The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1903-05-01
GOING TO NEW ORLEANS.

The following beautiful lines
have been contributed to the Con-
federate Column of the New Or
leans Picayune by DR.. j. M. Rip.
py, of Union City:
We are going to New Orleans if our
lives are spared till May,
To see the dear old Veterans that inn
mortalize the Gray!
1t would be an inspiration, and joy
full time, you know,
To cheer these marching columns that
some forty years ago
In heroic deeds of valor gave the world
theme for song
That will last through all the ages,
and make the weaker strong.
Their brows are deeply furrowed and
their heads are touched with snow;
Their forms are bent with weight of
years and some with weight of woe;
But their shields are Just as spotlesS
and their souls are just as true,
AS when they charged at Gettysburg
the countless ranks of blue.
They are coming soon to see us, these
dear, old, grizzled men,
And we'll give them such welcome
as will make them come again.
Well take our boys and girls along
that they for once may see
The men whom the Wilderness fought
under princely Lee,
And then the men at Shiloh who, mid
canister and shell,
In pity paused to drop a tear when
Sidney Johnston fell.
And Shenandoah's heroes, too, who
stemmed the tide all day
Where StOnewall Jackson bravely led
and kept the foe at bay.
And who shall write the truth, with
out effort to adOrn,
And name the dauntless warriors of
Forrest and Vandorn;
Of Morgan, the bold raider; Of that
dashing cavalier.
"Jeb" Stuart, Red" Jackson and
young Pelham, cannOneer!
TyreO Bell, with all the knights Of
chivalry who rest in peace profound,
In graves which Jealous fame hath
blessed and marked as holy ground.
The modern wars which nations wage
on nations of to-day
Are but the mimicry of War-the game
which children play
When guaged by the Titanic strife
which Southern valor hurled
In thunderbolts against the foe, whose
ally was the world
Then warriors met warriors, and loss
was reckoned then
By companies and regiments, and not
by single men,
The world, grown old, had never seen,
and never more may see,
A host like that whose sabers flashed
about the tag of Lee.
And when the homes for which they
fought have crumbled into dust,
Aye! when this great Republic shall
have perished, which it must;
When truth shall 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 weary march.
the horrors of the fray;
1t was not ours to suffer, in hunger,
thirst and pain,
Nor bivouaC on the battle field mid
ranks of comrades slain.
Twas not our fate to hear the ieers
and face the victOr'S frown,
When heroes at AppOmattox wept and
pulled the curtain down.
But we'll we know the story from Fort
Sumpter 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 rev.
erence the dead;
To wreath the sacred mounds where
sleep those royal hearts and true,
And while the thread of life holds out.
please God, these things We'll do.
Upon our walls three pictures hang
the faces of the three
Immortal gods of warfare-StonewaI
Jackson, Johnston, Lee.
We placed them with the purpose 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 their homes and Southland, and
what they believed was right.
Yes, we're going to New Orleans,
those fast-thinning ranks to meet,
Which, only when outnumbered thrice.
stacked arms in proud defeat.
The sun is fast declining, and the
march is nearly o'er,
And now and then there comes a
sound from yonder mystic shore.
1t is deaths bugle calling in some
weary form of gray,
Let's hasten on 10 cheer& hem for the
last time while we may.
April Is, 1903
To Land Owners.