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Poem "The Lost Cause" written on the back of a Confederate note
Gemini
Posts: 3,085 ✭
I found this poem in the front Bradbeers book "Confederate and Southern State Currency" I thought it was pretty cool and thought I'd pass it on.
"The Lost Cause" was written on the back of a Confederate note, in March 1865, by Major A. L. Jonas of Mississippi.
The Lost Cause
Representing nothing on God's earth now,
And naught in the waters below it;
As the pledge of a nation that passed away.
keep it dear friend, and show it.
Show it to those who will lend an ear
To the tale this trifle will tell,
Of Liberty born of a patriots dream.
Of a storm-cradled nation that fell.
Too poor to possess the precious ores,
And too much a stranger to borrow:
We issued to-day our "promise to pay,"
And hoped to redeem on the morrow.
The days rolled on, and weeks became years,
But our coffers were empty still:
Gold was so scarce, the Treasury quaked
If a dollar should drop in the till.
But the faith that was in us was strong indeed,
Though our poverty was well discerned,
And this little note represented the pay
That our suffering veterans earned.
They knew it hardly had a value in gold,
But as gold our soldiers received it:
It gazed in our eyes with a promise to pay,
And every true soldier bellieved it.
But our boys thought little of price or pay,
Or of bills that were overdue,
We knew it had brought our bread to-day,
"Twas the best our poor country could do.
Keep it. It tells all our history o'er,
From the birth of the dream to its last:
Modest and born of the Angel Hope
Like our hope of success, IT PASSED.
The "Lost Cause" was written on the back of a Confederate note, in March 1865, by Major A. L. Jonas of Mississippi.
It was given to Miss Annie Rush, of New York City, at a levee held in Richmond, Va. in honor of Confederate officers, at the close of the war.
Through Miss Rush, the now famous poem, was published in the Metropolitan Record of New York under the caption "Something Too Good To Be Lost"Major Jonas was accorded official recognition as the true author, by the Daughters of the Coinfederacy, at their convention in 1907. At the same trime the honor of reading the poem at the convention, was conferred on the authors daughter, Miss S.L. Jonas, of Memphis, Tenn.
"The Lost Cause" was written on the back of a Confederate note, in March 1865, by Major A. L. Jonas of Mississippi.
The Lost Cause
Representing nothing on God's earth now,
And naught in the waters below it;
As the pledge of a nation that passed away.
keep it dear friend, and show it.
Show it to those who will lend an ear
To the tale this trifle will tell,
Of Liberty born of a patriots dream.
Of a storm-cradled nation that fell.
Too poor to possess the precious ores,
And too much a stranger to borrow:
We issued to-day our "promise to pay,"
And hoped to redeem on the morrow.
The days rolled on, and weeks became years,
But our coffers were empty still:
Gold was so scarce, the Treasury quaked
If a dollar should drop in the till.
But the faith that was in us was strong indeed,
Though our poverty was well discerned,
And this little note represented the pay
That our suffering veterans earned.
They knew it hardly had a value in gold,
But as gold our soldiers received it:
It gazed in our eyes with a promise to pay,
And every true soldier bellieved it.
But our boys thought little of price or pay,
Or of bills that were overdue,
We knew it had brought our bread to-day,
"Twas the best our poor country could do.
Keep it. It tells all our history o'er,
From the birth of the dream to its last:
Modest and born of the Angel Hope
Like our hope of success, IT PASSED.
The "Lost Cause" was written on the back of a Confederate note, in March 1865, by Major A. L. Jonas of Mississippi.
It was given to Miss Annie Rush, of New York City, at a levee held in Richmond, Va. in honor of Confederate officers, at the close of the war.
Through Miss Rush, the now famous poem, was published in the Metropolitan Record of New York under the caption "Something Too Good To Be Lost"Major Jonas was accorded official recognition as the true author, by the Daughters of the Coinfederacy, at their convention in 1907. At the same trime the honor of reading the poem at the convention, was conferred on the authors daughter, Miss S.L. Jonas, of Memphis, Tenn.
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever
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Comments
Thanks for sharing. Neat.
Jonathan
For me, thinking of who may have held and used coins (and in this case paper currency) is part of the allure of the hobby.
Paul