Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-06-30
The Nations Dead.

credit upon her teacher, Mr. SaImson.
The Nations Dead.
GRAFTON ON CONFEDERATION DAY AT
GREEN MOUNT CEMETERY, BURLING-
TON, BY LIEUT.. GEO. II. BIGELOw.
CO,,lrades and Citizens Sad and sa-
cred duty it is which leads us to-day to
abandon those usual avocations of life and
employ brief season in those floral Gus
toms of love and respect for the soldier
dead, so revered by nations OF antiquity
and since sanctifed in the history OF the
world We come not with pomp or
abundant display, but humbly and sor-
rowfully to garland the graves OF our
dead heroes.
A brotherhood of men who have sur
vived the fiery ordeal of battle, who seek
to preserve the social and patriotic MEM
cries of campaigns, to protect the widow
and orphan of the soldier, and to main
tain that fidelity to the Union for which
they risked their lives and their sacred
honor, have inaugurated this fashion of
Decoration Day, this hour of remembrance
of the manly virtues and soldierly quail
UlGS OI GuOs6 SdlldAU 1iCD, WuO5C DlOod iiec
been poured out upon the nations soil to
preserve the nations integrity.
The occasion is grand and full of
thought. An eloquent tongue should re-
hearse the deeds and virtues of the sacred
dead and had hoped that my comrades
of Post Stannard might have found some
other than your speaker to recall on this
day the services of those brave souls who
sleep in graves about US, but have not died
in vain
Some filter hand might crave,
To light the flame of a soldiers fame,
On the turf OF a soldiers grave"
These honors are ancient, historical.
Greek, Roman, Saxon, and Gaul ever
paid them to those who died for their
country, for it is one of the most irrepres-
sible impulses of human nature to rever-
ence that moral enthusiasm that makes a
man willing to die for an idea. Nothing
is SO sublime as the right of humanity,
steeling up its heart-strings to the point
where it calmly ventures life, and love
and youth for the great prize of death. in
battle"
Before the war the American people
seemed a nation of mere shop-keepeIs,
who would fearlessly venture life for the
" almighty dollar" for nothing more
ETHEREAL than this; but the war stopped
the contemptuous smile of the cynical cri-
tics who said that dollar was to an Am
erican balm for every wound, and that
his sensibilities were never touched, until
you pierced his pocket. But Gods en-
thusiasm now inspired them and they met
the foemen counting not their lives lost
Gas dust in the balance" if thereby their
country and homes they could free. Yes,
my friends, the war made us all think
more nobly of the divine possibilities of
human nature; since it made mankind
see that the hard-faoed, practical Yankee
had down in the depths of his heart, as
fine fame of heroic patriotism as ever
determined the career of the most fine
grained and poetic people of the past.
Hence the important character of this
Memorial Day and the services SO appro-
pirate to it. Communities and persons
should respect it and seek to honor the
martyred dead. The hour is solemn and
patriotic in its sentiments and feelings.
1t is not merely formal in its character
and ceremony; but like that other
great national holy-day, the anniversary
of the Independence of the Republic, it
has become established In the hearts and
fills the impulses of the people. We
have, therefore, to-day rnrUuss iiostt these
United States the spectacle of the most
practical people on earth honoring a
sacrifice of life, home, .ohildren, friends, in
short all those sweet affections and SYM
pathies that makes this world so dear, for
sentiment. Thus the moral effect of
these honors of Decoration Day must be-
long to the highest sort of spiritual in
Tha III 20 1ahn, &C
1--we tho part of those who cherish their
country, so springs from divine duty. 1t
is suggested by the compatriots of the
honored dead themselves. 1t is christian
and calm, and peaceful in its accessories
and services; partaking neither of boiste-
rousness or display. 1t is serious, solemn
touching, and impressive in all its details
and influences. No one day in the year
should be SO sacred, so uncontaminatd by
worldly interests. 1t is no time for rhetoric
or politics. Its associations are those of af-
lection, sorrow and gratitude. 1t is a
duty, wholly one of.religion, for it directs
loving hearts that live on precious memo
ries to lay offerings of pure flowers on the
graves of the dead, and no dead could be
more consecrated than those who gave life
for their country. The very fragrance of
Iu5SC spOL1CSS bAAOubSS WAbh "lI1CA
we strew the graves of our friends and
relatives to-day should keep selfshness
far away, and the tear, the swelling heart
and the sweet memory should only abide
with US.
But, comrades and friends, we have as
sembled here not only to deck the graves
of our heroic friends who lie about US in
this beautiful spot, where towers to the
skies the monument of him who first
taught Vermonters to claim and assert
their birthright of freedom against for
eign tyranny and unjust domestic rale,
-rough-moulded yet stout-hearted Ethan
Allen but also to dwell upon the loss
our country has sustained in the dead of
the war,-a loss not to be measured by its
inroads into the ranks of our population,
for that is easily repaired; but in the
spiritual loss we have suffered, which long
years cannot make up. The manifest,
bravest, most unselfish souls are those
whose light went out in the war. The
natural loss of their bodies, of their strong
arms, we can repair, but can we the rare
nature which is gone from us?
1t is this tender grace of our best hui
manity that is our most serious loss.
How many inspirers of noble causes and
great reform had their voices hushed in
the storm of battle! How many
causes and great reforms will
miss them sadly for many
long day Plain, then, it is our duty to
celebrate in song and in story, and in the
impressive and beautiful honors of this
day, the sacrifices, and virtues, and steady
hope, and zeal of these great souled men,
transmitting them to our children and
grandchildren so that they may derive
fresh courage and renewed zeal in their
endeavors to perform their duty to their
country and their God.
Four hundred thousand men;
The brave, the good, the true;
In tangled wood, in mountain glen,
Lie dead for me and you;
Four hundred thousand of the brave
Have made our ransomed soil their grave
For me and you.