The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1868-06-10
te1sn 3 s.os J, ioRATIoN. -. /.

DcttCoT6U W LIN. II. W. VOOA1i1H, Wv WV
Jaiion Cemetery, near Raleigh, May SOth,
otSY9' Noll s.5ss u hIiDd h!gotis ag..,. oss u
i am persuaded that o common feeling Of
respect for the memory of the dead has in
fluenced this assemblage to-day. 1t is trib-
ute none. should withhold, who are interes-
ted in the. subject, complicated with those
who lie within this enclosure. If any class
of men, living or dead, deserve the consid-
Grafton and respect of their fellowcitlze
it isthe patriot soldier who has periled or
lost his life in the cause of his country.-
Men may build cities, and endow institutions
ofoharity, and die remembered for their benz
fcencc, in which they have sacrificed no per-
sonal inconvenience or comfort, while the
soldier leaves all that makes life valuable,
and submits to the danger and privations
found in Camp ard field, and becomes the
safeguard and defence, not Of a city but of
nation; government in whose existence
cities and charities are vested. These CON-
stitute the. soldiers claim while living, and
his demand, when dead, to the consideration
and respect Of every loyal man. When the
people cease to be grateful to those whose
strong hearts and muscle proved the bull
wark of defense when their Interest and lib
erty were at stake. and danger threatened
the final rupture Of united and prosperous
government then may the grass grow rank
and long on the graves of its victims, and
human gratitude become myth OF the past,
and sympathy a satire upon humanity. oG.
Kind acts like :. kind words never die."-
They will live in their influence when gener-
ations have passed away, and like ripple
on the wave, they will wash the sand on
either shore of mortality. True, the dead
may not feel the act OF to-day in garlanding
the graves where their bodies moulder.-
There is however, q sympathy linking liv
ing minds in the memory awakened by the
flowers which wreath the place of their en-
tombment.@ 1t speaks a silent eloquence
which reaches the heart, no flourish of Rhet-
oric or Metaphor can attain, and forces upon
us the feeling" Blessed are the dead.n 1dl
Il 1t is not merely what we see around US to-
day which makes this spot hallewed ground
It is not the flowers strewn around and over
these graves which swells the heart with
emotion The attraction is not found in Or
namenting these walks and avenues. There
is something more involved than the mere
parade and show of bringing garlands Of flow
ers to lay upon a strangers grave. These
bones are the nations trust. They became
so under circumstances that will render their
graves special interest and care, when we
shall have passed away and will go down to
canning ages, memorial of disafection as
causeless as it was sad and disastrous to the
public interest and national pride. t,agaq
This cemetery is striking commend on
the wide spread desolation which had nearly
made the existence of a republic nullity,
and wiped out the result of our fathers
blood and toll in throwing off the yoke of
foreign despotism, and would have reduced
the confederation of States to a feudalism-
But for this these graves would not have
been made, and thousands of valuable lives
might have been saved to their country and
their friends. 1t is often found that bless
ings long continued become Intellectual in
producing contentment. Desire becomes
rampant for change, and under the whip
and spur of excitement men rush inconsid-
erately into the conception of imaginary
evils which little time and patience would
have overcome There are appropriate rem
edies for ecery wrong. Indebtedness and
ruin follow in the wake of a causeess strife.
There is time for men to think; an hour
when they should ponder the paths of their
feet" That time and hour has been, and is
noao. A voice comes up from these graves
and from thousands of others whose homes
have been made desolate, and could it be
heard to-day, it would cause the hills and
wales surrounding our once quiet and happy
homes to echo, and each ear tingle through
the length and breadth OF the land with the
cries of agonized mortality. ra) 10 iG-i7
~
country, yes, think! Not upon a single
blessing lost. Not upon homes made Desc
late by mistaken strife. o Not upon the. flat.
tering speech of demagogues. Think for
yourselves, your wives and children Think
for posterity, in combining true loyalty
and patriotism, with industry and persever-
ing toll and although it may not restore
your dead to your homes and your tiresides,
your positions will become elevated, and
your possessions will again:grow green under
your fostering care, and your homes happy
and prosperous under a restored confidence
in yourselves and Others, with government
saved from the wreck of internal brOils-
, That man who is constantly harping upon
| technicalities, and confines his patriotism
J and loyalty to what was, or has been, is at
/ fault, and is no less untrue to his country
than himself It is not the men whose sim
ews breasted the smoke and strife of battle,
who, keep up this strife and discomfort
among the masses, but the loungers at home,
whose: sensitive nerves avoided the smell of
| gunpowder and the tasting of death. Such
men may make fair speeches, and call you
towards, for your disinclination to follow
their lead, but you have faced, the deadl.er
aim of the shot and shell of the battlefield,
and need not fear to meet them in war of
words. The advancement of intelligence
and the exercise of forbearanre with close
application of the means OF relieving the
necessities, the past few years have inaugur-
these " by cones" with their cause and orr
gin, and seek the recuperation of wasted for
tunes and the establishment of a true loyal
ty and patriotism on a foundation so broad
and deep, that future generations may find
no cause for a breach Of their fealty.fs Then
may the symbol of our nationality rest Sc.
cureh and undisturbed its majesty and
pride on its pinnacle, and the dome of free
dom reflect the glory and power Of her insti
tutions, and 7unfurl her banner to the world
without the absence of single star. 10,
The sacrifice of human life is terrible to
contemplate. 1t was a fearful price to pay
and every section of the country is. overshad
owed by the gloom of the retrospect. L
there is any power in a general sympathy
arising for similar causes Of distress and suf
fering, to reunite and consolidate suspended
interest, then each and all who have become
alenated from circumstances have the heal
ngpanacea at hand for the whole land groan
uhderithe burden, Joseph is not" Surel,
the cemetery has become favored spo
where affection fingers over hegrayes of tn