The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-07-24
THE GATHERING
OF THE GRAY

NJ btH6 0bAtl
Dedicated to the Confederate Veterans
Attending the Atlanta Reunion, 1893.
Once more the flags have their rippled
red way
Over the brave hearts that beat 'nea&h
the gray
Once more the drum
Thrills the message: They come"
And the silyer-sweet bugles in melody
play:
From away
From away
Ger the lowlands-
And highlands,
Comes the gray
Comes the gray!'
And the ghost of the flag which they
fought for
Whose stars and whose red bars they
wrought for,
Waves it's phantom folds DER them
today!
And nothing of wrong that it STANDS for
its dream
Where the stripes and the loved stars of
liberty CLEAN!
Once more! . By the blue heaven Ger
us, the sod
Seems to thrill at their coming! the
strong hills of God
Seem shaken of thunderi
The waterways under,
Sing louder to sea, and the breath's in
the clod!
For they know
All, they know
Hills, and rivers in flow,
The sign of the gray,
As they knew it that day,
When they frOnted the fray!
They know all the brave breasts I'M
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 dieNfor 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
A sacrifice holy and sweet!
Nothing of wrong that we hail them to-
BY the glorious sign of the battlefront
gray!
Blow. buges! Beat, drums! They were
heroes that day
When the bands first played Dixie"
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 flinging
The foam in the faces
OF foes in red places
Their swords swift to STAY:
They shrink not from danger-ah, never!
They are patriots and heroes forever!
They are freemen where freedom hath
sway
Nothing of wrong that the bugles and
guns
Sound welcoming song for the glorifed
ones!
V.
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, o seal
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!
Der broad seas far-steaming,
Their grim guns were cleaning,
And their dead-they are dreaming
Meath the waves evermore.
Under many an alien heaven
In the rocks are their sepulchers riven.
And their blood maketh holy each shore
Sing, bugles, in welcome DER inland
and wave,
For the gray,-aye, the gray is the badge
of the Brave!
VI.
Hail them, hills! and sing, rivers, in wei.
come! o sky,
Light your fairest star-fires as the old
troops march by.
They come to their own
Where their glories are known,
And the songs on loves lips, and the
lights in loves eye!
They come crowned of glory: