The Portland daily press., 1866-04-25

when desperate valor could win nothing but
death, when the heart grew sick with hope de-
Ierred ana manly tortitude could endure no
longer, were you not reused by the helping he
role words Il ask you not to come home, but
would to God could be by your side! Tell
me II in the fierce carnival of death, in the
mad uproar of charge and countercharge did
not then a fair pale face amid the hideous
phantoms OF smoke and flame, lure you on
more than the tempting batteries YOU We're
sweeping to win? And when summoned to
storm the crest rolling down an avalanche of
hre which 1t were madness for mortal to dare,
tell me were there not visions that beckoned
more brightly than your advancing banners!
II sweet calm voice did not thrill you with
more than bugle or cannon call-sForward my
hero! though all that made life dear were cast
upon the word! And did not then your soul
rise mightier than the storm Gould patriot
ism grow weak, could manhood falter then I?
Gould doubt, or dread, or danger, or difficulty
unnerVe your resolution Is is not thus also
that love may conquer death?
Ihese are not vain imageres of rhetoric -
they are pictures from life. They may seem
humanity to you here, surrounded BY all that is
bright and glad, in peace and security But
hearts come strangely near on the dreary picket
line, or in the dismal bivouac among the dead IN
the nights between the battles. And more
IMAM one such comics ion do L recall from the
manifest souls that ever went up from the
thlckest of the slam We do not understand
yet all the influences which entered into the
character OF our heroes all the powers that
Were leagued to redeem our flag from dishonor
and the n ation from death. Why do we look
back with half jealous admiration at the women
for whose beauty kingdoms and empires have
peen tossed to the winds, when such as these
with unselfish heroism have saved Nation by
their love )? Why do we marvel at the woman
VINO drank her pearls in wine to bewilder by
the magmhcence of her prOdigal. ty the heart of
the great conqueror, when then are those
among US who have drank at one bitter draught
costlier gems dissolved in tears ilA
And that such as these should suffer while
the Nation rejoices-that such as these should
want while We are in plenty - that such az
these should decline while we flourish No.
we will not look afar for objects of admiration,
OF honor, of sympathy, of charity, or if We do
1t shall not be like those worse than intidels
who provide notion their own. We will indeed
not forget those that are afar off = the nations
that SIT IN darkness and in the shadow of death
the homeless and forsaken within the wide
borders of our land. We will think nothing
human too far away for our kindly charities !;
but this we will above all things do. Here we
fulfill duty, we acknowledge an obligation, we
pay the interest of a principal that never can
be cancelled. Not as the cold payment of a
debt irksome but unav0idable; not as a gift to
aggrandise the giver, but as the thank offering
OF gratitude-the free, glad, gushing of sympa-
thy-the pledge of cherishing remembrance, of
unfalteTlng devotion to a cause most dear.
And we gather here the beautiful and the
strong; we bring our brightest and best things
not with light thoughts and mirthful vanity,
but with earnest purpose of doing what we can
poor as the remembrance must be--to stand
in the place of husband and father. And not
without some reflex of good to ourselves; for
we are rewarded by the availing prayers of
womanhood; we take the empty hands Of little
children in our own and are strengthened and
purified,
These are the memorials that shall live when
brass and marble shall have crumbled into dust.
Let US build our monuments not of perishable
stuff, but as those who plant tree that shall
grow and spread and bear bloom and fruit in
other times. Those who will may raise monu-
mentso OF marble to perpetuate the fame of he
roes. Those who will may build memorial halls
toremlnd those who shall gather there in after
times what manhood could do and dare for right,
and what high examples of virtue and valor
have gone before them. But let us make our
offering to the ever living soul. Let us build
our benetactions in the ever growing heart, that
they shalllive and rise and spread in blessing
beyond our sight, beyond the ken of man and
beyond the touch of time. r.. .T Mia 81
And tOyou, generous friends, step forward
from the ranks in the name of comrades here
and elsewhere, in behalf of those named of the
nameless here, to give this greeting, which
seems to come from a shore made distant by a
sea OF tears, and to pledge to you the ever-grow-
ing gratitude Of the living and the ceaseless
benediction Of the dead. .'u.' 'tA