Orleans County Monitor

Knee deep in the scarlet poppies,
Waist high in the waving corn,
At the edge of a silver streamlet
They met by chance one morn.

He was a Union soldier
In blue and buttons gay,
And she was a southern maiden
In a shabby gown of gray.

She looked at his stalwart shoulders
And face with its healthy tan;
He looked at her cheeks of roses,
And so the tale began.

The poppies yet were sleeping,
After the war
And who was to hinder, pray,
If the blue clad soldier captured
A kiss from the girl in gray?

Flags were furled
To meet her under the live oaks
In the moonlight and the dew.
And, lo, when the bugle sounded
And the regiment marched away
He left a ring and a promise
With the sweet little maid in gray.

And the peaceful snow of the orchards
Folded the weary world
He came again to the village
In the heart of the fragrant May.
The bells rang out for a bridal,
And the blue was wed to the gray.

---Minna Irving in Leslie's Weekly.