The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-06-16

A simple, sodded mound of earth
without line above it;
With only daily votive flowers
To prove that any love 1t
The token flag that silently
Each breeZes visit numbers
Alone keeps martial ward above
The hero's dreamless slumbers.
No name?-- record? Ask the world:
The world has read his story
If all its annals can unfold
prouder tale of glory:
If ever merely human life
Hath taught dtviner moral.
If ever round a worthier brow
Was twined a purer laurel.
A twelve only. since his sword
Went flashing through the battle
A twelve-month only. since his ear
Heard wars last deadly rattle
And yet have countless pilgrim feet
The Pilgrims guerdon paid him,
And weeping women come to
The place where they had laid him.
Contending armies bring, in turn,
Their need of praise honor,
And Pallas here has paused to bind
The cypress wreath upon her:
IT seems a holy sepulchre,
Whose sanctities can waken
Alike the love of friend or foe
OF Christian or of pagan.
They come to own his high emprise,
Who fed in frantic masses,
Before the glttering bayonet
That triumphed at Manassas
Who witnessed Kernstown's fearful odds
AS on their ranks he Numbered
Dt..ont as the storied Greek
Amid his brave three hundred,
They we'll recall the tiger spring.
The wise retreat, the rally,
The tireless march. the fierce pursuit,
Through many mountain valley;
Cross Keys unlock new paths to fame,
And Port Republics story
Wrests from his ever-vanquish'd foes
Strange tributes to his glory.
Cold Harbor rises to their view
The Cedars' gloom is Ger them
Antietam's rough and rugged heights
Stretch mockingly before them;
The lurid flames of Fredericksburg
Right grimly they remember,
That lit the frozen nights retreat,
That wintry-w wild December.
The largess of their praise Is flung
With bounty, rare and regal:
Is 1t because the vulture fears
Nc longer the dead eagle?
Nay rather far accept 1t thus
An homage true and tender,
AS soldier unto soldiers worth
AS brave to brave will render.
But who shall weigh the wordless grief IA.
That leaves in tears its traces
AS round their leader crowd again
The bronzed and veteran faces,
The "Old Brigade" he loved so we'll
The mountain men, who bound him
With bays of their own winning ere
Al .tardier fame had crowned him
The legions who had seen his glance
Across the carnage flashing.
And thrilled to catch his rining charge"
Above the voley crashing;
Who oft had watched the lifted hand
The inward trust betraying
And felt their courage grow sublime,
While they beheld him praying.
Good knights and true as ever drew
Their swords with knightly Roland;
Or died at Sobieskis side,
For love of marty's Poland;
Or kAelt with CromwelTs Ironsides;
Or sang with brave Gustavus;
Or on the plain OF Austerlitz,
Breathed out their dying ayes.
Rare fame. rare fame! II chanted praise
With all the world to listen,
If pride that swells a nations soul.
II foeman's tears that glisten,
If pilgrims shrining love, IL grief
Which naught may soothe or sever.
II these can consecrate. this spot
I Is sacred ground forever!
'In the month OF June the singular spectac
vas presented at Lexington. Va, of two host
rmies. In turn. reyersntlx visiting Jackson
grave 1890 - - -, - J. ST -