Denton County, Texas - Chapter 6, 1918

In 1860 the State was fifteen years old and the county fourteen years old. The settlements were few and the improvements were crude. Like all new countries, ours had to have its beginning. Our present county seat was three years old, located on a hill covered with large post oak trees and small undergrowth. There were five or six summer schools in the county, called subscription schools, in which spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic were taught.

Our people had come from the older states and it generally took from five to six weeks to hear from home, and ten cents was charged for a letter. Very few letters came and still less papers. We were not much concerned about political affairs, as we were not, and could not be, well posted on current events of the State and Nation. The people generally contented themselves with the discussion of who should be governor and lieutenant-governor, senator and representative. Minor officers were seldom ever seen except the "tax gatherers," who never failed to come. We had ninety-seven taxpayers in 1850. Ten years had passed and the tax lists were larger.

We were in the war zone between the white man and the Indian, as the State's patrol line extended through the county from north to south three miles west of Denton at Hickory Station, and the "war whoop" of the savages could sometimes be heard. The settler was always cautious in going to and fro, to look for Indian signs or marks and to report to headquarters (Hickory Station) any discoveries. There were three signs particularly notable : First, the Indian trail was easily distinguished from that of the white man because they rode in single file. The white man rode three and four abreast. Second, the Indians wore moccasins. The white man did not. Around water holes and bare places close examination was always made for moccasin tracks. Third, the Indians, in killing game for food, did not dress meat like the white man, and left the remains of the carcass in his own peculiai' way. There were many other minor signs of distinction with which the early settler was familiar. Notwithstanding the settlers' vifjilance, the Indians, by their cunning maneuvers, would slip in at night, and secrete themselves in the brush in the day, and carry on this constant warfare. Our people were familiar v/ith this kind of war, but not prepared for the civil conflict rapidly forming in the older states.

Oui- people were religiously inclined, and were averse to war. We had but few houses of worship, but the people would build brush arbors and have great revivals in the summer time and camp out for two weeks at a time. From this custom, the name "camp meeting" was derived. The pioneer preacher came and preached the gospel in the most remote settlements, and the name of Jesus was sung amidst the discordant "war whoop" of the savage tongue. Often divine worship was disturbed by the unexpected visit of a roving band of ungodly red men. It was a common sight to see arms carried to church. Some preachers carried them for self-protection. These preachers, as a rule, were not well equipped with literary attainments, but they searched the Scriptures and tarried long at the altar, and preached the gospel with greater fervor, zeal, and power than that of the average preacher of today. They laid well the foundation upon which our present civilization rests and to them belong honor and reverence far beyond our apparent gratitude. In memory of them I now call the roll of the pioneer preachers of Denton County:

Of the Baptists - John Holf ord, J. A. Freeman, Jesse Portman, William Glenn, James Fitzgerald, Silas G. Christal, Eli Witt, Andrew Holford, Cas Hall, J. E. McWhorter and J. A. Ball.

Of the Christians - Terrell Jasper, Brice Wilmoth, Jim Wilmoth, James Hawk, Doctor Polly, B. F. Hall, Silas Beebee, B. W. Reagan, and others the writer cannot now recall.

Only two or three of these pioneer preachers are now living to answer the roll call, but they builded well. As they struggled up the mountains among the briars and brambles, here and yonder their footprints are visible. Churches and schoolhouses are to be found in every hamlet where once clustered the wigwams and teepees of the wild, restless savages. Villages and cities are rapidly developing, which remind us that they have sown and we are reaping, and that their fathers sowed the seeds of the abolition of slavery and that they had to reap the harvest of secession.

The spring of 1861 was ushered in with a great blazing star in the northwest, considered by the superstitious to be an "omen of bad luck," although a natural phenomenon. There soon followed in its wake a wave of death and destruction. We had no means of rapid communication. Three weeks after the fall of Fort Sumter the startling intelligence reached us. The words, "Fort Sumter has fallen! To arms! To arms!" passed from moutih to mouth towards the setting sun, and, like the waves of the tempestuous sea, spread awe and consternation in their wake.

