Lofty Actors Withdraw.

        As one by one the lofty actors of the age
        Withdraw from changing play on history's page,
        The act of war and peace of old and new contending
        For it is long 'ere there's harmonious blending.

        And many a noble actor brave and bold
        Hath perished in the fight between the new and old,
        The victor and the vanquished Lincoln and Lee,
        The former he four million slaves set free.

        The latter General fought with bravery and science,
        The first he on the Lord placed strong reliance,
        And in the justice of his cause he bade the North
        As grand emancipators they should issue forth.

        And o'er great North the conquering name of Grant
        His mighty deeds of valour they 'ere more will chant,
        And now doth pass from stage this last named actor,
        In crushing Southern slavery potent factor.

James McIntyre

James McIntyre was a Canadian poet, most notable for his poetry concerning cheese, cheese-making, dairying, and dairy products. Often referred to as 'The Cheese Poet,' McIntyre's work is celebrated for its earnestness and unintentional humor, making him both a beloved and an infamous figure in literary circles. He emigrated from Scotland to Canada in 1851 and settled in Ingersoll, Ontario, where he became a successful businessman and community leader.

James McIntyre

Lost Son Found.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Local Sketches.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Lines Read At A Maple Sugar Social, April, 1888.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

Virtues Of A Diamond Ring.

James McIntyre, Simple Poetry

English

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The Portsmouth Memorial Poem. - The Future Historian.

Oh the women of Old Portsmouth in their patience were sublime,
As in working and in praying they abided GOD's own time!
Marble saints in a stately Minster, in some land across the sea,
In a flood of Winter moonlight were not half so pure to me!
And your men in Grey were faithful! they were counted with the best!
And where they fought no shadow fell on Old Virginia's crest.
Rags in cold, bare feet in marches never turned your children back;
In retreat they loved the rearguard, in advance they loved attack!

Oh, my brothers! I see figures which all flit athwart my brain,
Like the torches lit by lightning in some tempest-driven rain,
And above the rushing vision, in my soul I hear the cry:
"Those who fell for Home and Duty left us names that cannot die!"
First, before the sleep...

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Death Of President Lincoln.

In the Capitol is mourning,
    Mourning and woe this day,
For a nation's heart is throbbing--
    A great man has passed away

It was yester'even only
    Rejoicing wild and high,
Waving flags and shouting people
    Proclaimed a victory

For our God had led our armies,
    In the cause of truth and right,
It was, therefore, the brave Southren
    Had bowed to Northern might.

Then flashed o'er the land the tidings,
    The flush of joy to quell,
Fallen is the people's hero,
    As William the Silent fell.

The stealthy step of the panther,
    The tiger's cruel eye;
A flash--and the wail of a nation
    Rang in that terrified cry.

Shame falls on the daring Southren,
    Woe on the Southren land,
The sta...

Nora Pembroke

Good Shot.

        At great reunion of the South,
        Of those had faced the cannon's mouth,
        Where each could show a glorious scar
        He had received in the war.

        And there was an artillery major,
        Said he, I am free to wager
        I fired the best shot in the war,
        And fame of it was heard afar.

        The Federals fired at us a shell,
        And near our battery it fell,
        It gave us momentary alarm,
        But it caused us little harm.

        For the fuse it ceased to burn,
        And I resolved shell to return
        To the same spot from whence it came,
        I put in fuse was sure to flame.

        From mortar's mouth it went forth
        Seeking for vengeance on the North,
   ...

James McIntyre

Arms And The Man. - The Beginning Of The End.

As some spent gladiator, struck by Death,
Whose reeling vision scarce a foe defines,
For one last effort gathers all his breath,
England draws in her lines.

Her blood-red flag floats out full fair, but flows
O'er crumbling bastions, in fictitious state:
Who stands a siege Cornwallis full well knows,
        Plays at a game with Fate.

Siege means surrender at the bitter end,
From Ilium downward such the sword-made rule,
With few exceptions, few indeed amend
    This law in any school!

The student who for these has ever sought
'Mid his exceptions Cæsar counts as one,
Besieger and besieged he, victor, fought
Under a Gallic sun.

For Vircinget'rex failed, but at the wall:
He strove and failed gilded by Glory's rays
So that true sol...

James Barron Hope

Rebel Color-Bearers At Shiloh

A plea against the vindictive cry raised by civilians shortly after the surrender at Appomattox

The color-bearers facing death
White in the whirling sulphurous wreath,
Stand boldly out before the line;
Right and left their glances go,
Proud of each other, glorying in their show;
Their battle-flags about them blow,
And fold them as in flame divine:
Such living robes are only seen
Round martyrs burning on the green--
And martyrs for the Wrong have been.

Perish their Cause! but mark the men--
Mark the planted statues, then
Draw trigger on them if you can.

The leader of a patriot-band
Even so could view rebels who so could stand;
And this when peril pressed him sore,
Left aidless in the shivered front of war--
Skulkers behind, de...

Herman Melville

Our Heroic Dead.

I.

A King once said of a Prince struck down,
"Taller he seems in death."
And this speech holds truth, for now as then
'Tis after death that we measure men,
And as mists of the past are rolled away
Our heroes, who died in their tattered grey,
Grow "taller" and greater in all their parts
Till they fill our minds as they fill our hearts.
And for those who lament them there's this relief -
That Glory sits by the side of Grief,
Yes, they grow "taller" as the years pass by
And the World learns how they could do and die.


II.

A Nation respects them. The East and West,
The far-off slope of the Golden Coast,
The stricken South and the North agree
That the heroes who died for you and me -
Each valiant man, in his own degree,
Whether...

James Barron Hope