Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1862-10-24
Morals of the War,

We are often told that war is demoral.
izing 1t is an assertion over which mill
anthropists sigh and trembling mothers
weep. 1t is the strongest argument Of
the peace society, for the moral welfare of
people being higher than any other no
nation can afford to become prosperous 0,
free at the price of becoming wicked. T.
war always leaves people worse than
they would have been with it. then w..
should be abolished at whatever cost w.
deny the premises in toto. ar;sro
more demoralizing than any ordinary mr..
suit that calls an equal amount of bum,n
energy into action. Is it any more ~
than politics9 Any more so than traffic.
Any more so than wealth and luxury and
power? 1t is the plethora of commerce
effeminacy that followsi it that emasculatps
the vigor of a nation and leaves it bloatsa
and impotent, a victim to the first attack
The essence of Immortality is unbridled
selfshness, and although there are manv
painful exhibitions of this trait at the
present time, yet on the other hand when
have we-seen so many noble examples of
self-sacrifce for the common good ?
The truth is war is a severe test O E
character. 1t offers lofty incentives on
the one hand, degrading temptations on
the other One years martial experience
DEVELOPS and proves us more than mapv
of peaceful life. The youth is ready to
lay down his life for his country, but
can he bear to lose it by inches, by useless
marches and counter-marches, by needless
hunger and deprivation, by labors un-.
crowned by laurels, by faithful service
with only conscience for reward? Can
he bear to see brazen arrogance promoted
while modest merit is passed by? While
fighting for justice and freedom, can he
endure in their behalf injustice and op-
preston? These are severe trials, bitter
tests, but the true patriot must meet them
or prove unworthy of the name. Many
are not proof to such temptations; they
become embittcred, reckless, demoralized.
Many more, oh how many, rise nobly
to meet the occasion. CHEEKY and loyal,
brave and patient, they not only do and
dare, but submit and smile These,
whether officers or privatcs, whether Will
fed in command or victimized in the
ranks, are the true heroes of the hour.
They form the wealth of the nation,
in the day when she counts up her jewels,
Greater love hath no man than this,
that man lay down his life for his
friends"
War is forcing process; it accclerates
development and abridges time. Itopens
briefer road to the goal of human life.
1t arouses thought, excites emotion
inspires action. We are all living faster
and with fuller vitality than heretofore
in times of peace The father shuddering
like Abraham at the altar, the mother,
weeping like Mary at the sepulcher, have
each condensed in breif period many
years of life. The brave boys who fell
on the late battle-felds; whose blood is
not yet all washed away by the autumnal
rains, whose example is immortal and
whose memory blossoms in the dust these
boys have crowded into fifteen months
the discipline, the suffering the experience
of years. Matured by cheerful loyalty
and manly endurance, theirs was the ripe
ness of October and the bloom of June.
I They have "fought the good fight and
finished their course" The struggle was
|, brave and breif. We too who survive are
rapidly undergoing change. Weare grow
q ing better or worse. We are passing
A through the furnace, to come out vessels
of honor or dishonor. This war is stamp
4 ing its impress upon all our hearts, and
j it rests with us to choose whether 1T shall
l. leave stigma or crown.-Sprnansl@
&c Republican.
ca The Mormons are turning tnelr
. attention to the cultivation OF cotton