OCR Text |
Show I $ BEAVER PRESS "Hie Blue dtk( "B ivouac of the 1 IB f I 7t9a.fl ,v ff - l I if5 a r- - X On February 11, 1820, a son was born to Kane O'llara, an Irish political refugee, who was living In Danville In the Blue grass region of Kentucky. The J iff iJf1 i "J sir f , Hit aiiA. -- (tW t ' Theodore OVtera H!gSlgi8UG8 was named Theodore 0'IIara and when the war with Mexico began he was a captain In the United States array. By the time the war had ended, he came back to the Bluegrass a major. There were other Kentucklans who came back also to rest In the soil of their native state. When they were burled at Frankfort, Major O'llara, standing on a grassy hillside In the midst of a great crowd, recited a poem which he had written In tribute to his fallen comrades. It was THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD boy O'Hara's Tomb in 1849 and, as class poet, had delivered a memorable poem at the commencement exercises. When he read the newspaper item about the action of the women in Columbus, Miss. Francis Miles Finch, the lawyer, became Francis Miles Finch, the poet, again, and in 18C7 there appeared in the Atlantic Monthly this poem : The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping-grounTheir silent tents are spread, And Glory guards, with solemn round. The bivouac of the dead. THE BLUE AND THE GRAY By the flow of the inland river, Whence the fleets of iron have fled, Where the blades of the grave-grasquiver, Asleep are the ranks of the dead ; Under the sod and the dew, runior of the foe's advance Now swells upon the wind; No troubled thought at midnight haunts Of loved ones left behind; No s No vision of the morrow's strife No Waiting the judgment-daUnder the one, the Blue, Under the other, the Gray. Their shivered swords are red with rust, Their plumed heads are bowed; Their haughty banner, trailed In dust, Is now their martial shroud. And plenteous funeral tears have washed The red stains from each brow, And the proud forms, by battle gashed, Are free from anguish now. These in the roblngs of glory, Those in the gloom of defeat, All with the battle-bloogory, In the dusk of eternity meet: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the Judgment-day- ; Under the laurel, the Blue, Under the willow, the Gray. The warrior's dream alarms; braying horn nor screaming fife At dawn shall call to arms. y ; d Francis Miles FincH And kindred eyes and hearts watch by The heroes' sepulcher. The neighing troop, the flashing blade, The bugle's stirring blast. The charge, the dreadful cannonade, The din and shout are past; Nor war's wild note, nor glory's peal, Shall thrill with fierce delight Those breasts that nevermore may feel The rapture of the fight Rest on, embalmed and sainted dead, Dear as the blood ye gave, No Impious footstep here shall tread The herbage of your grave; Nor shall your glory be forgot While Fame her record keeps. Or Honor points the hallowed spot Where valor proudly sleeps. From the silence of sorrowful hourj The desolate mourners go, the fierce northern hurricane That 8 weeps his great plateau, Flushed with the triumph yet to gain Came down the serried foe. Who heard the thunder of the fray Break o'er the field beneath, Knew well the watchword of that day marble minstrel's voiceless stone In deathless song shall tell When many a vanquished age hath flown, The story how ye fell. Nor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight, Nor time's remorseless doom, Shall dim one ray of glory's light That gilds your denthless tomb. So with an equal splendor, Like Was "Victory or Death." had the doubtful conflict raged O'er all that stricken plain, For never fiercer fight had waged The vengeful blood of Spain; And still the storm of battle blew, Still swelled the gory tide ; Not long, oar stout old chieftain knew, Such odds his strength could bide. Long Twai In Called that hour his stern to a martyr's grave command The flower of his beloved land, The nation's flag to save. By rivers of their fathers' gore laurels grew, Ills first-borAnd well he deemed the sons would pour Their Uvea for glory too. n Full many a norther's breath has swept O'er Angostura's plain And long the pitying sky has wept Above the molderlng slain. The raven'a acream, or eagle's flight, Or shepherd's pensive lay, Alone awakes each sullen height That frowned o'er that dread fray. the Dark and Bloody Ground, le must not slumber there, Where stranger steps and tongues resound Along the heedless air. Tour own proud land's heroic soil Shall be your fitter grave; She claims from War his richest spoil The ashes of her brave. Sons of Thus 'neatb their parent turf they rest, Far from the gory field, Borne to a Spartan mother'a breast On many a bloody shield ; The sunshine of their native sky Smiles sad'y on them here. Yon When In the spring of 1SC1 the drums began beating the long roll again, O'llara cast his lot with the South. He served until the end of the war, engaged In business at Columbus, Ga., then retired to a plantation In Alubama where he died June 7, 1SC7. In 1873 the Kentucky legislature voted an appropriation to bring the body of her soldier-poe- t back to the Bluegrass. The nest year they burled him with military honors In Commonwealth cemetery in Frankfort He rests there beside his fellow soldiers for whom he wrote the poem that has become world-famou- s and which has been called "the perfect requiem of four wars' Theodore O'Hara's "The Bivouac of the