Their
experience, however, was not unlike that of thousands who suffered and
died for the nation. With patient endurance and the fortitude of
martyrs, they drank to the dregs the bitter cup of war. Through the long
and fatiguing marches, in the many hard fought battles, and in the
hopeless agony of life in the prison-pens, they were manly and true. It
is unnecessary to say more. By the self-sacrificing devotion of heroes
like these, the nation was saved.
* * * * *
EQUINOCTIAL.
By Sidney Maxwell.
The autumn day is almost spent. And yet
No length' ning shadows mark the sun's decline,
For all is shadowed by the cold, gray mist
Which long has driven with the fitful wind,
And still it is not gone. How chill the air!
It seems but yesterday that summer's breath,
Sultry and dry, distressed the thirsty fields--
And now the skies, repentant of their fault,
Will more than make amends. It rains again,
Beating a doleful measure on the pane,
Sobbing in sad, wild cadence through the street
While ever 'mid the rising, falling strains
The eaves drop notes as those of muffled drum,
Alone in rhythm, save, perchance, the beat
Of some tired horse's hoofs, as, homeward bound,
He treads the flooded pavement stones.
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