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 WRITTEN FOR THE NATIONAL FAIR FOR THE SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' 
 ORPHANS' HOME. 
 
 BY MARY E. NEALY, 
 
 Will you remember us l 
 From the pines of Maine to the prairied west, 
 From the golden shore to the Blue Ridge crest, 
 With downcast eye and saddened brow, 
 A sorrowful throng, we hail you now. 
 For we have no parents to give us bread — 
 No love for the heart, no home for the head. 
 
 Yet Liberty made it thus — 
 
 Will you remember us 1 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 My father fell at Fort Donelson ; 
 His form was shattered by treason's gun, 
 And he left my mother alone, alone, 
 With a sorrow as deep as ever was known, 
 And with little children to keep in bread: 
 Ah, she worked her life out — she is dead. 
 
 Yet 'twas all for Liberty — 
 
 Will you remember me 1" 
 
 
R5a4; 
 
 THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 
 
 ^ 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 At Pittsburg Landing my father fell, 
 Amid carnage too bloody for tongue to tell ; 
 Where unburied bodies lay around, 
 And the hot sun putrefied each wound ; 
 Where the river was covered with bloated men, 
 And friend could not know his friend again. 
 
 Yet they died for Liberty — 
 
 AVill you remember me?" 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 I have heard my mother weep and say, 
 How my father followed many a day 
 
 T -- G ] Buel's aimless path, 
 
 ■ 
 
 ,im, „, ... , .. y were lead to Pe ; 
 
 Where his brave feet halted, his heart grew still 
 
 This was for Liberty — 
 
 Will you remember me?" 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 In the dark Peninsular campaign, 
 In malarious swamps, 'mid the drenching rain, 
 My father toiled, grew sick, and died ; 
 His children's slay, and our mother's pride. 
 Then she wept and worked three weary years : 
 And now — we can only give her tears. 
 
 Yet 'twas for Liberty — 
 
 Will you remember me '" 
 
THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 On the deck of the brave old Cumberland 
 My father fell, and his death was grand. 
 He joined in the shout of ' One broadside more ; 
 Let our death-chant be its thunder roar !' 
 It was poured abroad with a mighty sound, 
 Then the ship went under, and all were drowned ! 
 
 Brave death for Liberty — 
 
 Will you remember me V 
 
 " Will you remember me ? 
 At Gettysburg, in a dreadful charge, 
 His brave feet touchii 
 
 ound 
 The, 
 
 'My wife, my children,' he faintly sighed; 
 ' God bless and keep them !' and so he died. 
 
 This was for Liberty — 
 
 Will you remember mel" 
 
 " And oh, remember me ! 
 Alas and alas ! Alas and alas ! 
 All dark, dark stories must mine surpass. 
 The father as dear to us as life 
 Fell not in the battle's glorious strife : 
 He was murdered by inches — starved by degrees ! 
 He suffered more deaths than all of these, 
 For the dried skin grew to the marrowless bone, 
 And it seemed that God had forgotten His own. 
 
 3 
 
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 ^^ ^^ 
 
 THE ORPHANS' APPEAL. 
 
 And our gentle mother — her mind gave way. 
 She is crazy ! For her we can only pray. 
 
 Such woe for Liberty ! 
 
 Will you remember me I" 
 
 Oh, our land will not forget ! 
 Our noble fathers are gone to God; 
 Their blood enriches the traitor's sod. 
 Yet we will be clad and sent to school, 
 For our ladies have studied the Golden Rule ; 
 And our rulers will never ungrateful be 
 For the price tve paid for their liberty. 
 
 God lives and sees us yet ; 
 
 Our land will not forget ! 
 
 Washington, D. C, May 13, 1866. 
 
 ^^_ SSSSSSSSSi ^y ; 
 
LIBRftRV OF CONGRESS 
 
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