Dead." "Perfect requiem of four wars' though O'Hara's poem was. It remained for another to become more particularly associated with the Memorial day observance which grew out of the conflict of 1801-05- . In 1S05, the women of Columbus. Ga., decorated the graves of their war dead and the following January the members of the Ladles' Aid society there decided to perietuate the custom. They picked upon April 20, 1300. as the date for their Memorial day celebration. So they held their memorial services In the cemetery on that date and decorated not only the graves of the Confederate war dead, but also those of some Union soldiers burled there. The next spring there appeared In a New York newspaper a brief paragraph which stated that "the women of Columbus, Miss, have shown themselves Impartial In their offerings made to the memory of the dead. They strewed flowers alike on the graves of the Confederate and of the National soldiers." At that time a young man named Francis Miles Finch was practicing law In Ithaca, N. Y. Born In 1S27, he had been graduated from Yale 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. The morning fall, With a touch impartially tender, On the blossoms blooming for all Under the sod and the dew. Waiting the Judgment-day- ; Brotdered with gold, the Blue, Mellowed with gold, the Gray. sun-ray- s 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-daWet with the rain, the Blue, Wet with the rain, the Gray. So, Sadly, but not with upbraiding,' The generous deed was done,' In the storm of the years that are fadini No braver battle was won: Under the sod and the dew, Waiting the udcment-rlv- ' Under the blossoms, the Blue' Under the garlands, the Gray No more shall the war-crsever, Or the winding rivers be red; They banish our anger forever When they laurel the graves of our the sod and the dew. dead-Unde- r Waiting the Judgment-day- ; Love and tears for the Blue, Tears and love for the Gray. This poem became Instantly If reprinted In hundreds of new.naVra ihr the land. It was set to music and's n ."pat",1 otic hymn. A famous anthology r An,erlcan poetry calls It "a national classic " In later years Finch became ... New York Court of Appeal., heK 0 Cornell university, was a member of i f nS board of trustees, became dean of ts law In 1S92 and held other positions trust until his death In 1007. But An'e " not remember the famous Jurist anT i neatly so well as It remomhors the man wh poetic message of reconciliation help,,, r a nation and heal the wounds of Krea, ' ' C br WMtfra " ' t.'or iewsp,p,r - fif a National Topics Interpreted National rv 1. .:.t-!- '' f nbn. Wa.Bruckar, . " "mngton, Fres uuuains Washington. Probably the most notable incident of recent days In W asmngion is me Blast at explosion of a New Deal bombIs by business. significant It and Important that the business Chamvoice, as representee by the United the of of Commerce ber States, has spoken in such emphatic terms about the Xew Deal It is further a matter of significance that the business voice criticized the New Deal generally as well as specifically, because It Is the first time In the period since President Roosevelt took charge that anything like been unity In business thought has presented. The reaction was Instantaneous. DeFirst, Secretary Roper of the 21 partment of Commerce mustered members of his business advisory committee for couLter attack. It was almost drowned out by the chamber's roar. Such was not the case, however, with the President's conven-tio- n reply. He waited until the had ended to let loose a charge that the business Interests were selfish. It made all the front pages. This brings us to the crux of the condition precipitated by the outburst of the Chamber of Commerce convention, 'it is seldom, and I believe the record shows this statement to be absolutely true, that annual conventions of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States have teen taken seriously by the newspapers. The business men have been looked upon as possessors and promoters of rather antiquated Ideas. Their Interests have been and are of a selfish character. That is quite obvious and quite natural. But at this time, the voice of business speaks more than just business views. It speaks politically, nence, when business spoke this time the newspapers of the country paid heed. The result was an unprecedented amount of publicity was obtained by the chamber through the medium of its convention this year. Whether this represents a change in the thought of the country, surely no one Individual of any group Is able to say definitely. It must be recognized, however, that for many months a highly vocal minority of politicians has been accusing the administration of throttling criticism. Although this group fought vigorously and charged the administration with having the greatest propaganda machine ever to exist, it obtained little publicity for those views. Most newspapers dismissed them by publication of three or four paragraphs, buried on the inside pages of the metropolitan dailies. So, necessarily, significance attaches to the fact that when the business voire was raised In apparent unity the newspapers accorded columns of space to It. It can be construed in no other way than as meaning there Is a larger opposition to some phases of the New Deal at least than most of us had expected. For quite a while such groups as the American Liberty league have pounded away at Opposition certain phases of 