Times Herald from Washington, District of Columbia • Page 6

I i I I If i I 1 I1 I 4 at amai wwwa taig JSfefiaaSBaBJi itfW fjsjV ivjs ifcajt5 -T ft VHIkHv BUBflE BKr4 VHVME5aEMBBMBBBBBBBBBK Mrs MATTIE McCLTJRE Treasurer Committee on Finance flK3S Mrs CHARLOTTE EMERSON MANN MRS McCULLOUGH Chairman Committee on Entertainment Secy Womans Auxiliary Committee Vi LS I Jsisikl viri rts irm of svS iff rfriJ y7jY7 fs liSi VBBf aVaWMiBVMWflVaVaVaVaVaVfl S3iEf6sS2ftf tS Bjw Frx lffaffJniriafAlffaffi HHHHHHHrvi Jril CHHHI lr 1 3 1 A i 1 AVftVWaVftVJPJV mcvAl iHfflPSSMllilfl Mrs HENRIETTA ROSE Second Vice Chairman Womans Citizens Com mBHYHBfH9BfBlBfB Mrs ADA WEISS Chairman of Committee on Decorations THE TIMES WASHINGTON SATURDAY OCTOBEH U1902 WOMEN WHO HAVE AIDED IN MAKING ENCAMPMENT A SUCCESS BY THEIR SERVICES IN PROVIDING FOR COMFORT OF FEMININE VISITORS ooooooooooccxxcccccocxxxcocc JSi Mrs LIZZIE CALVER Chairman Committee on Public Comfort Zhz Qhkb Ha o0o JOHN HARRISON MILLS o0o tho month of Jurethc Xew York Herald offered an alluring prize for the beat poem on the Crand Army of the DUIIING tint should be submitted by a certain date The contest uas open to all and there were few restrictions as to the nature of the work A committee comprising the following gentlemen was named George Car Egglcston Edwin Markham and Gen Panlel Sickles The vast number of manuscripts submitted presented a formidable task to the committee In its issue of Sunday July 6 the Htrald printed thfc prire poem in full Of all the contributions the judges unanimously telected the work of Mr John llarrton Mills The poem attracted widespread comment -and by many critics uas diclarcd a masterpiece Certainly feu poems posses the magnificent spirit and word coloring of Jlr Mills work The Third Da Is by no means the authors first work along this linei A number of his poems hac been published broadcast and have even obtained prizes at prominent expositions Ills name Is not new to the literary world Through the courtesy of the New York Herald tho poem Is licic reproduced THOUGHT the clock struck five and father was calling the men I But tired with the mowing I turned my cheek to the pillow to sleep again And my pillow was wet with the morning dew my bed was the hill the sky Was my roof and my blanket and in the east the morning sun was high A gun shakes the ground another a volley Away in the dark Where the sleepless pickets watch a flash like the fireflys distant spark It flutters along the edges A stir thro the shadow runs And the silent battalions stand in line and the gunners at the guns There are eight and fifty guns aligned And the white slabs rise behind To fight in their street it is not meet But the dead will never mind We came through Gettysburg town Firing back as the sun went down I saw there a maid she was not afraid And she smiled as the sun went down i under the rising sun in the woods the fight roars on NOW points of the dial our silent gun marks on the lunettes ere the right has won The trenches emptied at Sickles call when longstreet tripped light night and the fall Crashed down on our center And still we wait oh the waiting tis worst of all When the lanyard is swinging the fuse is cut the saber at carry ere higher The wheels leap and tremble the trail spurns the sod the hoofs in the dust strike fire We wait but we know where the curtain shakes and the flying reek drifts afar Are the scene shifters setting the stage anew for the ever new drama of war i the curtain rings up To your guns Ah Lion of Lee what at bay NOW shell Load Since Crecy was lost and won such a sight has not seen the day i Shall it ever again Twist the crest and the plain half way cannon stand wheel to wheel From the left to the right mile on mile tier on tier now where that white tongue forks with red molten steel Aim low Fire And now as if wired and fired all at once at a touch Like a hundred craters the black line breaks into fiery eruption and such A shock is it met by another the vale splits asunder I think with the wail The scream the deafening crash and th lash of the earth smitten as with a flail was but the flourish of trumpets the blare as the gladiators come IT Only a red splash here and there and the bursting of the drum Of the overburdened ear a lull the volleying crash and the roar Of battle in echoes recede return as waves from a surf beaten shore A murmur along the lines is heard and there on the crest behold Against the green and the sheen of the bayonets see unfold The guidons of Picketts Virginians and of Carolinian Hcth Over the gathering waves of gray that leap on the tide of Death is the belt drawn tighter the visor down and well NOW rifleman looks to his rifle that every shot may tell For you are no kid glove warriors where they come they mean to stay Not a man here but knows what it bitterly means when Lee is brought to bay They have passed their guns their columns close now at shoulder shift they come Load With shell Fire low--there the old muskets go Here the shells drop again Fire low Fire low Their batteries over them roll a veil Through their ranks cut the blast of the iron hail The sir is alive with the bees of lead droning their angry hum with colors high they come Each heart its own drum ON And every ear hears loud and clear its battle anthem sung Though the earth is cleft with the thunder and the air is beaten dumb As the great guns roll their volleys and the baying hills give tongue Half way a pause the lines close up Straight on like a summer rain Death beats their faces Their rifles speak Then that old yell- heard again Like a battering ram their column strikes our center and as a wall Crumbles on him that breaks it so it is as they fall They laid the wounded on the floor The little house would hold no more The little maid was not afraid But tender eyes ran oer The spent shot swept the town With the dying she lay down The little maid smiled she was not afraid To die as the sun went down Mrs ROSAMOND MEACHAM Vice Chairman Womans Committee i vK i TUX TTlHB Mrs EMMA ALLYN HAWKES Chairman Committee Ladies of A hHHm Mrs ELIZABETH BEARDSLEY STANLEY Daughters Veterans Committee HwlHtflttliim zt JH HyHf fyitmLJUc il Mrs CORNELIA CLAY Chairman Committee on Courtesies Mrs WILLIAM SPENCER Vice Chairman Committee on Courtesies Mrs LIDA A OLDROYD Chairman of Committee on Womans Relief Corp MRS LAURA McCULLOUGH Secretary Womans Auxiliary Committee IS- Ft it Wu jfife bVTOivfe C7 I.