The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-03-08
wE,RE ooINd DOWN no DALLAs.
BY w. L SANFORD, SHERMAN NEN'

Twill be an Inspiration and a priceless boon, We know
To cheer the marching columns that some forty years ago
n a.vv,,oo deeds OF valor gave a deaibless theme for song,
Aud taught mankind the lesson how to suffer and be strong
Their brows are deeply furrowed, and their heads are touched with snow;
Their forms arr bent with weight Of years, and some with weight of woe
But their shields are just as spodess, and their souls are Just as true
As when they charged at Gettysburg the brshng ranks Of blue
We're gong to take our boys along, that they for once may see
The men who IN he Wilderness fought under pripcey Leei
Aud then the men of Shiloh, who, mid canister and shell,
In pity paused 10 drop a tear when Sidney Johnston fell
Aud Shenandoahs heroes, TOO, who, with Rebel yell,
Had Stonewal Jackson ordered, would have sormed the gates of hell.
And who shall write an epic of those days Of fire and blood,
Nor name the dauntless heroes of Forrest and of HoodP
OF Morgan, the bold raider; of that dashng cavalier,
"Jeb" Stuart; of young Pelham, the immortal cannoneer:
And all those knights OF chvahy who rest n peace profound
In graves which jealous Fame hath blessed and marked as holy groundP
The puny wars which nations wage on nations of today
Are but the mimicry of war-the games which children play
When guaged by that Titanic strife, when Southern vaOr hurled
Its thunderbots against a foe whose ally was the world.
Then Avalanche met Avalanche, and loss was reckoned then
By squadrons and whole regiments, and not by single men.
The world, grown old, had never seen, aud never more may see,
A host like that whose sabers flashed about the flag of Lee.
And when the shrines fer which they fought have crumbled into dust
Aye, when this great republic shall have persisted, which it must,
When Truth eh all wake her silent harp to songs of mighty wars,
Their names and deeds will blossom with the splendor of The stars.
1t was not ours to wear with them the hallowed cloth of gray,
Nor share with them the stress of march, the horrors of the fray;
1t was not ours to hunger and to thirst on warspent plain
And bvouac on the battlefield md ranks of comrades slam;
Twas not our fate TO hear the jetrs and face the vctor's frown
When Christ at Appomattox wept and pulled the curtain down.
But well we know the story from Fcrt Sumter to the end,
And on our hearts Is laid the charge to honor and defend
The cause for which they struggled, and for which they bravely bled;
To love and aid the living and to reverence he dead;
To wreathe The sacred mounds where sleep those loyal hearts, and true,
And while the thread of life holds out, please God, these things weIl do
Upon our walls these pictures hang-the faces of the three
Immortal gods of warfare; Stonewal Jackson, Johnson, Lee.
We placed them with the parpose that our little ones may grow
To learn the truth and love the men who in The long ago
Surrendered all, save honor, In a grand, unequal fight
For homes and country aud for what they still believe is right
So we're going down to Dallas, those %fastthinning ranks TO meet
Which, only when outnumbered thrice, stacked arms IN proud defeat.
The sun is fast declining, and The march is nearly DER,
And now and then there comes a sound from yonder mystic shore.
Its deaths buge calling some weary form 10 gray
Let's hasten on to cheer them for the last time, while we may.