Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1896-02-12
FORT PHANTOM HILL.

me busy, falr, commercial queen,
Set ia q bOundleSS prairie scene,
And caa0pied with skies serene.
Our course was Northza little East
The 1aunt q dozen KNOBS at least,
While varied views each mile increased,
Anagave the eye aad soul feast.
.fls sun unveiled disc of gold,
And n1ght had back her curtains rolled
From blue trimmed outlines, fold on fold,
Whose beauty never will grow old. I
We had a typic bronco team
, To rush us over hill and stream,
And faster went than 1t wonld seem,
or than the Old World people dream.
We pity such as chance to miss,
At any time, a trip like this
A Texans sublunary bliss
When waif-like ZephyrS fan and KISS.
The whip was cracked at early prime,
The spinning wheels whirred out a chime,
And, without any dust and CRIME.
We reached the spot in cOachman'S time.
And here we are at Phantom Hill.''
Where shades of men go round at will,
And nightly voices never still,
Go family, like a muff1ed rill.
"Alight," spoke out son of toll,
Whose words slipped from tongue of Oil,
And soon, without a bit OF MOL,
We touched the semi-sacred soil.
By an illusion-drawing near
We seemed to see mountain rear,
But now, that we have gotten here,
The mountain. seen, does not appear,
And hence the romen. as we hear.
The site is pleasant to our eyes
Upon dOmy, gentle rise,
While, circling round beneath the skies,
Are other hills of ampler size.
Adown the slope, we find the spring,
From hidden fount meandering,
That for the men here soldering
Did Understanding nectar bring.
And yonder, like a silver seam,
Winding about .sGsy with clint and gleam
Which fiOweth like sluggish dream.
1t is famous stream for fish,
And, doubtless, many tempting dish
The troopers had here at their wish,
And which they deemed most lickerish.
We pause upon the classic ground,
And, lost in maze of thought profound,
Begin to view in silence round,
And summarize the wonders found.
Burned all, save two, the buildings here,
And now near thirty chimneyS rear
Their stony heads from year to year.
As cenotaphs Of voiceless stone,
Q Memorials of the days agone,
They stand-weird, Silent, bare, and lone,
Round which the winds in direes moan.
Now pointing with his finger lean,
The guide shows us the magazine,
Which held enough for Fort Duquesne,
And which had stood Times molars keen,
And in perfection still is seen.
Like index fingers. rude, bizarre,
Some unmarked flag stones, here and there,
Point out the beds, unhedged and bare,
Well trOdden by the Shepherds care,
Where soldier forms low sleeping are.
Tradition says, that Robert Lee,
Ct do not vOuch for it, you see),
Has buried here child of three
A scion from the royal tree.
Meath mesquite, rock walled lot.
They tell us, is the very spot,
And that his name, or I've forgot.
Was Washington, or Winfield Scott.
And Rumor says, as if she knew,
That ALBERT Sidney. good and true
So loved the cyclOramic view
As cen to wish, when life was through,
That he might here lie buried too.
Out Yonder in the circles bend
With broken arch from end to end,
A relic stands-the soldiers friends
An old Dutch-oven. one could mend,
Whose mold from Holland did descend.
How eagerly from bakers hand
The rough and ready soldier band,
With the officials in command,
Received the loaves all understand,
Who've tented in prairie land.
Not far off is roofess wall,
Where. once, supplies were Kept for all,
But now haunt, where SerpentS crawl,
And moon-eyed owls mid-nightly call.
And here, amid these ruins too,
The coyotes nightly rendezvous,
And moving, ghost-like, round and through,
Mingle with mQping owls whO-whoO
Their strange. quick, sharp and lone to-lot
We drop back FIVE and forty years,
And Fancy quickly sees, and hears,
What human eyes, and human ears,
Could never know, as it appears.
We seem to have from husky throat
Commands, that echo round the moat;
And drum-beats, and the bugle's note
Out from the misty silence float.
The men at arms in army style,
Both officers, and rank and file,
Whose life out here was sheer exile,
ManPuvre, as OF old, awhile.
As erst, the red-men come and 20,
Noeu chasing moose and buffalo,
And a,olg in conflict with a foe,
With poisoned arrow and the bow.
Again we see the garrison.
Fach one his charges mounted on,
ana in pursuit of warriors gone,
Then coming back with laurels won
Anon. we seem in study brown
With Lee and Johnston sitting down,
Ere Fame had led them to renOwn,
And twined their amaranthine crown.
Fen then they were of princely mold,
The soul of honor, firm and bold,
Whose country was to them than gold,
Or life, worth more thousand fold.
Both had true majesty Of mind,
Were leaders born of human kind,
As well were scholarly, refined,
And grace and suavity combined.
No wonder, then, in crucial need,
Thew rose to eminence indeed,
And champiOned their fathers, creed,
Resolved to die, if SO decreed.
Come, relic hunters, far and nigh,
And you may fully crafty
\ our every wish for round us lie,
In fragments-delph and pottery:
And musket balls from ancient mold,
And arrow-headS as quaint and old,
And spurs and bits, and, may be, gold,
And little trinketS manifold,
That, some day, may be bought and sold.
And We, whose hearts are intertwined.
Possessing romantic mind,
Where could you place more suited find
To seal the VOWS, which lovers bind?
Come join your hands amidst ttescepe.
Where grand, wOrld-famouS zaen have been,
Where Mystery now sits queen,
And Fancy fashions the unseen.
Cisco Texas.
THOSE MEDDLESOME ARMENJA7