The peaceful people, fully accustomed to the midnight alarms of the ferocious savages, were alarmed as never before. There was not exceeding eight or ten negro slaves then in the county. Speakers came and the men gathered in groups here and yonder and "the rights of states to secede from the Union" was made the issue. The hearts of our people were fired with human liberty as never before. Drilling grounds were designated in sev^eral parts of the county and weekly drills ordered. The military spirit prevailed and young Denton County, sixteen years old, furnished eight companies of as brave, hardy, and fearless soldiers as could be found in the State, with many joining companies from othei- counties. Nearly one thousand men enlisted from the county and went to the front. The poorest armed men imaginable foi- such a fearful undertaking. I will describe one soldier boy whom I loved, as he bade us good-bye, and he was a fair sample and average of the one thousand others from Denton County who faced the foe.

See him as he marches out on dress parade, riding his Choctaw pony, homemade saddle, homemade butcher-knife, old cast-barrel shotgun, and an old "pepper-box" pistol (old-style seven-shooter) whose greatest power of offense or defense was its name, "pistol." Many of the boys never returned, and some returned limping, with wounds and bruises, an empty sleeve, an empty trouser leg, an eye gone, and in many other ways maimed for life and doomed to suffering. These historical truths will not appeal to the giddy and gay, though it be the history of their ancestors, but to the serious, inquiring mind that loves liberty and revei'es ancestors, these details may be of comfort and consolation, as they indicate a part of the price paid for our liberties. In memory of these hei'oes I shall call the roll so far as I have been able to obtain the names. But I regret to say that the ravages of fifty years have obliterated most of them, and the memory of the surviving soldiers under the weight of years cannot recall more than a few of the once-familiai- names, which they heard called so often. We now have to be content with the meager rolls at our command. In July, 1861, Col. 0. G. Welch made up a company "for twelve months, or during the war."

"Honor Roll," C. S. A., of Captain O. G. Welch's Co. E, First Chickasaw and Choctaw Mounted Rifles, General Cooper's Indian Regiment as remembered by W. P. Bates, J. P. Bowles, and Boone Daugherty :

Eighty-seven out of the one hundred and fifteen remembered. Captain T. W. Daugherty's Co. A, 29th Texas Cavahy was nized in Denton County in 1862. Here we give Captain ?herty's muster roll :

Johnson. "Called into the service of the Confederate States, in the provisional army, under the provision of the act of Congress, passed February, 1861. From December 23, 1861 (date of this muster roll) for the term of twelve months from February 15, 1862, unless sooner discharged." OFFICERS - Adams, Marion

This company of 101 men was enlisted at Pilot Point. More than one thousand men enlisted in Denton County, but we are unable to secure the names of half that number, because of the destruction of the muster rolls, and for the further reason that the fifty-five years of intervening time have erased many names from memory. But I feel unwilling to close this record without making this miscellaneous list which is in my own personal knowledge of men who enlisted in the war : Bates, Willis H. Hawkins, Jehue D. Potter, W. T. C.

Thei-e were also oi'ganized the "home guards," composed of men over sixty yeai's of age and boys from sixteen to twenty years of age. They met and drilled periodically. Their duties were to look after and provide for the "war widows," a term applied to the wives of absent soldiers; to protect us from the wild Indians, who occasionally raided our county; also to administer law and order at home, as we scarcely had any other from 1861 to 1868. It was a military rule and worked fairly well, as the old men decided on the proper thing to be done and the boys earned it out.

The home guards patrolled the county against the Indians very successfully in the beginning, but in the later part of the strife and up to 1870, the Indians became very troublesome by their raids, murdering women and children, and stealing thousands of horses. Of the horses we had a plentiful supply. The guards were to see that the "war widows" were protected and food provided for them, at least meat and bread. There was an abundance of cattle on the prairies and the county was subdivided into convenient districts and men appointed to butcher meat twice a week in each district (except in winter, when cattle were poor; then they used dried beef). Corn was scarce, and oread at times was hard to get. The "widows" would send for t, and of course it was free.

This was a seed time of criminality, in the destruction of property rights, which afterwards produced an abundant harvest - the inevitable result. The boys from twelve to eighteen years )f age left at home suddenly without having due preparation, had bhe duties and responsibilities of mature manhood thrust upon them, and enthused as they were by the dominating military spirit, freed from restraints of the moral standards of right, iominated by the false doctrine that "might makes right," drifted t'apidly into crime and in after years became our worst criminals. [t is a noted fact that Denton County's period of greatest criminality extended from 1868 to 1886. The crimes were chiefly against property rights, committed piincipally by the boys of the war. Thes^ crimes demonstrated the truth of the divine law, "Whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap." True, we had some few criminals to return home from the war, men who had become demoralized and needed reconstruction. They believed honestly that the States had a right to secede from the Union, but the arbitrament of the war was in favor of "might against right."

