An' I hear the ban' play “Dixie," an' I see 'em march

away,

Till I can't tell whar the blue is, an' I'm mixed up on the gray!

The old war tunes air ringin', an' "Dixie's" on the

rise;

But "Yankee Doodle" follers 'fore it's half-way to the

skies!

An' the old "Star Spangled Banner" is in ever' steeple's chime,

An' I tell you, we're a-having of a hallelujah time!

I'm glad I've lived to see it; I'm glad the time is come When, North an' South, we answer to the roll-call of the drum!

When thar ain't no line divides us, but North an' South we stan'

For jest one common country,-one freedom-lovin' lan'!

That's whar the war's a blessin', that's whar 'pears like

I see

A brighter mornin' breakin' on the hills for you an'

me!

It's shoulder now to shoulder,-thar ain't no blue or

gray,

An' we're shoutin' "Hallelujah," an' we're happy on

the way!

HIS NEW SUIT

BY S. E. KISER

I remember well the way
She looked up at me that day

When I first put on the gray,

And said good-by, back there in sixty-three. She and I were sweethearts then, And I hear her voice again,

As she nestled up to me,

Saying, in her gentle way:

Ah, how brave you look in gray, And how tall and handsome, too,

Gray's the color, dear, for you!"

There's a ragged suit of gray

She has long had laid away,

There are memories that cling around it, too;

But the years have come and gone,

And at present I have on

A suit of Uncle Sam's beloved blue.

When she saw me yesterday,

She wiped a tear away

For the memory of the gray,

That dear, old, ragged suit of sixty-three.

And she sweetly spoke again,

Spoke more fervently than then,

As she nestled up to me,

Saying, in her gentle way:

"Ah, how brave you looked in gray!
But you're braver still in blue,—
Blue's the color, dear, for you!"

ENLISTED

The Old Soldier Speaks

BY ELIZA CALVERT HALL

I fought under Lee and Stonewall,
And I hated a Yankee like sin,
But gimme my uniform, sergeant,
I'm going to fight ag'in.

I took out my old gray clothes last night,
I thought of the day they was new,

And I looked at the holes in the left-hand sleeve
Where a minie ball went through.

And I heard the band play "Dixie,”—
By God! I heard every note,-
And I thought of Manassas and Shiloh,
And a lump came up in my throat.

And I said, "Go back to that old oak chest,
There ain't no more service for you;

I'm goin' to fight on the side that's right,
And I'm going to wear the blue!"

There's just one thought in every heart,
One word in every mouth;

For things is all so twisted around

That there ain't no North nor South.

I never thought it would come to this;
It's strange, but I reckon it's true;
For it's jest one country and jest one flag,
And we're all a-wearin' the blue!

AGAIN BRETHREN AND EQUALS

BY JAMES WILLIS PATTERSON

The true grandeur of passing historic events is not seen till the noise and obstruction of the factitious and perishable are forgotten. So the relative importance of our late war is not yet realized. Forts and trenches have been obliterated; harvests wave on its battlefields, and the grass is green above the ashes of its victims. The prejudices and passions kindled by the strife have been laid, and we now contemplate, with serene and undistempered vision, the causes and nature of the sanguinary conflict. We do not forget its burdens; but we remember its compensations. The supremacy of the federal government, within the limitations of the fundamental law, is the only secure and stable foundation of the Union, and it must be maintained without compromise, in peace as in war.

The sons of the South are a noble stock. We re

spect the honesty of their convictions, and honor the virility with which they defended them. We would seek the cordial and conciliatory course of kindred, and would let the "dead past bury its dead." When the pride of exploded opinions, and the old war-cries of party, shall have been silenced in the graves of antebellum politicians, the new generation will recognize and maintain that sovereignty of the Union which is essential to the development and defense of the highest welfare of all sections. The foreshadowed destiny of the Nation can only be imperiled by the loss of popular intelligence and morality. Common influences and interests will assimilate our whole population in habits and feeling, and they will come to cherish the same objects of pride and aspiration. This will be the future cement of the State, and the source of its united strength and glory. The day is not far distant when the South, equally with the North, will perceive that they builded better than they knew.

As an exhibition of physical prowess, the contention was magnificent! Both armies fought, for their convictions, with a relentlessness of valor unsurpassed. The campaigns of the war, and the subsequent financial achievements, have revealed to the world a strength and integrity worthy of the ancient mold of men. The blood of the North and the South has mingled in a conflict of political principles. May it nourish no root of bitterness; but may there henceforth be a union of affections and labors to advance and perpetuate the dignity and grandeur of a common country. I protest, in the name of the dead and the peace of posterity, that the issues adjudicated