THE OLD JOHNNY'S LETTER
BY T.C. HARBAUGH
'Tis creased and 'tis faded, the old Johnny's letter;
He battled four years 'neath the banners of Lee,
And here is the one little postscript he added:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
He penned it one night in the heart of the wildwood
When over him glittered the watch-keeping stars,
.And close to the fires where his comrades lay sleeping
Half furled on it's staff was the banner of bars.
Me thought of his home and the loved ones so precious.
He dreamed of his wife and the boy far away;
Their smiles and their faces, their kisses, embraces
Came often, I know, to the soldier in gray.
And, thinking of them in the camp in the cedars
So close to the river that flowed to the sea.
He penned the sweet postscript that showed his affection:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
To-morrow the battle, to-morrow the carnage,
To-morrow the charge and the roar of the guns.
The stand on the hill and the fight in the valley.
The fall of the Southland's magnificent sons;
Yet there in the bivouac, where thousands are dreaming
Who'll fall at the dawn by the shot-riven tree,
He adds last a fond line to perhaps his last letter:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
The battle is over, and roses arc blooming
Where growled the mad guns on the thrice-taken hill.
And deep in the valley the robin is singing,
And fishes leap up in the once crimsoned rill.
He sleeps where the stars their sweet vigils are keeping.
And the river sings low to the ultimate sea;
But his love lingers still in the postscript he added:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
There hangs on a wall now a half-faded picture.
And 'neath it an old, tattered jacket of gray,
And near them a canteen, a belt, and a musket
That silently tell of the terrible fray.
And pressed in a book is the old Johnny's letter.
Too precious almost for a stranger to see.
And there is the one little postscript he added
:"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
He battled four years 'neath the banners of Lee,
And here is the one little postscript he added:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
He penned it one night in the heart of the wildwood
When over him glittered the watch-keeping stars,
.And close to the fires where his comrades lay sleeping
Half furled on it's staff was the banner of bars.
Me thought of his home and the loved ones so precious.
He dreamed of his wife and the boy far away;
Their smiles and their faces, their kisses, embraces
Came often, I know, to the soldier in gray.
And, thinking of them in the camp in the cedars
So close to the river that flowed to the sea.
He penned the sweet postscript that showed his affection:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
To-morrow the battle, to-morrow the carnage,
To-morrow the charge and the roar of the guns.
The stand on the hill and the fight in the valley.
The fall of the Southland's magnificent sons;
Yet there in the bivouac, where thousands are dreaming
Who'll fall at the dawn by the shot-riven tree,
He adds last a fond line to perhaps his last letter:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
The battle is over, and roses arc blooming
Where growled the mad guns on the thrice-taken hill.
And deep in the valley the robin is singing,
And fishes leap up in the once crimsoned rill.
He sleeps where the stars their sweet vigils are keeping.
And the river sings low to the ultimate sea;
But his love lingers still in the postscript he added:
"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
There hangs on a wall now a half-faded picture.
And 'neath it an old, tattered jacket of gray,
And near them a canteen, a belt, and a musket
That silently tell of the terrible fray.
And pressed in a book is the old Johnny's letter.
Too precious almost for a stranger to see.
And there is the one little postscript he added
:"O Mary, my darling, kiss Jimmie for me."
(From 'Confederate Veteran,' Vol. XIII, No. 4; April 1905; Nashville, TN)
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