Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1898-05-31


THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER.
The tide, my friends, breaks on the shore
And times receding wave
Bears back above the breakers roar
The gifts the ocean gave.
The bugle's call, the beat of drum,
Far in the distance dying,
Have passed away. yet echos come,
Above the grasses signing.
Full thirty years have rung their chimes, !.
And Southern maidens chauted
Anthems DER our hero's shrines,
And summer roses planted.
Old comrades come, 'like pilgrims gray"
LIES sunset embcrs burning
To ashes-near the close of day,
With scenes of yore returning.
We see once more some cherished face,
A smile its love revealing
And onco again doth fancy trace
Our hands together stealing.
But not the Vet'ran of to-day,
Would /, my friends, review him;
But he, four years, who wore the gray
Defending home and chartered rights
He left the pillow and furrow-
And every tie that heart delights,
The Southern cross to follow.
Not for fame or fright divine"
The soldiers deeds of daring;
But duty-word the most sublime
His shield of honor bearinr
He fought amid the bravcst, brave;
With hope aud trust profound
A child=like hope-a faith to save,
By no circumference bound.
Hnlf fed, half clothed, his all he gave;
His tattcred garments wearing
Was ever Knight more true or brave,
Or cavalier more daring?
In winters cold, In summers heat,
Tho storm he dauntless breasted;
And history will in triumph greet
The man, go fully tested.
He stood amid the bravest. brave;
Where ranks were torn asunder,
And musketry in voIIcys ravcd,
And cannon "belchcd their thunder"
He rode amid the bravcst, brave;
The foremost squadrons leading
His plume above the battles wave,
The right of victry pleading.
He linger'd with the bravest, brave,
Reluctantly rctreatlng,
And to the foe ,xultant gave
TIL katry's sullen greeting.
He knelt, amid the bravest, brave;
With gentleness to render
succor, with reverence grave;
Aud touch as woman's tender.
He march'd i'll want by hungers side,
Suffering and enduring
Or fearless crossed TIL Stygiap tide,
To realms of bliss alluring.
The grandeur of the hero's soul,
Mid death and dcsolntion.
Warmed human hearts, from pole to pole,
With manly admiration.
The tide of years shall onward sweep
To Lethc's silent waters
All things whereat men laugh or weep
Earth's conquests, sorrows, slnughters.
But rescued by Gods truth sublime,
From mortal mould's surrender,
He'll stand above the wreck of time,
Superb III moral splendor.
Scared and scanned, Fort sumpter dwells,
a monumental story;
Aud AppOmattox' immortellcs
Are strewn by Fame aud Glory.
a collection to aid in placing heac
stones at the graves of the Confederat
dead) was taken up, and the hymn GO
of the nations hear US was sung by tn
choir.
Lieutenant Commander Howell Their
in eloquent and appropriate terms, intro
duced the orator of the day, Rev. S. G
Ferguson, of Martinsburg, who was give
a hearty reception.
The speaker in beginning his remark
adverted to Charles Town as the seen
of many of his greatest joys as we'll a
some of his deepest sorrows. He said h
had no apology to offer to any one TO
having been Confederate soldier. Thir
ty-three years since the close of the wa
had brought many changes, but Their
was no change of conviction with him a
to the duties of the Confederate soldie
and the propriety of the part he plave,
in that eventful period History can pre
sent the deeds of no men who Shove,
more heroism, more true valor, than tn
Confederate soldier, and men on the 9th
er side have come to recognize the tru
bravery and patriotism of our men AMI
the genius of our military commanders
and that the men who followed Rober
E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, Stonewal
Jackson and Jeb Stuart were the peers O
any soldiers in all time. There wer
three things, he said, of which he was no
ashamed. He was not ashamed of bein,
an American citizen; he was not ASHAMED
of having been born Virginian and h,
was not ashamed of the fact that he hat
served as soldier in the Confederat,
army-that when but boy he had an
swered the call of his State for the ser
vice of her sons. The address was inter
spersed with number of war incidents
OO'h li'eiSSlLiS ana amusing. The
South, he said, had fought against grea
odds, and the official war records full,
that fact. He had no bit
terness against the men who more tn,
blue. The war is over, and he had enter
-ained and been entertained by soldier.
Of the other side; but the memory o
he Confederate soldier can never die.
AT the conclusion of Mr.. Ferguson.
address Rev. DR.. Smithson pronounced
he benedictiou, after which the choil
,endered Cover them over with bead