U. S. GRANT.

[Illustration: U. S. GRANT.]

ROBERT E. LEE

A GALLANT foeman in the fight,
A brother when the fight was o'er,
The hand that led the host with might
The blessed torch of learning bore.

No shriek of shells nor roll of drums,
No challenge fierce, resounding far,
When reconciling wisdom comes
To heal the cruel wounds of war.

Thought may the minds of men divide,
Love makes the heart of nations one,
And so, thy soldier grave beside,
We honor thee, Virginia's son.

JULIA WARD HOWE.

[Illustration: ROBERT E. LEE.]

OLD GLORY ON THE ISLAND

MEN who have had grave differences and looked at each other coldly and
passed with unsmiling faces have, when some calamity threatened, sprang
shoulder to shoulder and spent their united strength in defense of a
common cause.

Thus in the Spanish-American spurt of war,--serious enough, too serious,
alas, in some aspects; but great in some of its beneficent results. In
that call, "To Arms!" was laid to rest--forever forgotten--the old
enmity between the North and the South, engendered by the Civil Strife.

On the island of Cuba, the trenches of the United States Army were five
miles in extent and in shape of a horseshoe. Above the trenches, five
curving miles of _Stars and Stripes_ gleamed.

To the United States prisoners, confined in the prison, within sight
of these flags, but _under the flag of Spain_, the waving emblems before
their eyes brought daily hope and courage.

[Illustration: EVERY MAN UNCOVERED AND STOOD WITH SILENT LIPS, AND
EYES FIXED ON OLD GLORY.]

In full vision of the men in the trenches fluttered the flag of Spain;
above their heads Old Glory flew,--the sheltering Stripes and Stars.

As night came down, and land and shimmering sea was bathed in the white
light of the sub-tropics, the strains of the "Star-Spangled Banner" were
borne upon the air and fell away softly, as if coming from across the
water. Every man uncovered and stood with silent lips, and eyes fixed
upon Old Glory until the last echoing note died in the distance, then
turned again to duties; but upon his face was stamped the deeper
understanding of the meaning of it all--_of Flag, and Home, and
Country_.

Thus from the shores of a tropic island, fighting together for the flag
of the nation, both Blue and Gray gained a new and happier viewpoint;
and looking ba