But the majority of the Denton County soldiers who were permitted to return home after the war were either emaciated, worn, weary, diseased or wounded - not conquered, but overpowered - not whipped, but outnumbered - still believing in States' rights and preservation of property rights. They made the best class of citizens. They had no negroes to be freed. There was not over one soldier in one hundred from Denton County who owned slaves. Their loss was one of principle, the i-ight to secede from the Union. They, in good faith, yielded to the force of majorities and needed no reconstruction.

they had concerted plans to fight their way through to Union lines. At that time it was charged against them that plan was to fight their way through on a selected date, U\ men, women, and children as they went, and to use the 1 freely. Just how much truth and how much falsehood ex will probably never be known. This organization did, howexist in Cooke County, Denton County and Wise County, 1 1 strongest in Cooke County. In the beginning the adherents c themselves "The Peace Party," declaring themselves oppost wai-. There were doubtless many good men who joined i many men wei*e opposed to secession and to war.

But this secret organization soon became a lawless or^ zation, and took upon themselves a new name, "The U League,"" meeting in the tlu'ee counties named, augmenting t numbers. Overtui'es were alleged to have been made to Nev Chance of Cooke County to become a member, and he took matter up with General Henderson and Captain Young, who chai'ge of the Northwest Texas home guai'ds, with headquari at Gainesville. It was aiTanged for ]\Ii\ Chance to join order, find out all the plans, and parties, and report back to h« quaiters. This he did, giving the purpose of the order and names of many of its members. Cooke, Wise, and Denton cc ties were involved. The people of Cooke County suffered reported diabolical purposes of this secret order to inflame tl passions, dethi'one their reason, and influence theii' judgmen such an extent that they rose up en masse and hanged ab twenty-five men. They had some kind of militai'y trial, the fate of these men rested on the proof of theii* members in this order and Mi'. Chance was the witness. In Wise Cou they acted more deliberately, and were not wrought up. Capt John Hale, who had a company of scouts at Decatur, was orde to aiTest and bring to Decatur for ti'ial all the members in t county. A trial commission of fifty of the best men of t county was organized and presided over by Rev. William Bella] a Methodist preacher, and the then presiding elder of t western district of the East Texas Conference. This court of people acted more in the bounds of reason and turned many men loose, whose criminal intent could not be established, but they found five men guilty, and they were hanged. In Denton County several arrests were made near Pilot Point, but the stoiin of indignation had, to some extent, lost its fury as the passion of the people cooled. The gi-ewsome awe of bodies swinging from limbs of trees at Gainesville and Decatur, and the sight of weeping widows and oi^hans had restored reason. The men arrested in Denton County were all turned loose but one, a I\Ir. Beard, who was rushed upon while in prison and shot to death by an infuriated citizen. This man was convicted of manslaughter and served a term in the penitentiary after the war for killing Mr. Beard.

In 1863 three men were hanged in a gi'ove between Panther Creek and Doe Branch in the eastern part of the county on land now o^^'ned by Billy T. Wilks, within five miles of the wT.'iter. It was secretly done. The bodies were cut down and buried under the tree, and old saddles which had belonged to the dead men, were left setting close by. The hanging was attributed to the home guards, and it was noised about that the executed men had been caught stealing horses. One morning about day-break the people found a man hanging on a tree in the public square of Denton, on the west side, and on his back was pinned this placard, "Caught riding a horse not his o^^^l." There were other similar executions of a mysterious character, which were attributed to the home guards and apparently had a deteiTent effect on horse thieves, as but few horses were stolen during the war, except by the Indians.

