Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 128, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1914 — OUR FALLEN HEROES. [ARTICLE]

OUR FALLEN HEROES.

The angel of the nation’s peace Has wreathed with flowers the battle drum; We. see the fruiting fields Increase Where sound of war no more shall come. The swallow skims the Tennessee, Soft winds play o’er the Rapidan; There only echo notes of glee, Where gleamed a mighty army’s van! Fair Chattanooga’s wooded slope, With summer airs is lightly stirred. And many a heart is warm with hope Where once the deep-mouthed gun was heard. The blue Potomac stainless rolls, And Mission Ridge is gemmed with % fern; On many a height sleep gallant souls And still the blooming years return. Thank God! unseen to outward eye. But felt in every freeman’s breast. From graves where fallen comrades He Ascends at Nature’s wise behest. With springing grass and blossoms ’ new, A prayer to bless the nation’s life, To freedom’s flower give brighter hue, And hide the awful stains of strife, 0, boys In blue, we turn to you. The scarred and mangled who survive; 1 ' No more we meet in grand review— But all the arts of freedom thrive. Still glows the jewel on its shrine. Won where the James now tranquil rolls; A wreath for all, the glory thine, And memory of heroic souls! —George Bancroft Griffith.