The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-08-18


There was very full gathering of the mem
bers of the Regiment and their lady and gen.
tleman friends at Reception Hall, City build
ing, last evening, to listen to the literary exer
cises appertaining to their ANNUAL reunion.
Around the sides of the hall were suspended
the names of the officers who lost their lives IN
the defence of their country-some nineteen
| in number-in white letters upon a red dia-
| mond, the badge of the division. The Port
| land Band occupied the left Of the rostrunl,
| and after an opening march had been played
| by them, the Association entered and took
| their Seats each officer wearing the division
badge upon his coat
Gen. Charles 2. Mattocks, the President Of
| the Association, in a few brief remarks, begged
| the indulgence OF the audience for the orator
and poet of the evening, owing to the fact that
| the gentlemen originally appointed were COM
| PEELED to decline and the substitutes had re-
! ceived only brief notice that their services
would be called into requisition. Prayer was
then offered by Rev. Captain W. r. Sargent,
| followed by music from the Band, at the con-
oluson of which the Rev. Mr.. Lowering, Of
Concord, N. H., delivered very fine address.
His subject was Patriotism" and abound
ed in thrilling incidents of heroism and of hos
pital life, as well as many beaut iful word
paintings. He said he proposed to emphasize
| certain thoughts common to us all, and which
were pertinent to the occasion. The history
of the world had told us that the great virtue
of antiquity was mems love of country. In
stances occur to us all proving this statement.
Regulus, the Roman Senator, was one of the
L &c g.
a love of country. He narrated the story of
his victories, his capture, his heroic determine
ton to return to his captors after he had infiu-
enced the Roman people not to accede to the
terms of the Carthaginians, and his noble
death. Cicero only echoed the prevailing SEN
timent of antiquity when he said that love of
country was greater than love of kindred etc.
Love of country, also, has its humorous side.
The Irish antiquarian believed that Ireland
was the original Paradise, and Dutch one
feeling that he could not prove that Holland
was the original Garden of Eden, fell back on
the assertion that the original language of
Adam and Eve was the Dutch.
We all believe patriotism is duty and the
conservative element of every nationality.
People lose all interest in national affairs I'M
less the pure flame of patriotism is kept con-
stantly burning in their bosoms. We cannot
afford to blot out of the pages of history the
names of heroes and the stories of heroic
deeds. The names of those who hang about
these walls only stand for thousands of other
patriotic names of those who gave their lives
that their country might live. The post of
honor is the POST of duty, and here the speak
orr draw n Siv MIC of ha of4io
who led the fororn hope at Petersburg and
yet dying, riddled with shot, only felt too glad
that he had been able to do so much for the
glorious flag. A camp hospital at Cold Har-
Dor, on the Tyler estate, was wildly described.
The surgical operations, the silent suffering of
those who were told that nothing could stay
the approach of the death angel, and the agony
of others who only begged that an operation
might be attempted. The poem "Mustered
Out was repeated in connection with this
subject, referring to those who died on the
field in distinction to the lingering agony of
the hospital, with a dramatic fervor and pa
thos that brought tears to many an eye
Patriotism is hot only a conservative, but also
a propulsive element. We must not forget our
present duties Life grows more alluring the
IuTbueI We duFduC6s luC leSeuu Oh Inc en-
chanted we'll was told and compared to our
country. Here we have, said the speaker,
mighty forces: patriotic feeling, which, like
the water of this enchanted well, only requires
the time and the man to cause its overflow,
baptizing anew our national life. We can have
no patriotism that will do good unless we take
up some active duty of the day. The speaker
closed with beautiful peroration, in which he
urged his hearers to strive that the government
might be founded upon principles that could
Withstand the shock of every political earth
quake. Let the pillars of the edifice be JUS
tice, fraternity, Equality; let the frescoing be
composed of pure aspirations and heroic
achievements in all your enterprises; let the
choral tributes be songs of peace and love, and
let the leaders be men full of the speed of a
perfect integrity, Let the dome of this sp'en.
did edIfice be Faith, that the national glory
may fall like benediction upon the multtudes
Of people gathered under it.