[THE LOVES OF THE NATIONS.]

[Read at the Arlington National Cemetery, Decoration Day, 1884.]

I.

The Grecians loved their soldier dead:

They prized the casket, though the pearl had fled.

When he who could be dangerous in the fight,

Had proved his soul's magnificence and might,

But—his poor body vanquished—with a sigh

Had laid him down upon the sands to die,

He vaulted 'mongst the nation's honored sons;