The Irish standard., 1905-05-20

i One-tlme the home of the CuStiSeS and
the Lees. 1t worships the name of
Lee, as it does that of Washington,
and it never forgets that both these
great men of Virginia called her their
town" 1t has one monument, and
one only. 1t is called "Appomattox," !"
and represents the typical Southern
soldier when news of the surrender
reaches him. The head, bowed as if
before the blow, cannot blind us to
the broad shoulders which, we know,
will straighten up again when the
sternly folded arms relax. Well is
this named, and yet, as well might it
be called honorable surrender But,
perhaps, the day is not far off when
that word "Appomattox" may be
synonymous OF that very term, hon
orable surrender" 1t is around this
staue that the old soldiers in Gray
hold the most important exercises of
Memorial Day. The writer attended
on Memorial Day few years ago.
She was impressed with the orators,
who touched on every attribute of the
beloved Gray, and made no reference
whatever to their foes of forty years
ago. Speak of the cause" one orator
did, but not as the lost cause" for,
he said, mo cause is lost which we be:
lieve is just and right and which we
would die to uphold" General Lees
unmarried daughter was present on
this occasion, and, no doubt, her pres
ence inspired the orators, ii that hand
ful OF worn, gray men around the
statue which pictured them" did
not. To me, they were most eloquent,
as the procession moved slowly up
the cobbled streets, just as twilight
was coming on, and the soft May
breeze was bringing some of the even
ing damp of the Potomac with it, lift
ing the locks OF white hair on the un-
covered heads of the little band which
marched sadly while the shrill fife
walled out Safe in the Arms of
Jesus"
They halted then in the rear of
Christ church, which Washington at
tended, and where Robert Lee also
came with his sweetheart and his
wife. There, before grave and slab
dedicated to the Confederate soldiers
they gathered, and you could almost
hear the fife say as it played the
notes:
"Hark. 'Tis the voice of angels,
Borne in a song to me,
Over the fields of glory!"
as the old soldiers deposited their
flowers on the grave then turned
silently way, and rejoned the broken
ranks. 1t was not the sprightly tune
of Dixie nor YET the inspiring one
of "'rhe Bonnie Blue Flag which was
played for them as they disbanded in
the May twilight, but the voice of the
fife still crying:
There by His Love abiding,
Sweet, too, my soul shall rest"
Within a fortnight of that evening
three of this small band had joined
the Greater Army. 1t so often hap
pens that after such day men who
wore the Blue and men who wore the
Gray die in noticeable numbers. OF
course, many attribute their death to
extra eXcrtion. But we think that
with Moore they cry:
when fond hearts are severed
And loved ones are flown,
Oh, who would inhabit
This bleak world alone!"
Yes, they are dying out in great
numbers, and they are realizing it
most forcibly, of late, when they see
their sons, or their neighbors sons,
brought home from some foreign
shore to rest at Arlington. Said one
old soldier, on Decoration Day, 1899,
as he gazed towards the southern
plateau of Arlington, where lay hun
dreds of our boys who had Joined the
army but little over a year before:
1T took that to make us a united
land!"
Yes, it had taken that Not one
there but who understood what the
old soldier meant, that our men from
North and South, dying in a common
cause, did more to bring about a per-
feet reconstruction OF the sections
whose division, thirty-odd years pre-
vious, laid the foundation of this
cemetery at Arlington, than all other
efforts towards that end.
A Friend at Court.
What can l do with that boy?" she