THEN AND NOW.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 22 September 1904, Page 8

THEN AND NOW.

A crumbling fort overlooks the plais \Yh«re Iron hail and leaden rein, v^ Witn thunder of artillery. '•*s£& Ccce wrought war's woritof misery; :-SH Yet over me while musing there T Such ftlf" was brooding, and the sir /- From breath of rosea waa so sweet, • thought of sword■ to plowshares heat. Kine were seen grasing without f e*r 3 Over the sloping green-sward near, ■» And resting when the noon had coma *Neath oaks that faced the cannon's boom Which crimsoned many a trampled elod; Now daisies fleck with sr.ov* that sod. TV'hlle white doves coo unharmed Redoubts reared for the battle'* din. Grim parapets no longer frown, ~. j^ Upon a pent, beleaguered town; " The greater city In Its might And pride guards the dire conflict's site; Sweet homes with comely lawns are see* Crowning historic heights serene In grace and beauty, safe apart ™om tumult of th« busy mart. '-?:. 1 Kcr la tha fan* forgotten her* '=' 1 rto the heart devout more dear Than grandest mansion we&lth rears nefltv Kut shrining poor mortalityWhile on that day of all the beat, j IbrlUed strangely onoe by the behest i To arms, the scene is of release, - a Old foes now friends in vows of Dtta** "3. In this slow-crumbling fort I re* :j* Type of a fray waged bitterly, • .;. ijig Yet whose remembered cup of woe £ jjgj Is yielding t© time's tidal flow; • _j|3|* Though Its dead heroes borne awaw "Whether in blue, or in the gray. -:f§ Claim their due share of votive bloom 'Ti Often a» doth the Maytime corse. -W. E Boles, In Springfleld (Mass.) Republican,