Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-05-30

In accordance WIN the Bcncfh Oiuor hSuVd
from the headquarters Of the Grand Army OF
the Republic in Washington the graves Of the
nations heroes will to-day be decorated with
floral omblems Of love and honor. The feel
ing which prompts this tribute Is tender and
holy, drawing together as II docs the COM
radts who stood beside these braves and those
who stiTl keep In sacred memory their loved
and lost The exquisite purity Of the dainty
flowers make them III offering upon the
shrine Of our countrys glory, for to our he
rocs, living and dead, we owe all the peace,
the tranquil reposc, in which the nation to-
day gathers together the elements Of her
strength to do honor TO her fallen soldiers.
This decoration Is a spontaneous and uni
vcrsal resolve of the people. The war, with
is results, reached so many nrcsldos that
nearly every loyal heart has been called upon
to ombalm the memory Of some loved one
asleep on Southern soil, and though thess
may stil be far from the green mound that
covers the silent clay, their grateful prayers
viii rice with the incense Of flowers, and the
swell of q thousand voices, blending In the
upper world In one tribute Of honor. Upon
the graves Of known and unknown the same
hands will drop their floral tokens, tribes we
may call them, little tender violetsAnd shrink
ing lilies, hut these arc only tho tnblems Of
an immortal love, the spirit Of a real deyo-
ton that will live through the sterucst battles
Of life. a' $50 .'...
Aud in showing honor TO those who rest ON
the banks Of the Potomac we are not forget
ting the silent slecpers who stu lie IN un-
known trenches upon the fields where they
fought, or by the waysidc Over these the
hand of nature will strew sweet flowers, and
the voices Of birds will sing the chorus that
swcls to-day from Arlington's graye-strewn
soil. The same eyes that scan the names
upon the hcadstones in this slightly cemetery
have seen and will recall to-day other faces
that arc lying nndisturbod where tho daisies
bloom, but they aru all now under one flag,
with all itssstars rcstored--rcstored, TOO, BY
the BaIaisraiof blood that closed their eyes
upon mortality. 'EIaI
There is no proof more conclusive than this
decoration that the old wounds are healed,
the old stabs forgiven, In the chorus, whose
grand echoes will linger over the graves Of
friend and foe, there will no doubt be some
who have felt the bitterness Of the lost cause
but their presence proves the grace with
which our opponents have accepted tho situa.
ton, and have made this occasion national
demonstration Of honor to bravery and true
yalor. We look upon our heroes as Ameri-
cans; We present our offerings with the love
Of fcllow-countymcn, not Ia spirit Of vim
dlctiye selashness, but with universally Of
pride, because they were brave. -4..
They deserve all the honor We can bestow.
off, IA IN al. -
Of their memories A nations tears nave
watercd the lowly slccplng-placc Of is dead,
and to-day flowers spring over them, and
warm hearts do homage at their graves.
The voices OF their orphaned children, too,
sing beside their fathers tomb. What q
poem What eloquence is conveyed IN the
infant voices that lisp to-day iGhildren OF
tho Fallen Bravcin No words could speak
the peace, the beautiful peace that Is written
In the presence Of these little ones, who have
become a nations care, by the hakhing7 steel
that restored that nations life. On the brink
Of ruin, with an abyasof disruption threatening
her liberty, her existence, these brave men,
Curtius-lIke, sprung into the yawaiug chasm,
aud the breach was closed, but II closed upon
thousands of the most yalorous, tho most
noble Of this Republic. And now that the
plough-sharc makes burrows where tho bayO-
net and sabre have dug the trench, In the heart
Of these orphaned children lives the same
spirit that sent the father into the bloody
conflict; ad In the hereafter, when other
hands rs fratricidal rs were those who struck
at our liberties shall assail the nations peace
the Inheritance which our heroes have left
their little ones will send them, too, where