On January 28, 1861 the secession convention met in Austin. It was composed of one hundred and seventy-four members. Denton County was represented by ex-Goveraor James W. Throckmorton of Collin County. He was a brave and courageous statesman who voted his sentiments. Although ovei-^vhelmingly in the minority, he and six others voted against secession, while one hundred and sixty-seven voted for secession. \Mien he arose to his feet and voted "no," the convention hissed, and he exclaimed, "Well may patriots tremble when the rabble hiss!" He advocated that we had a right to secede but that it was not expedient at this time to do so. Just which was right was problematical, but he cheerfully yielded to the majority and raised a company of men from Denton and Collin counties and joined Col, William C. Young's regiment of Cooke County, and in May they crossed Red River and captured Forts Arbuckle and Washita, the Federal general, William H. Emory, retiring the Federal forces into Kansas. As soon as this feat was accomplished he carried his company into the Sixth Regiment of Texas, and continued through the war. Col. Young's regiment was hastily thrown together to capture the Federal forts and retire the Federal army. Thus, Denton County was early into the war.

The election on secession was held February 23, and in May we had taken charge of the forts on our border. They did not believe that the Federal government would resist until Fort Sumpter had fallen, notwithstanding they had taken chai'ge of every fort in the State under the awe of military propaganda. It was called the resumption of our rights as states. As before stated, our civil government was comparatively lost sight of and swallowed up by the military.

In 1863, Pess White, a negro man about thirty years old, was charged by one of our "war widows" with having visited her room at night and attempting an assault. The guards took him in charge and gave him a trial before Joel Clark, a justice of the peace, at Little Elm. He was given a speedy trial, and condemned to death. The woman's husband, who was with Martin's troops near Bonham in Fannin County, was sent for to act as executioner. The offense had been committed in Denton County but the execution took place in Collin County, about one mile southeast of Frisco, in Mr. Lighter Hoffman's pasture just about sunset. The negro was given fifteen minutes in which to pray and while upon his knees and hands in the attitude of prayer, he was shot. The bullet passed through from side to side just below the shouders, and death was instantaneous. About the same time old Nelse, a negro belonging to the Dougherty broth-

3rs, was charged with trying to poison some of our "war widows." He was tried, and was hanged to a tree in Denton. At Pilot Point a aegro who had murdered a man was arraigned before a justice of the peace, tried by a jury, condemned to death, and was hanged to the public well sweep until dead, demonstrating the fact that the justice's court can hang a man.

These three cases are the only ones where the negro was involved in our county during the war, and are recorded to show not mly the fact, but the method of meting ®ut justice by the white men or home guard. Quite a number of white men were hanged in like manner. The execution of these three negroes may seem unauthorized and barbarous, but when compared to the lynchings and the use of the torch of this age, which took place in our adjoining counties, we can but commend the wisdom, patience, and mercy of the home guards of 1861-65 in their effort to protect the women and children of Denton County.

Fifty-two years have passed and court houses, churches, and schools abound. The people have made rapid progress in every other line but the negro question is still unsettled in the matter of crimes against white women. Lynchings are of frequent occurence, and the wild passions of men seemingly cannot be controlled, either in the North or South, when these horrible crimes are committed. Denton County has never yet burned a man at the stake.

On December 25, 1861, the Legislature passed a law dividing Texas into brigade districts, fixing the ages of men liable to military duty - from eighteen years to fifty years - and prescribing exemptions from military duty. Denton County was in Brigade District No. 21, composed of Denton, Cooke, Wise, Montague, Jack, Young, Clay, Wichita, Archer, Wilbarger, Baylor, Throckmorton, Hardeman, Knox, Haskell, Stephens, Shackelford, and Jones counties.

Each brigade district had a brigadier general appointed for it by the governor, and to him all troops of the district reported. The western counties of this district had but few men to go. Hence there was no brigade from this district. The patrol line

On December 15, 1863 the Legislature passed an act for the protection of the frontier, and conditionally turned over to the C. S. A. the frontier regiment. Said regiment was to be strictly made up of bona fide residents of said territory, men who lived in the counties of Cooke, Wise, Parker, and on the south and west to Maverick County, and all west of said line. The officers and men had to take an oath to arrest and turn over to the C. S. A. all men fi'om frontier counties avoiding conscription.

Conscription of all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and fifty was then in order. John L. Lovejoy, Jr., was Denton County's consci'ipt officer. The passion of patriotism had somewhat abated, and we had some men who would not go. Some that Mr, Lovejoy could not catch crossed into Wise County and joined the frontier regiment.

We wei"e not overi'un with ai'mies in Denton County, nor distressed with the boom of battle. The horrors of war here seemed to i-each its climax when the conscript act was being enforced. Patriotic men who voluntarily went to fight the country's battles did it with so much grace and fervor that the family could not feel distressed even though it be a bleeding sacrifice. But when the boy of eighteen, in the bloom of youth, the very pride of his mother's heart, was being torn from the family, the cup of woe was drained to the dregs, and the conscript officer was held in derision and was the object of many offensive epithets.

