POETRY AND INCIDENTS. BULL RUN, SUNDAY, JULY 21ST. BY ALICE B. HAVEN. Curses spring to my lips! Oh, my God, send the hail "Amiss!"-and the strife of my clamorous grief I know eyes more tender looked upward to Thee; That visage, so marred by the torturing crownThose smooth, noble limbs, racked with anguish I see; The side where the blood and the water gushed down, From stroke fierce and brutal. Help lips white with anguish to take up His prayer; They knew not we loved them; they knew not we prayed For their weal as our own;-" we are brethren," we plead ; Unceasing those prayers to Our Father were made; When they flung down the palm for palmetto, we said, "Let us still hope to win them." "God so loved, that He gave!" We are giving to these The lives that were dearer to us than our own; Let us add prayer for blood, trusting God to appease Our heart's craving pain, when He hears on his throne, "Oh, Father, forgive them!" -N. Y. Evening Post, July 27. NOT YET. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. Oh, country, marvel of the earth! Oh, realm to sudden greatness grown! The age that gloried in thy birth, Shall it behold thee overthrown? Shall traitors lay that greatness low? No! Land of Hope and Blessing, No! And we who wear thy glorious name, Shall we, like cravens, stand apart, And they who founded, in our land, Their sleeping ashes, from below, Send up the thrilling murmur, No! Knit they the gentle ties which long Our humming marts, our iron ways, Our wind-tossed woods on mountain crest, The hoarse Atlantic, with his bays, The calm, broad Ocean of the West, And Mississippi's torrent-flow, Not yet the hour is nigh, when they Who deep in Eld's dim twilight sit, Earth's ancient kings, shall rise and say, "Proud country, welcome to the pit! So soon art thou, like us, brought low?" No! sullen group of shadows, No! For now, behold, the arm that gave That mighty arm which none can stay- AFTER THE FIGHT AT MANASSAS. PY SARAH HELEN WHITMAN. By the great bells swinging slow The solemn dirges of our woe, By the heavy flags that fall Trailing from the bastioned wall, Miserere, Domine! By our country's common blame, By the sin we dared disown, Till its "dragon teeth" were sown, By our Northern host betrayed, For Rhode Island's gallant stand- For our boys that knew not fear, By the hope that suffers long, THE REST-WHERE ARE THEY? Written on seeing the returning regiments, and after having read a familiar name among the killed of the Sev. enty-first, at the battle of Bull Run. BY LAURA ELMER. Our hearts give us answer-they're taken; Blest dead, be ye now softly sleeping- Each grave-and we're proud 'mid our weeping, O patriots, rest safe forever From temptings inglorious secure Ye've triumphed in holy endeavor; Your blood-yes, your blood proves how pure Your sacrifice! We'll weep as your agonies sharing, Ye fainting, death-wounded, and lone; That poor shattered limb, with none caring, A mother once clasped as her own, In purest joy! How warm-God, how true were her kisses! Few summers have sped since she clasped thee, The pitying winds gliding past thee, 'Tis over-thy last pulse has fluttered; Thou'rt glorious now-thou'rt secure; 'Gainst thee ne'er can libel be utteredThy blood proves thy loyalty pureDear sacrifice! Thy country's thou art, and forever, Thy country's while lasteth all time; Safe bosomed, and nothing can sever This bond of thy life's yielded primeSweet sacrifice! Such memories hallowed we'll cherish- THE CIVILIANS AT BULL RUN. BY H. R. TRACY. Have you heard of the story, so lacking in glory, There were bulls from our State street, and cattle from Wall street, And members of Congress to see the great fun; Newspaper reporters, (some regular snorters,) On a beautiful Sunday went to Bull Run, Provided with passes as far as Manassas, Till the sound of the battle, the roar and the rattle Their hearts were all willing to witness the killing, When the jolly civilians had chosen their ground; They drank and they nibbled-reporters they scribbled, While shot from the cannon were flying around. But nearer the rattle and storm of the battle Approached the civilians who came to a show, The terrible thunder filled them with wonder And trembling, and quaking with fear of the foe. The hell's egg-shells flying, the groans of the dying, Soon banished their pleasure and ruined their fun; There was terrible slaughter-blood ran like water, When civilians were pic-nicking down at Bull Run. Their forms aldermanic are shaken with panic, When the "Black Horse" sweep down like a cloud on the plain; They run helter-skelter, their fat bodies swelter,They fly from the field thickly strewn with the slain. Oh, save me from their rage! Oh, give me my carriage! The civilians cry out at the sound of each gun; No longer they're frisky with brandy and whiskey, No longer they seek for a fight at Bull Run! Did they come down there balmy, to stampede the army? It would seem so, for how like a Jehu they drive! O'er the dead and the wounded their vehicles bounded, They caring for naught but to get home alive. For the sharp desolation that struck through the nation, We hold to account the civilians and-rum; -Boston Herald. THE LATEST WAR NEWS. Oh, pale, pale face! Oh, helpless hands! Yet turning ever towards the lands |