1867.

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.

The women of Columbus, Mississippi, had shown them-
selves impartial in the offerings made to the memory
of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the
graves of the Confederate and of the National
soldiers.

Y the flow of the inland river,

ΒΥ

Whence the fleets of iron have fled,

Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,

Asleep on the ranks of the dead;

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day;

Under the one, the Blue;

Under the other, the Gray.

These in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat;
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet ;

i

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;

Under the laurel, the Blue;

Under the willow, the Gray.

From the silence of sorrowful hours,

The desolate mourners go,

Lovingly laden with flowers,

Alike for the friend and the foe;

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day;

Under the roses, the Blue;
Under the lilies, the Gray.

So, with an equal splendor,

The morning sun-rays fall, With a touch impartially tender, On the blossoms blooming for all; Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the judgment day; Broidered with gold, the Blue ;

Mellowed with gold, the Gray.

So, when the summer calleth,

On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
The cooling drip of the rain;
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Wet with the rain, the Blue;
Wet with the rain, the Gray.

Sadly, but not with upbraiding,

The generous deed was done;

In the storm of the years that are fading,
No braver battle was won ;

Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
Under the blossoms, the Blue;
Under the garlands, the Gray.

No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger for ever,

When they laurel the graves of our dead.

Under the sod and the dew,

Waiting the judgment day; Love and tears for the Blue; Tears and love for the Gray.

FRANCIS MILES FINCH.

1776. 1876.

THE SHIP OF STATE.

This fragment is the conclusion of the Building of the
Ship.

HOU, too, sail on, O Ship of State!

THOU

Sail on, O UNION, strong and great!

Humanity, with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock;
"T is but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!