The inequality of the conscript act, in exempting from its requirements one white man to every six negro slaves the family owned, permitted the rich man and his son to stay at home, under the plea of making bread to support the army, while the poor man and his son had to fight for the maintenance of slavery in the South under the guise of the "right to secede" and the privilege that all had, but none but the rich could avail themselves of, of hiring a substitute to go in their place. The general discussion of these inequalities, so plainly written in the act, made the act so obnoxious that it was hard to enforce it in Denton County, and put upon the Hps of the people the assertion that it was a "rich man's war, but the poor man's fight."

Whatever the real issues were, it matters not now. We passed through its strife and when the struggle was over the remnants of our boys in gray came home, not whipped, but overpowered - not conquered, but disarmed - not heralded as the saviors of the nation, but heroes of the lost cause! Thin and worn, one by one, over a period of twelve months, they came; grim, dusty, and in rags, with blistered feet and sore wounds. But the period of long, anxious waiting of the great loving heart of woman in the hour of suspense could hardly be borne. Was he killed, or will he ever return? was revolved over and over in the mind, and the woman, the great head of the families of the county, spent the lingering hours of the slowly passing century in prayerful, watchful waiting. She constantly scanned the homecoming roads that led from the mighty conflict, and from the early dawn of the morning to the twilight of eve the busy eye welcomed the approach of any soldier bearing tidings to the hungry heart. And the trained ear caught the distant sounds of approaching steps at night and the query would ring out over the balmy breeze, "Ts that you, my soldier boy? At last is that you ?" And the cadence of a voice, long lost but well remembered, would break upon the ear, and the hour of rejoicing would come. Four years of separation had come and gone, and the familiar voice was again to make glad the home. But, alas ! alas ! Just over yonder still hangs the gloom to that house, the soldier never returned. The vacant chair was never filled, the empty void of the aching heart remained empty still - and memory of the beautiful life and pleasant association \vas all that remained.

The home-coming in Denton County portrayed the homecoming in other counties. All phases of chivalry and manhood were manifested by the heroes of the lost cause. They surrendered the right to secede from the Union and agreed to the abolition of slavery in obedience to the arbitrament of war. They agreed to the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fif- teenth Amendments as the products. of might. They submitted to the disfranchisement of themselves, as they as honest men could not subscribe to the "amnesty oath," which declared that "they had never aided, abetted nor sympathized with the rebellion." They agreed that no man should ever be disfranchised on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude, and that the Southern soldier should be disfranchised on account of aiding, abetting and sympathizing with the lost cause. He had seen the setting sun of his lost cause as it went down in sorrow and gloom, lost to him, never to return. The twilight of darkness and despair overshadowed him as he viewed the wreck and ruin of the once beautiful and happy home. Poverty and want were visible in the faces of his loved ones and the stout heart that had faced the cannon's roar burst forth in sorrow, as it said in the language of Hagar, "Thou God, seest me," and the spring of water burst forth from the mountain's side and new life, new hope, and new aspirations came to the weary and worn soldier as the shades of night and the dreams of poverty passed away and the early dawn of a new day was heralded abroad. The old soldier caught the order, "about face," and in obeying the command, he beheld the beauties of a rising sun, and adjusted himself to a busy life with the arts and sciences from which the present greatness of Denton County has come.

The now busy soldier was found to be just as brave in adversity as in war and equally as resourceful. To perpetuate the memory and provide for the distressed comrades in arms, they organized at Denton, Sul Ross Camp, No. 129, of Confederate Veterans, which still meets with the following muster roll :

Here and yonder you will find an old soldier still living in the county, too far away to attend Sul Ross Camp, but whose heart beats in unison with his former comrades in arms. These old soldiers stand erect and alone, like the mighty oak stripped of its branches by the tempests of time - once an emblem of power and of strength, but now of weakness and decay. With heads covered with the frost of many winters, living in the glory of the past when each fought and bled for what he considered right, each realizes that he must soon answer the last long roll call. Their comrades, like the autumn leaves, have fallen one by one, and have been laid to rest in many different cemeteries of the country, beyond the reach and care of Sul Ross Camp No. 129 which annually visits the graves of all ex-Confederates and G. A. R.'s in Denton, leaving floral offerings on each resting place. We are glad to record the roll of their comrades who sleep in the cemeteries of the City of Denton, as follows :

These old soldiers meet every fourth Sunday evening and call he roll of Sul Ross Camp No. 129 and inquire regarding the velfare of the absent members. Many of them are now so feeble hat they are not able to look after themselves, but "Holy angels ire hovering round."

