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"PICCIOLA."

"When all the village cheers us on, That you, in tears, apart are seated?

"We march two hundred thousand strong!
And that's a sight, my baby beauty,
To quicken silence into song,

And glorify the soldier's duty."

"It's very, very grand, I know,"
The little maid gave soft replying;
"And father, mother, brother, too,
All say hurrah' while I am crying.

"But think O Mr. Soldier, think, How many little sisters' brothers

Are going all away to fight,

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Who may be killed, as well as others!"

Why, bless thee, child," the sergeant said,
His brawny hand her curls caressing,

""T is left for little ones like you

To find that war 's not all a blessing."

And "bless thee!" once again he cried;
Then cleared his throat and looked indignant,
And marched away with wrinkled brow
To stop the straggling tear benignant.

MOVE ON THE COLUMNS.

And still the ringing shouts went up

From doorway, thatch, and fields of tillage; The pall behind the standard seen

By one alone, of all the village.

The oak and cedar bend and writhe

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When roars the wind through gap and braken;

But 't is the tenderest reed of all

That trembles first when earth is shaken.

MOVE ON THE COLUMNS.

MOVE

BY W. D. GALLAGHER.

I.

OVE on the columns! Why delay ?
Our soldiers sicken in their camps :
The summer heats, the autumn damps,
Have sapp'd their vigor, day by day;
And now the winter comes apace,
With death-chills in its cold embrace,
More fatal than the battle fray.

II.

Move on the columns! Hesitate

No longer what to plan or do:
Our cause is good- our men are true-

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MOVE ON THE COLUMNS.

This fight is for the Flag, the State,
The Union, and the hopes of man:
And Right will end what Wrong began,
For God the Right will vindicate.

III.

Move on the columns! If the land
Is lock'd by winter, take the sea;
No possible barrier can be

So fatal to a rightful stand,

As wavering purpose when at bay.

This way or THAT

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at once! to-day!" Were worth ten thousand men at hand.

IV.

Move on the columns! With the sweep
Of eagles let them strike the foe;
The hurricane lays the forest low :

Momentum wings the daring leap

That clears the chasm: the lightning stroke
Shivers the wind-defying oak;

The earthquake rocks the eternal steep.

V.

Move on the columns! Why have sprung
Our myriad hosts from hill and plain?
Leaving the sickle in the grain,

MOVE ON THE COLUMNS.

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Closing the harvest hymn half

sung,

Half filled the granary and the mow, Unturn'd the sod, untouch'd the plough, Scythes rusting where they last were swung.

VI.

Move on the columns! They are here
To found anew a people's faith,

To save from treason and from death

A nation which they all revere;

And on each manly brow is set
A purpose such as never yet
Was thwarted when, as now, sincere.

VII.

Move on the columns! Earth contains
No guerdon for the good and free
Like that which bless'd our Liberty:
And while its banner still remains
The symbol of united power,

Nor man nor fiend can tell the hour
In which its star-lit glory wanes.

VIII.

Move on the columns strong and bright!
Strike down the sacrilegious hands

That clutch and wield the battle brands

Which menace with their Wrong our Right,
Words now are wasted-glittering steel
Alone can make the last appeal :
They 've will'd it so - and we must fight.

IX.

Move on the columns! If they go
By ways they had not thought to take,
To fields we had not meant to make;
Or if they bring unthought-of woe,
Let that which woke the fiery wrath
Fall, scorn'd and blackening in its path.
Not man, but God, may stay the blow.
Move on the columns !

LANDER.

BY THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.

LOSE his bleak eyes—they shall no more

CLOSE

Flash victory where the cannon roar;

And lay the battered sabre at his side,

(His to the last, for so he would have died!)
Though he no more may pluck from out its sheath
The sinewy lightning that dealt traitors death.
Lead the worn war-horse by the pluméd bier
Even his horse, now he is dead, is dear!