Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1901-06-06
Gray Jackets
The washingtonian.)

Hidden safely in closets ana BartetS,
Arc war tattered jackets Of Gray.
Inythe worlds standing national armies,
Today mid the clashing OF shields
They may claim in the struggle no portion.
No Mace In the white-tented fields.
For their wearers' brave mission is ended,
Thair,dreams but shadow, O name;
Rut the afterglow, lingering in splendor,
Has nlled the wide world with their fame.
So the faded war jackets are hidden
Where hatred and scorn never reach,
But along with the rue and the rsses
A s.ory is folded with each,
Ave, a story Of vantage and triumph
A story Of loss and defeat,
or some charge when the blood was on ire
Or the lorn bugle's sounding retreat
or picket slow pacing the roadway
Alone in the shadows and CLEANS,
With his ewes Waiting ever the darkness.
A girls tender face in his dreams.
OF the trumpet's loud colling to saddle,
or bivouac fires on the plain;
or hurrying march and battle,
OF reaches wine red with the slain!
One Jacket was rant when at Shiloh
The GRAY line swept out the wood,
And another at dread Chickamauga
Was stained with warriors blood.
On enfolds In its sorrow Of silence
A record of long prison days;
OF Antietam one tells the dark story,
One fell In the Wilderness ways.
One other-O tell 1t with sobbing!-
Was worn by tho leader whose breast
Was the aim OF his comrades, az softly
The twilight crept out OF the West
From the dark West crept darkly and
shrouded
Dead hero and jacket Of Gray,
Wrapping them deep In Its shadows and
stars,
As we IN love laurels today.
There was aching Of hearts through the
The sobs drove the smiles from each mouth
When, enrapt in the gray of his country,
Fell Jackson, the Gid Of the SOUTH
Who recalls not the marvellous story
With some of those jackets enwrought-
OF the dash and the daring devotion
When Gettysburg battle was fought?
Not the Spartans oisputlng the passway
'Gainst Persia's magnificent train
Not the Old Guard, exultant defiant
On Waterloo's crimsoning plain
Not the legion at famed Balaklava.
Red refined ringing into the fray,
ShNyaI paaoiOu NJ QOurQOd ell Dlim1r
Than sons Of the Southland that day.
Like fury they swept up the ridges
Where flags OF the foe were ahoat,
Up-een to the guns smoking muzzles,
The rebel yelp' raspihg each throat!
On the ramparts they planted their colors
Spiked the cannon that beloved below;
Fought, died, like the children Of freedom
Who give back the thrust of foel
These are some OF the stories Of valor,
The legends that pass not away,
Filling hearts and memories, and clinging
Like incense Of years to the Gray.
And the children of children shall hearken
10 their stirring refrain
Stories losing no strength in transmission
But only their keenest OF pain.
Marvel not the old jackets are hidden
Where hasred and scorn may not reach,
Since along with the rue and the roses
A heart ache Is followed with each.
Art enshrinest the gray jackets in splendor,
Song sentries shall guard them In rhyme,
Heirloens Of a nation that perishei,
Each hallowed with touches OF time
Trophies braYeto be sent down the ages,
ve.lustered, unshadowed OF blame;
And their hues, like the gray OF the dawning
To us are the symbols Of fame.
Since the blatant war bugles are silent
And peace has made friends out OF foes,
We 'broider each bloOdstaln with laurel
And cover each rent with rose
For although mustered out OF the squadrons
That form the worlds martial array
Counted first in Gods legions OF glory
Are the war-tattered jackets OF Gray
SARA BEAUM )NT KENNEDY.
Memphis, Tenn,