Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1910-08-30
Father Brannan,s Penn.

| OPposeu 70 WHAT we LnougHt was wrong,
When every man stood at his post.
To do, to dare. and to obey.
To prove he loved his country most,
Resigned to give his life away.
tbs sad, yet sweet, now to recall,
The hardships that we underwent;
For worse than Caesars when in Gaul,
For often we had not a cent,
And haversacks were mighty slim
And everything was, oh. so blue,
1t almost made the eyes grow dim
| To find the rations that we drew.
But then it was some recompense
| To slip at night among the trees;
And take turkey off the fence,
Or rob a fruitful hive of bees.
And, maybe. we would get shoat.
| If not a chicken. or goose;
If nothing else. billy goat,
Or anything that lay round loose.
The weary march who can forget,
So tired, hungry. sleepy too
Trudging along in cold and wet.
Trying to find those men in. blue,
And washday. that was something great,
We'd wash IN some stream flowing by:
Sit clotheless on the banks and wait,
For shirt and other things to dry.
Our troubles were enough by day,
And often they were worse at night
He could not sleep. he could not pray,
For every soldier got bite,
And often he would have to rise,
And hold his shirt above the blaze;
Their numbers try to minimize,
And shorten thus their length of DAYS.
But. after all, we now delight.
To bring once more to memory's door,
The beating drum, the march, the fight,
The comrades brave who've gone before,
The cannons boom. the sehreeching shell,
The fierce contention on the field,
The bayonet and the ''rebel vell,"
Before which everything would yield.
OH how love to bring to mind
Dear old Virginia's many charms;
Her people knightly and refined,
Her lovely streams, her vernal farms.
Her purple mountains, skies so blue,
The old turnpikes, the fence of stone;
The clover fields all wet with dew,
And other beauties all her own.
Farewell, dear Richmond on the James,
Farewell, sweet Valley Shenandoah;
Farewell, grand State, which still proclaims
The valor which was shown of yore,
The silent graves, where now do sleep.
The cold remains of those who died
Where memory shall her vigils keep.
Where truth and honor shall abide.
The Southern soldier has no cause
To be ashamed of anything
The world may now withhold applause,
But unborn poets yet shall sing,
In glowing language of his name,
Will tell the story of his past,
Will write it on the scroll of fame,
To live as long as time shall last.
But there's one name that's tar above,
And far away beyond them all:
Whose memory we shall always love,
Who kept his grandeur in his fall.
Whose fame shall ever ampify.
In centuries that are yet to be,
A name that will not. cannot die,
Our great and peerless Robert Lee.
How grand was his majestic soul.
In victory or in sad defeat,
How perfect was his self-control.
How kind his heart, how pure, how sweet,
No monument, however high.
Although its summit kissed the skies:
Would be to great to testify
The glory which his name implies.
And there's a name that meant success,
Whose fame's eteral as the hills;
The army's hope when in distress
name that burns. a name that thrills,
How dazzling were his splendid deeds!
In strategy he led them all,
And all the world today comedies
That there is only one "Stonewall."
No drawer man was ever born,
He flung the lightning in his path,
Snatched victory out of hope forlorn,
Like to whirlwind in its wrath
Jackson and Lee! Famed synonyms!
Their tombs shall always be shrine,
Where valor sings her sweetest hymns.
Where history shall their names entwine.
NV dear beloved soldier friends,
We soon shall hear the last tattoo
Which time shall beat as it descends.
To hide us all from mortal view,
But there's land hope We'll see,
Where there's no sorrow, and no wars,
Where there's an endless reveille,
Which angels sing behind the stars
Goodbye, beloved friends, goodbye,
Our lives are passing fast away,
Like clouds that feck the lilac sky.
Or moths that round the candle play.
A few more years twill be at best,
When all of us who wore the gray,
Will have passed, let's hope. to rest,
Awaiting that last judgment day.
Goodbye, no more, a last goodbye,
Together here once more we'll meet,
Our friendship. though. shall never die.
A soldiers love knows no dec it.
There is bond as strong as steel.
That binds us as the day to night:
That is, that We shall always feel,
That what We did was for the right.