The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-05-30
MONDAY, MAY 80, 1910.
THEY ARE MARCHING TODAY.

'They come beloved ones, from the dis
tant shore,
Where joy illumes with golden rays,
And softly in each sorrowing heart
they pour
Sweet mem'ries of departed days"
go read the words of the old song
That has carried many of us back to
.the brave days of old" the days
when you and 1 were young, Maggie"
when life was worth living. when the
despot's heel was on thy shore, Mary
land. my Maryland" and when some of
the older set thought that they would
gil 20 home to the tune. the girl i
left behind me-
The days of 1861 We're brave days.
Everywhere throughout this country
men were rallying to the flag, and the
women, God bless their souls! were
cheering them on to do their duty. The
civilization of the country was in peril.
The Government which our fathers
founded was threatened with destruc
ton and out from their scabbards
leaped ten thousand swords for the de-
fence of principle. The storm has long
since passed; the fields once Redeemed
with the blood of our sires are carpeted
now with green, and to-day, all over
This land, men and women intermit
their daily vocations to pay tribute to
the men who fought for independence.
The victors and the vanqushed meet
once more, not to renew the strife
which ceased more than generation
ago, but to bestow some kindly thought
upon the dead who lie all about US. j;
Is holy thing to remember the dead
to remind ourselves that we are be-
cause they were; that we have nothing
worth while that we did not get from
them; that we are but pensioners upon
the bounty of their sacrifices for right.
To-day. from mountain and valley,
from hill and plain, from we'll
Kept city cemeteries and from country
Eraveyards all overgrown with weeds
and grass and from unmarked graves
all over this land. they come troopins
before US. these hosts in gray. with
guns no longer in their hands
but with the peace that pass
eth all understanding in their hearts
to remind us that we have heri-
tage of honor which we were false to
forget. Here they come, with Robert
Edward Lee, riding on old Traveller"
at the head of the column, and with
4
u. Johnston, and Albert Sidney John
ston. and odd Jube" Early, and Joe
Wheeler, and Wade Hampton, and j. y.
Is. Stuart, and Fitz Lee, and Rooney"
and the rest--a noble army of the
greatest soldiers who ever fought for
Just cause. with their shadowy coll
umns tramping on behind, all dressed
in gray, just men made perfect; troop
Ing from their, biyouacs on Fame's
eternal camping. gro'ind to be with US
on this holy day. when, with flowers
and songs and speech and prayer we
thank the God of battles that such
men lived and died for US and for the
right.
All of US remember how Surrey of
Eagles Nest saw them as in vision;
that in the sweep of the storm through
the forests he knew that Jackson was
advancing, that A. p. Hill was coming
up. that "Mordaunt" and "Fenwick'
were instinct with life again, and how
overwhelmed with the Joy of conflict
he reached out his hand for the sabre
on the wall to find that 1T was all q
dream A dream? Yes, but dream
which has filed the earth with the
deeds of the 1mmortals.
'Stoop, angels from the skies,
There is no holier spot of GROUND
Than where defeated valor lies,
BY mourning beauty crowned