SLAIN AT SADOWA.

Southland Times, Issue 656, 12 April 1867, Page 3

SLAIN AT SADOWA.

The following incident has been reported in the " Daily Telegraph's " correspondence : — The cannon were belching their last O'er the fields where the routed were flying, And shouting pursuers strode fast Through the heaps of the dead and the dying War's rage was beginning to wane ; The fierce cared no longer to strike ; And the good stooped to soften the pain Of visitors and vanquished alike. A yellow-haired Austrian lad Lay at length on a shot-furrowed bank j He WdS comely and daintily clad In the glittering dress of. his rani. Not so white, though, his coat as his cheek, Not so red the sash crossing his chest As the horrible crimson streak Of the blood that had welled from hia breast. His foes approach where he was laid, To bear him in risach of their skill; But he murmured, ".Give others your aid j By our Fatherland! let me lie still!" At dawn they came searching again, To winnow the quick from the dead; The boy was set free from his pain, And his faithful young spirit had fled. As they lifted his limbs from the ground, To hide them away out of sight, Lo! under his bosom they found The flag he had borne through the fight. He had folded the silk he loved well, Lest a shred should be seen at his side : To wave it in triumph he fell j • To save it from capture he died. The head of the sternest was bared As they gazed on the shot-riven rag, And the hand of the hardiest spared To make prey of that Austrian flag. O'er the tomb of their brother they bowed, With a prayer for a spirit as brave; And they gave him the Hag for a shroud Ih his narrow and nameless grave. Bloomfieit) Jackson, M.A.