Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-06-10
mHmoRIAL DAT II DELAWARE



It is good for US to be here where tht
brave are sleeping" is well to visi
the graves of men who did not live II
vain. The story and the lesson of thei
lives are ever present there A story
and a lesson are told By their LITTLE
mounds. As we stand among them
the phantom of the buried war rises be
/ fore US. We see again the march. the
camp, the siege, the battle, the ghastlv
/ field, the hospital, the stricken homes, the
I distracted country. We hear again the
bitter cry-why has this calamity been
suffered to visit US?
We hope never again to receive such
visitation. But even calamity has its
use. The law of compensation is uni
yersal. Already, before the widows of the
war have all laid aside their weeds be-
fore its orphans have been gathered un-
der shelter, we begin to discern in it the
control of an overruling Providence,
and to see how the trial wrought results
that the toilers were not thinking of.
The war has improved our standing
as nation. Under its strain, the United
States developed such mighty and un-
suspected resources that we now stand
a power among nats5ns. 1t has helped
the cause of liberty throughout the world.
1t used to be said that a republican form
of government might answer for limi-
ted territory and in time of peace; but
that it must crumble before an organized
resistance against authority. But the
vigor shown in enforcing law and main
tanning the stability of government vim
dicated the capacity of a people to gov
ern themselves. And at home the terrible
strife swept away the great source of in
ternal dissension swept away all legal
inequalities among men, and left to
every man equal opportunity before the
law to use the faculties which God has
been pleased to give him.
But the sweet use Of adversity is its
development of character, And what
blessed memories of character crowd
upon us on this memorial day. There
come rooping up out from the past the
Sanitary Commission and kindred asso-
a whole people knit together in
works of mercy and love.
The women Of the war reappear-
their husbands, brothers and
sons off to combat giving their sub
stance, their time, their labor, to aid the
wounded, the sick and the needy;-Ieav-
ing home to enter hospitals, there. to |
watch and nurse and waste and die, in |
saving the lives Of others. Adding
Christian grace to Spartan fortitude, they |
showed how sublime true womanhood |
is.
And the soldiers.-It is not their |
prowess or exploits that we recall to-day.
To-day we remember only that they so
loved their country, they gave to it all |
they had, even their lives. They are gone |
But we have their example of self sacri-
hce and conservation to duty for a per-
petual memory, a national inheritance. /
They are not lost. Such dead-are worth |
many living. Their mourners mourn /
with proud grief. What mother bending |
over the grave of her soldier son, would /
that dead son for any living
youth in the land?
They need no eulogy Of words. But t
hey demand that their sacrifice shall
not have been in vain They invite US
o live as they died. They call upon US
% see that the nation they saved shall /
to be worth saving. And year
after year, as spring succeeds spring, |
successive generations bringing here
heir tribute of flowers, will hear that adj
72onition
Weave garIarfzs, nIslidens, weave
sarlands for the dead. We come to pay
homage, not to weep. The heroic dead /
ift us above lamentation. Strew flowers
IN their graves. They have already
5ained amaranthine wreaths. Add re-
7erently your offering of terrestrial
blooms. Strow them gently. And may
he lowering spirits shed their blessing
lpon you and pour upon us all some
hing of their devotion to the right