And give the past the right of way,
Till fields of battle red with rust
Shine through the ashes and the dust,
Across the age and burn as plain
As glowing Mars through window pane.
How grandly glow like grenadiers,
These heroes of a hundred years!”
MARY WASHINGTON
Our forefathers were great fighters and excelled the world as makers of history, but unfortunately for us, they were not writers of it. When a duty was done or a great victory gained it seemed not to demand the attention from them that we of the present day think it deserved, but was set aside with perhaps a brief record. It had to make way for new duties demanded by the exigencies of the times.