“Ezra Kerr!”—and a voice answered, “Here!” “Hiram Kerr!”—but no man replied. They were brothers, these two; the sad winds sighed, And a shudder crept through the cornfield near.
“Ephraim Deane!”—then a soldier spoke: “Deane carried our regiment’s colors,” he said; “Where our ensign was shot I left him dead, Just after the enemy wavered and broke.
“Close to the road-side his body lies; I paused a moment and gave him a drink; He murmured his mother’s name, I think, And Death came with it, and closed his eyes.”
’Twas a victory; yes, but it cost us dear,— For that company’s roll, when called at night, Of a hundred men who went into the fight, Numbered but twenty that answered “Here!”
[Southern.]
READING THE LIST.
