The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1902-05-15
MoRITURos sAEuFAMUs.
BY Angelo c Scott.

When Sparta old, as home returning came
Her conquering sons, In march triumphal led
The long procession through the city's
streets,
She placed in front of all the gray haired
The grizzled heroes of the elder wars,
And cried. Our fathers these! All hall! AL
Our saviors these in former days! All hall"
And gave TO them chief honor and acclaim.
Men we would honor most. We summon
Our heroes of mighty past, these men,
Our sires, who saved us from the wrath to
come,
Who snatched the smoking brand from out
the flame
That lowered high and threatened to con
We place these first. We place them ever
first!
We them salute! Our fathers these! All
hail!
Our saviors these in former days! All hail!
What though wars wrfnkled front hath
risen anew,
And valor's glorious sons have plucked again
The laurel from the tOpmOst bOueh of fame
At bloody El Caney, up dire San Juan,
In Orient seas, or where the treacherous foe
In LuZOn's jungleS turks, and strikes unseen:
All hail to theni Ay, hail, all hail. to them
But shall.we then forget the elder time,
The sterner time that shook the souls OF
That other day when clouds and darkness
And wars wide desolation wrought its woe?
And shall we then forget the heroes old
The iron men. who held for naught all else,
Of blood, of sacrifice, of life itself,
So one beloved flag should float DER all,
From northern lake TO gulf, from sea to sea?
All, no! All, no! Wen not forget! TO
We owe the elder debt, the greater debt
OF union, freedom, peace, fraternity.
And so, until the final reveille
Shall call them hence, shall call the last
Wen give them highest praise, We'll hold
them first.
All, they were young and lusty then, these
The plungng tide of youths red blood was
theirs,
The flashing eye, the sinewy limb, the dawn
OF life's bright morning time, the steady
The firm. quick step, the boundless hope, the
The courage high of youth-all these were
theirs;
And all these gifts. these treasures Infinite
They nobly gave, most grandiy gave them
all,
To freedom, flag. and country consccrate:
Gave them at ShilOh's whitening sea of fire.
At Gettyburg's grim vale, at Donelson,
AT Nashville, and through Georgia to the
sea,
At LookOut's glorious crest, at Winchester,
In old Eirginla's Wilderness, where Lee,
Defiant, led the flower Of Southern arms,
With purpose bold to bear the torch of war
Straight to the heart and hearthStOnes Of the
North.
cannon rOared, or shrapnel Shrek
ed,
Or din of battle broke on land and sea.
These gifts and treasures infinite they gave
Gave them in prison cells, remote and foul,
In fever's tainted haunts, In marches long
In Divouac under Southern stars and storms.
Long, long ago was this! All long enough
TO lay the Winters snow upon the head,
70 bend the back, to stay the bounding step,
TO dim the luster OF the flashing eye,
To tame the tempest Of the red, young
Ay, long enough, that of the host that came
From wars grim traffic to the arts of peace,
The greater multitude has fallen asleep,
And rests beneath the sod till that great day
When God, the resurrection and the life,
Shall speak again, and call the heroes forth.
Oh, rest in peace, brave men of blue and
gray;
Above your dust we stand. united. free.
Beneath one flag henceforward, evermore;
We sing your mighty valOr, put behind
All thought of bitterness and strife OutwOrn,
And undivided face the Reckoning stars.
And you, We living, we salute! Oh, God
Dur God. who ruleSt all the things of time,
rhe affairs of men, the destinies of states,
On, spare our fathers yet, and give them
strength,
And length of days upon the earth; and make
Their bed In peace and comfort to the end.
rhe later heroes of the later time
No need Of fame would we withhold from
them --r"
The Nations well-beloved sons who bore
Dur flag to g!Ory's nights by land and sea,
Spread round the world the luSter of Its
name,
Jnbarred Oppression's gates, and ushercd In
lhe stable reign of liberty and law;
Jnfadng honor eveTmOre be theirs.
But while the patriot sires still live and walk
Among us down the deepening vale of years
70 life's declining day, we'll hold them first
And cry, with Sparta old, "Our fathers
thesei
)ur saviors these in former days! All haiI"'