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A TRUE HERO.
JAMES BRAIDWOOD: Died June 22, 1861.
- NOT at the battle front,—writ of in story;
- Not on the blazing wreck steering to glory;
- Not while in martyr‐pangs soul and flesh sever,
- Died he—this Hero new; hero forever.
- No pomp poetic crowned, no forms enchained him,
- No friends applauding watched, no foes arraigned him:
- Death found him there, without grandeur or beauty,
- Only an honest man doing his duty:
- Just a God‐fearing man, simple and lowly,
- Constant at kirk and hearth, kindly as holy:
- Death found—and touched him with finger in flying:—
- Lo! he rose up complete—hero undying.
- Now, all men mourn for him, lovingly raise him
- Up from his life obscure, chronicle, praise him;
- Tell his last act, done midst peril appalling,
- And the last word of cheer from his lips falling;
- Follow in multitudes to his grave’s portal;
- Leave him there, buried in honor immortal.
- So many a Hero walks unseen beside us,
- Till comes the supreme stroke sent to divide us.
- Then the LORD calls His own,—like this man, even,
- Carried, Elijah‐like, fire‐winged, to heaven.
