in vain for bread;
That hope is dead, aud woman's brain on
fire!
Because she can not see her chndrcn die.
she builds with her own hands her funeral
pyre.
This is the story told 10y flood and flame;
This is the tale lips dumb with grief would
tell;
For this the unknown, the unburied dead APP
peal,
For this our hearts with tender pity swell.
It is not much compared with their great
But drops would ill the ocean by and by;
We give our little wishing 1t were more,
And trust them to the love Of God om high.
n. a. II. GIBDoSs.