device that would be as pleasing to the citizens of Massachusetts as to those of Mississippi! A tiny badge containing a palmetto and a pine encircled with the simple legend: United Veterans, 1861-5,' would surpass the highest decoration of a king. Imagine the thrill of pleasure that would move the most stolid breast when greeted by the word, 'brother,' and the hearty hand-grasp that would precede the declaration: 'I was with Longstreet,' or, 'I was a Pennsylvania Bucktail.' When the following lines were written the author had been through the South and had satisfied himself that the sentiment of loyalty pervading there was a living truth, as real as the ink which now flows from his pen : "THE PALMETTO AND THE PINE.

While the months to years are fleeting like a river's ceaseless flow,
And the landmarks old grow dimmer in the distant long ago,
Let us glance once more behind us, where our battle days were seen,
Where our blood, like holly berries, sprinkled thick the grassy green.

There, in rifle pit, on rampart, or upon the open field,
Come the visions of battalions that would rather die than yield-
Come the stately forms of vessels with their crews of sailors brave,
Whose memorial crests of glory are the white caps of the wave.

Once these men were happy, peaceful, till that bloody war, and then-
When it ended they turned homeward from their dead to peace again.

Why they fought, why lost, who triumphed, who was wrong, or who was right,
Matters not; they were our brothers, and were not afraid to fight.

'Neath the fairest flag that flutters under Heaven's azure dome

Dwell these warriors and their children in sweet Freedom's chosen home.

In his heart each holds a welcome for the soldier at his door,

And he never stops to question which the uniform he wore.

We were soldiers, only soldiers of the nation let us be.

Let us meet and greet as comrades though we fought with Grant or Lee;
Let us form a noble order with sweet Freedom for our shrine,

And for each enwreathe a token-the Palmetto and the Pine.'

"The sons and daughters of the North and of the South will always honor the gallantry of their American sires. No moral attainder should dim the path of a soldier's child; and it is to bind together fraternally the millions yet unborn that these truths should be recognized and held aloft now."

In this spirit it is hoped that Tales of the Civil War as Told by the Veterans will be accepted and read, never forgetting that the proudest tribute we can pay to the memory of the brave men of both armies is, they were Americans.