The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-07-26
THE GATHERING
OF THE GRAY

Ut INT dRAY
Dedicated TO the Confederate Ncter...
Attending The Atlanta Reunion. l~,>
Once more the flags have their r.r....
red way
Over the brave hearts that beat NJ
the gray
Once more the drum
Thrills the message: They come
And the silver-sweet bugles III me.
play:
Prom away
From away
Ger the lowlands-
And highlands,
Comes the gray-
Comes the gray
And the ghost of the flag which the.
fought for
Whose stars and whose red bars the
wrought for,
Waves lis phantom folds DER them
today.
! And nothing Of wrong that il stanrs for
its dream
Where the stripes and the loved stars ~
liberty CLEAN.
Once more, BY the blue heaven DER
us. the sod
Seems to thrill at their coming. the
strong hills of God
Seem shaker of thunder.
The waterways under,
Sing louder to sea, and the hreath's ia
the cio1f
For they know
All, they ow,-
Hills. and rivers in flow,
The sign of the gray,
AS they knew il that day.
When they fronted the fray!
They know all the brave breasts uu-
daunted,
Whose blood left their meadows en-
chanted,
And ever they sing and they say:
Nothing of wrong that they stand for
their dream
Where the stars DER the red stripes OF
liberty gleam,"
Blow welcome, o bugles. Drums beat, as
We beat
When the kiss of the wife and the
mother fell sweet
On their brows, as they went
To the battle-content
To die for the cause that they cherish
ed! Repeat,
o glad land, their story,
And give to their glory
That fades not with time.
Welcome songs in the chime
OF the steeples: the flowers
OF rare fields and bowers
And the garlanded sheet,
For their blood, in the sight OF all
heaven,
For the sake of their loved land was
given
A sacrifice holy and sweet.
Nothing of wrong that We hail them to-
BY the glorious sign of the battlefront
gray.
Blow, bugles, Beat, drums, They were
heroes that day
When the bands first played "INie'
and led the wild way,
And now. when the roar
OF the guns shakes the shore,
They answer their country-they fly to
the fray,
They stand hand to hand,
Heart to heart, for the land;
Their rifles are ringing,
Their War-steedS are hinging
The foam in the faces
OF foes in red places
Their swords swift to STAY:
They shrink not from dangcr-ah, never,
They are patriots and heroes forever!
They are freemen where freedom hath
sway.
Nothing Of wrong that the bugles and
Sound a welcoming song for the glorifed
ones.
Forward. March. Ripple, banners, above
them once more!
Shout, guns. Wave green signals, O hills.
to the shore.
With gales blowing free.
Send an answer. . sea,
For their flag knew your waters they
rode where you roar,
Where your storm-waves are crash
ing.
Where your lightnings are flashing
Their brave ships were dashing!
ger broad seas far-steaming.
heir grim guns were cleaning.
And their dead-they are dreaming
\eath the waves evermore.
Under many an alien heaven
In the rocks are their sepulchers riyan
And their blood maketh holy each shore
sing, bugles. in welcome DER inland
and wave,
For the gray,-ayd. the gray is tho h.doa
of the Brave,
vi.
nan them. hills. and sing, rivers, in wei
come. o sky,
i-lSht your fairest star-fres as the old
troops march by.
Ihey come to their own
Whara tha;r nIc.;.. -