kers,
Find an evening's recreation,
Where the weary men of business,
Often seek an hour's diversion;
Where the order of Good Templars,
Held their rites and ceremonies,
Where the skating-rink and concert,
Where the festival and supper,
Where the theatre and lecture,
And the dancing-school and tableau,
--All the public entertainments,
Have beguiled the times of leisure.
Eighteen hundred nine and sixty,
Came the hissing locomotive,
Came the train of rumbling coaches,
Dashing through the quiet city;
Came the smoking iron monster,
Of the "Louisville and Nashville,"
Sounded loud the shrill steam-whistle
Of the railroad "On to Richmond."
And the Old Church walls so sacred,
Fell beneath the stormy cargo,
Our Republican ancestress
Bent her hoary head in shrinking;
All the rank and mouldy ruins
Fell before the thund'ring onset.
Never more the timeworn benches
Shall reecho words of wisdom;
Never more the brick and plaster
Shall have grace from text and precept,
Ne'er alas! her slumb'ring children
Give her earthly praise and homage.
Gone forever, church and pastor,
Gone, all gone, her saints' communion,
Dust to dust the crumbling mortar,
Earth to earth the human body,
Air of air the ghostly phantoms,
Heav'n of heav'ns the final meeting.
* * * * *
In this section, once a wildwood,
Now are clustered many buildings;
Now hotels, depots, and warerooms,
Tell of industry and labor;
Now the loud mill-whistle pierces
Through the fogs of early morning,
Now the neat and tasteful cottage
Takes the place of tree and grapevine,
And a porter's lodge adorning,
Guards the modern cemetery,
Guards the modern double entrance,
To the home of sleeping loved ones.
All about this busy section,
Are the signs of swift progression;
Swift progression towards profit,
In the thrift of living workmen,
Swift advance to time eternal,
In the fast increasing graveyard.
In this year the game of Base-ball,
Occupied the young athletics,
Occupied maturer players,
Gave the city's "men of muscle,"
Daily rounds of fun and frolic.
And the ball and bat and score-book,
Answered oft a neighbor's challenge,
Won the palm in match and test games,
Won the victor's crown of laurel.
Eighteen hundred one and seventy
Brought a company of soldiers
To protect the hillside city
From the dreade
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