SHERIDAN'S RIDE.

251

SHERIDAN'S RIDE.

BY T. BUCHANAN READ.

Up from the South at break of day,
Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
The affrighted air with a shudder bore,
Like a herald in haste to the chieftain's door,
The terrible grumble and rumble and roar,
Telling the battle was on once more,
And Sheridan was twenty miles away.

And wider still those billows of war
Thundered along the horizon's bar,
And louder yet into Winchester rolled
The war of that red sea uncontrolled,
Making the blood of the listener cold,
As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,
And Sheridan twenty miles away.

But there's a road from Winchester town,

A good, broad highway leading down, –

And there, through the flush of the morning light,
A steed, as black as the steeds of night,
Was seen to pass as with eagle flight;
As if he knew the terrible need,
He stretched away with his utmost speed;
Hills rose and fell, but his heart was gay,
With Sheridan fifteen miles away.

Still sprung from those swift hoofs thundering South
The dust, like the smoke from the cannon's mouth,
Or the trail of a comet sweeping faster and faster,
Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster;

The heart of the steed and the heart of the master
Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,
Impatient to be where the battle-field calls;

Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,
With Sheridan only ten miles away.

Under his spurning feet, the road
Like an arrowy Alpine river flowed;
And the landscape sped away behind,
Like an ocean flying before the wind;

And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace ire,
Swept on, with his wild eyes full of fire.
But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire;
He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,
With Sheridan only five miles away.

The first that the General saw were the groups

Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops :

What was done what to do a glance told him both; Then striking his spurs, with a terrrible oath,

He dashed down the line mid a storm of huzzas,

And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because The sight of the master compelled it to pause.

With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;

By the flash of his eye, and his red nostrils' play,
He seemed to the whole great army to say:
"I have brought you Sheridan all the way
From Winchester down to save the day!"

Hurrah, hurrah for Sheridan!

Hurrah, hurrah for horse and man!
And when their statues are placed on high
Under the dome of the Union sky,
The American Soldier's Temple of Fame,
There, with the glorious General's name,
Be it said in letters both bold and bright:
"Here is the steed that saved the day
By carrying Sheridan into the fight,
From Winchester - twenty miles away!"

AFTER ALL.

253

AFTER ALL.

BY WILLIAM WINTER.

THE apples are ripe in the orchard,
The work of the reaper is done,
And the golden woodlands redden
In the blood of the dying sun.

At the cottage-door the grandsire
Sits pale in his easy-chair,
While the gentle wind of twilight
Plays with his silver hair.

A woman is kneeling beside him;
A fair young head is pressed,
In the first wild passion of sorrow,
Against his aged breast.

And far from over the distance
The faltering echoes come
Of the flying blast of trumpet,
And the rattling roll of drum.

And the grandsire speaks in a whisper. "The end no man can see;

But we gave him to his country,

And we give our prayers to Thee."

But the grandsire's chair is empty,

The cottage is dark and still;

There's a nameless grave in the battle-field,
And a new one under the hill.

And a pallid, tearless woman

By the cold hearth sits alone,
And the old clock in the corner
Ticks on with a steady drone.

THE YEAR OF JUBILEE.*

SAY, darkies, hab you seen de massa,
Wid de muffstash on he face,
Go 'long de road some time dis mornin',
Like he gwine to leabe de place?
He see de smoke way up de ribber
Whar de Lincum gun-boats lay;
He took he hat and leff berry sudden,
And I 'spose he 's runned away.
De massa run, ha! ha!

De darky stay, ho! ho!

It mus' be now de kingdum comin',
An' de yar ob Jubilo.

He six foot one way and two foot todder,
An' he weigh six hundred poun';
His coat so big he could n't pay de tailor,
An' it won't reach half way roun';

He drill so much dey calls him cap'n,

I

An' he git so mighty tan'd,

spec he'll try to fool dem Yankees
For to tink he contraband.

De massa run, ha! ha!

De darkey stay, ho! ho!

It mus' be now de kingdum comin',

An' de yar ob Jubilo.

* In 1864 the negro slaves began to see that the year of jubilee was certainly coming, and this song, expressive of their views upon the subject, appeared. In April, 1865, a detachment of negro troops sang it as they marched into Richmond.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.

255

De darkies got so lonesome libb'n

In de log hut on de lawn,

Dey move dere tings into massa's parlor
For to keep it while he gone.

Dar's wine and cider in de kichin,

I

And de darkies dey hab some,

spec it will all be 'fiscated,

When de Lincum sojers come.

De massa run, ha! ha!

De darkey stay, ho! ho!

It mus' be now de kingdum comin',
An' de yar ob Jubilo.

De oberseer, he makes us trubble,
An' he dribe us roun' a spell,

We lock him up in de smoke-house cellar,
Wid de key flung in de well.

De whip am lost, de han'-cuff broke,
But de massa hab his pay;

He big an' ole enough for to know better
Dan to went an' run away.

De massa run, ha! ha!

De darkey stay, ho! ho!

It mus' be now de kingdum comin',
An' de yar ob Jubilo.

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY BY CONSTITU

TIONAL AMENDMENT.*

NOT unto us who did but seek,

The word that burned within to speak;

Not unto us this day belong

The triumph and exulting song.

* Passed the House of Representatives, January 31st, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.