'he New Deal. To Unified the Washington observers It appeared that these groups were getting nowhere and getting there fast. Of a sudden, however, the voice opposed to the New Deal seems to have found Itself. Certainly at the moment and for the first time, there Is an approximation of unity to New Deal opposition and that fact Is reflected in a rather Important way. 1 refer to the courage exhibited In congress where there is more and more evidence of a decision on the part of the legislators to assert their Independence In contradistinction to previous silent obedience to the White House. I believe it is too early to attempt a prediction whether the Chamber of Commerce leadership will last. If I were to make an Individual Kiiess I would say that of this type will crumble. leadership That guess Is predicated upon the record of the past because heretofore It has been true that business always suffered defections and there was bushwacklng In presently Its own camp eganlles, of whether that condl-- t on develops again, the explosive character of the speeches In the chamber's convention have added a momentum lo Roosevelt opposition nlch it has lacked hereotfore. It Jnat possible, therefore, that even If business leadership n its ffforts to curb radical fail, tendencies mong the administration a knit opposition may group now be developing. Pursuing this assumption further, T, J? " W"" the d, C. come must be sequent years t-- f 1 vJ 1 taxed... to . n, Ut depreSrfng the t, fcj ' Some support isSeenfor(., ory of probable tanM L'H recent statement of Pos; eral Farley who lHn.li -cuwnnan or- the Demoemu ai committee. ia almost 1. w? DO words, Mr. Farley "ec. area that business tk, arable to M,: were not now favorahi.7. ttk that there was no rea the support of busing. "J Mr. Farley, clever nnunZT5 is. recognizes thai u conditions there are more the side of tho ... to those who have iot n ,S are on th .m. peals to those who have. On the other hand. statistics show that "! I 27. K 65,000,000 persons hold ance policies; that something 1,1 Konl-o- . mat aimere are arming ,1 000,000 home owners In th, , JZl and that even at the lowest of the depression there were people working for salaries wuges man mere were p nut w. Mr. taneys guess annarent!. b so many of these workers tat had their Incomes reduced thatthq will support a candidate who mom ises to Improve their condition, u their numbers lies the difference tween victory and defeat No discussion of the contmmj that between business . YKA and PreslJa Roosevelt would be complete wift. .. the Hot Spot "t considerate of the NEA. Itli the hottest spot In congress right now. The situation is of nek 1 cuarutier as 10 ue coiuparaon Ml carbuncle on your neck. Those have had carbuncles will full; uderstand. A few days ago, Mr. RocsmS called the most obstreperous off position senators to the White House for a conference on the qn tlon of what to do about extendi!) the national Industrial recoverj id It Is due to expire by limitation)! law on June 10. He cleverly tail ed Miss Perkins, the secretary at labor, and Donald Richberg, the guiding hand of the Recoverj to sit in on that Ine. It was only natural that tn such avid New Dealers as Miss Per kins and Mr. Richberg should hold out for continuation of NRAfori on'.: two-yea- r period. And It was natural for senators who do not be la all of the lieve NRA principles to Insist on 1 make shift, or temporary continuation. cocThe President put them Into 1 resultiat The out. it kpit to fight logical disagreement was perfectly mm'1 had put President but the In a position to trade with congress Since the NRA opponents In natural!? cress did not yield, they went back to the Capitol They frnmpri their own program. nrrmnse tn have NRA COntlDWi. fewith some of Its unsatisfactory t of atures eliminated, to April will be ibl year. They probablj t0 paSS K oHp nnmh snnnort the Rtieh leeislation. If they do, Actna.lJ. accent It 1!" h hoa nn choice. He cannot NBA the policy represented by crash completely. meet- - whole-heartedl- y con- ti-i- 11 B is a wiser and sadder In Jhe Eagle that Is proposed It ate resolution Wiser t SW- inula feathers (J scissors to trim the tall It the famed eagle so that W operate against businesses stat- etraffic is wholly within a permit will It trastate-n- or "The senate finance wbJW which drafted this resolution the ed It to the senate by to thrtf- u wneiming voie w That shows better than any of mine how thoroughly deteraJJ l lint, the views w f. Succln ocuniy Rlchberg-rerkln- s Q. J ministration policy. prorlW resolution continuing la changes In the current 'Tno price fixing under m covering codes in except mltted or sanctioned JjJ -- ndu??"" now embody the price nxinaj natural resources c,I)le- ,! - 2. No trade nJd,tt. Intrastate commerce under code. 3. The President will '-- In which to review present re fair practice In order to ' It each so that 31) daf co" lf effect that a genult adjust new NlU issue for the 1!W0 cam- - to the provisions of the bf "I think this Is the ',e 'n m'""ng h out," said Senator Harris, won,. Ty that Mr. Roosevelt will forced into th' , crat of Mississippi, chairman ' ",',",u "Km committee. of , thii P -I feel certain we ran resolution without a ttre3' ' ..J1,e thought ,V "urt of debate and It will Plve "ml"ry rnennwh W'M marshal and give Itself bc'ilmi ihe to adJiiHt 1 n- "0,ne er 11,. . time to rule on the arlw Hons of NHA validity-- ' V 1 .,.,... p''"tive . Welm NwMef |