"THE CROSS BEGINS TO BEND.” FIGHT OF THE HARRIET LANE AT PIG POINT BATTERY. JUNE 6TH, '61. "MIDNIGHT is past-the Cross begins to bend !" The night-watch, that began in storm and gloom, Wearied his soul-its dull hours dragging byHe smiles in seeing black clouds lift-make room, For this sweet writing of the stars, on high! And so I think, as through all our ranks to-day, Look answers look, and friend speaks quick to friend Soldier to soldier, brother to brother, say, 66 • Midnight is past-the Cross begins to bend !" Ay, ringing bells, throughout this summer air, ANONYMOUS. MY HERO. AT THE BATTLE OF BIG BETHEL, THE hand of fate has written out Its lines of mingled woe and crime. That shuts me from the buried past, One picture has a ten-fold power- With stars and stripes and bugle's blast, The meadow grass was low and green, The primrose drooped upon its stem; The sky was calm, the ground was strewn With sweet wild stars of Bethlehem. And on that soil my hero fell. Amid the carnage raging fast, Those withered blossoms drank his blood, At last, at last. They told me this, they said in death His pale lips breathed a loved one's name, And blessed the cause for which he died, The cause he never brought to shame. The words came sweeping o'er my soul Like some mad river rushing past, Only to drown my living dreams, At last, at last. They told me this at eventide, But morning never dawned for me : With battle sods above him cast? I whisper low when fevered winds Will know the name I dare not speak? At last, at last, EMMA EGGLESON. NOW FOR THE UNION. THE ENGAGEMENT AT ROMNEY, VA. A CHEER now for the Union, We save our native land. A blow now for the Union, And all the world beside. Fierce death our fathers braved: Can we do less than conquer, thatThan conquer, that The Union may be saved. A prayer now for the Union, From wives and sisters dearFrom children and from mothers, Which God above may hear A prayer while we do battle For those who fighting fall- For freedom and for all. J. HENRY HAYWARD. DO THEY MISS ME? THE RAIL ROAD ENGAGEMENT AT VIENNA, VA., DO THEY miss me at home, do they miss me to-night, Do they think of the absent, while pattering rain There's Frankie, and Katie, and Belle in their glee, Playing "puss in the corner," do they think of me? Do they wish that big brother could lay down his gun, And not be a soldier-boy, "only for fun?" Then there's sister Carrie, with dark waving hair; As she sits by the window, so pensive and still, And there is my mother in the old rocking-chair. Those eyes are yet sparkling, that face is still fair; Though her hair has been frosted for many a day, The youth of her heart has not faded away; |