Katie Daff an Chapter No. 932, United Daughters of the Conederacy, was organized in 1905 by Miss Katie Daffan, for whom he chapter was named. The Daughters of the Confederacy at )enton, with visions of duty to perform, received new light and nspiration, and came to the rescue of the tottering heroes of he Confederacy. The Chapter was formed with the following ;harter members: Mrs. A. L. Banks, Mrs. Ada Poling, Mrs. I. F. Schweer, Mrs. T. E. Ponder, Mrs. L. H. Schweer, Mrs.

Amelia Bates, Mrs. W. C. Edwards, Miss Lee Williams, Mis Lula Taylor, Miss Dorothy Williams. These ten good women ui furled the Confederate flag for a different purpose than that f( which it had been unfurled before - "Victory over defeat." Th Chapter adopted as its motto, "Superior to adversity, equal 1 prosperity."

And thus the battle of love and mercy began and continue Recruits came in until Katie Dalfan Chapter has thirty-s: members, acting as guardian angels to Sul Ross Camp No. 12 Since its organization the Chapter has had the following pres dents : Mrs. A. L. Banks, Mrs. C. R. Gatewood, Mrs. W. L. For man, Mrs. W. E. Durbin, Mrs. Frank Finer, Mrs. C. C. Yanc

They have regular monthly meetings and are constant pressing the "battle of love and mercy" and scattering rays ( sunshine. They visit periodically Sul Ross Camp No. 129, see! ing an opportunity to do good for the Confederate soldie imoothing- down the gray locks and whispering words of cheer md consolation, which to them, in their declining days, are worth nore than the "gold of Ophir." They put flowers on the graves -f the fallen heroes, but deem it a greater privilege to serve and )ay tribute to the living.

A more touching and pathetic scene can not be pictured than ;he visitation of these daughters to the camp of the old wayvorn veterans, upon whose heads the gray locks shine like the ^-lories of a setting sun, and these angels of mercy hovering -ound to dispel the approaching shades of twilight.

These Daughters of the Confederacy are now engaged in )uilding on the courthouse square, at a cost of two thousand dolars, a monument to the memory of the Confederate soldiers who mlisted from Denton County. The contract has been let and the nonument is assured. The monument is to have a granite base and is to be finished with blue Georgia marble. This is a part Df their present activities - their crowning work, perhaps.

Monument to be erected by the Katie DaflFan Chapter, United Daughters of the Confedercy, to the memory of Confederate Soldiers who enlisted from Denton County.

rhere's a gallery filled with pictures in a mansion all my own, Real as Rembrandt's masterpieces with their wondrous color-tone; riiere are dim, enchanting vistas with their canvases of old, With lazy cattle in the meadows, fertile fields of green and gold.

rhere are landscapes glad with sunshine, just a shadow here and there. Like dimples on the cheek of laughter - subtle touches to the fair; rhere's a cottage on the hillside in a burst of childish joy, rhe mirth of winsome maiden and the sport of barefoot boy.

rhere are harvests rich and golden as the reaper's work is done; rhere are mountains growing crimson beneath an autumn sun. With, the chestnut trees full-laden and the chestnuts turning brown, A.nd winter's icy bleakness with the snowflakes trembling down.

rhere's a city mad with commerce and its voices of the night. By the ocean's heaving bosom of emerald flecked with white, With a home of sweet contentment and its fireside's cheerful glow, Filled with love that never faltered, my home of long ago.

rhey're painted on living canvas, on living walls they're hung - Unheeded by the throngs in passing, their praises never sung - A.nd among these phantom pictures I stroll with measured tread, My footsteps ringing hollow in the halls that hold my dead.

In these memory-haunted chambers I live and live alone - Outside the clouds are gathering where the sun once brightly shone; Though my feet are growing weary and my eyes are filled with tears, I'm ever looking at these pictures, the pictures of the years.