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From: "Jean Rice" <>
Subject: [IGW] "Blue And Gray" -- "New York Sun" circa 1900
Date: Tue, 1 Oct 2002 17:07:32 -0700

Irish fought on both sides of the American Civil War. I found this gem in a little softbound book of verse by the Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia (1903). The poem, author unknown, first appeared in the "New York Sun."

BLUE AND GRAY

'Twas a sight to be long remembered,
That I saw on the cars one day
As the train was flying southward,
In the latter part of May.
It was only two aged women
Who met by chance that day,
One had eyes of loveliest blue,
The other, the sweetest gray.

"Where go you?" said the blue-eyed one
To her with the eyes of gray,
"I'm going to visit my husband's grave,
In the Southland far away."
"Was he a soldier? "the blue-eyed asked,
As she gazed in the eyes of gray;
And half unconsciously she grasped
Her hand in a loving way.

The eyes of gray lit up with pride;
"Yes, he was a soldier true;
He fell at the battle of Shiloh,"
"Oh! there's where mine fell, too."
And then they clasped each other and wept,
The eyes of blue and gray
Mingled their flood of sympathy
As the train sped on its way.

"What uniform did your "soldier" wear?"
"My soldier wore the blue."
"Ah," said the other, "mine wore the gray."
"No matter, they both were true."
"Yes, they were true, our loved and lost,
True till their dying day.
And it matters not what they wore on earth,
They are clothed in white to-day."

And when we came to the station
A very small town by the way,
The men all stood bareheaded
As the two went on their way,
They walked up the street together,
Like children hand in hand,
Out on the country highway
Where the old church used to stand.

And on and on till they reached the place
Where their soldiers brave were laid;
They they kissed and wept o'er each grave alike,
And together knelt down and prayed;
Then each told the other about the past,
How they lived with their children dear,
And agreed, while God would spare their lives,
To meet there once a year.

And then they walked back to the station,
These soldiers' widows in tears,
Helped by each other's sympathy,
To bear their burden of years,
Back to the West they traveled,
To their children, kind and true;
One with eyes of the sweetest gray,
The other, the loveliest blue

-- Author unknown, "New York Sun" circa 1900

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• [IGW] "Blue And Gray" -- "New York Sun" circa 1900 by "Jean Rice" <>