Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-06-05

DER the scene and the red wizard of the
strife stalks gloomily away. But here
and there he strikes again.
"Lo, whore the Giant on the mountain
stands
His blood-red tresses deepening in the sun;
With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands
And eve that ScOrcheS all it glareS upon.
Restless it rolls, now fixed and now anon
Flashes afar, while at his iron feet
Destruction covers to mark what deeds
are done.n
Comrades, destruction covers now no
more. A grateful nation marks the
deeds. The dear old army faded when
its work was done. This remnant here,
those silent graves, the memories that
we glOrify are all that link the rising
generation with the realities of which
they read. These mementoes, like the
slant rays of the setting sun, already
have begun to glimmer. The Grand
Army of the Republic can never be re-
cruited save from number which is
yearly growing less; but, as the circle
narrows towards the focal point, the
warmer will grow the atmosphere of
gratitude and love. More that quarter
of century ago, celebration in this
town drew from the regions far and
1776. Most of them met as strangers,
but they felt kinship which made them
more than friends. The pOpulace gath
cred to behold them with a curiosity al
most as great as though they had risen
from the dead. A distinguished orator
and statesman toasted them as ''the peo-
pies honored guests, who come here,
some on one leg, some on two, but all on
their. last legs, God bless them -
Victor Hugo, think it was, who said
that when he entered the Hotel des IN
Uakides and looked upon those tottering
veterans of the Old Guard, he felt that
he was more in the presence of France
than when he sat in the National Assem-
bly, Comrades, I judge by history
and know | do not read our people
wrong-when | say that this little badge,
made from cannon which perhaps you
helped to capture, will, by-and-by, en-
title YOU to honor which none will be
too high to pay. 1t is no heraldic sym
boil. indicative of caste and transmissi-
BILE from sire to son, but it is rather like
the Star of the Legion of Honor, or the
Iron Cross of Germany, which testify
of deeds, and when the wearer dies, go
to the Emperor or hang in proud remem-
brance on the homestead wall. Long
live the veterans of the G. a. r. Green
be the memories of our comrades mus
tered out Forever thrive and greater
grow the land which calls no man slave
and owns no sovereign but God
But appropriate as is the observance
of to-day, thrilling as are its recollec-
tions and deserved as are its encomiums.
Al, :, in iTh tg
honor the living and to glOrify the dead
1t is but due to them that their work
shall be completed. The arbitrament OF
war did not pretend to settle all that ii
decided, nor was the expenditure OF blood
and treasure the only incidental or re-
sultant evil 1t is lamentable that por,
ton of the South is not yet composed
it is humiliatiRg that sectional animos
tiles still exist; il is outrageous that any
right of citizenship should be denied oi
circumvented to any man beneath oul
| flag it is contemplate beyond expires
sion that hordes of political cOrmorant>
| should desert their native seas and swarm
/ down there to fatten on the newborn
public life. All these thing delay the
/ consummatiOn of that lasting, honorable
| peace for which our heroes died. Who
/ hates the South ? Do you, my com
| rades No. | have seen you clasT
| hands with her gallant sons who yieldeC
| to YOU in the strife. Who hates thu
| North Not they who tested your high
est qualities and found you too brave Il
be unklnd. o. let the old, old venom
pass away. Laugh down your fossi
masters of the lash, fair South Cal
! home your thieves, great North! Bt
| Just. be generous, be one, and wheI
this day shall fully come, then will The
| dead be honored as they should, and thu
laurel that we bring no more be twinet
| with rue,
/ plead for one thing more. Befort
/ the war there was more honesty thar
now. Men lived within their means
/ Officials felt the sacredness of trust
| Contracts. whether made with citizer
or with the public, were adhered to
tStrikes" and grabs, if not unknown
were not yet dignified by politics no
justified by law. Erie had not thel
| throttled capital nor purchased virtue
with his theft. Tammany had not theI
/ sCalped his native city nor fattened oI
her blood. Credit Mobilier had no
then stalked across the continent no
! pulled down greatness with his slnuou
tail. Our own peculiar Chancery Gyro
scope had scarcely then begun to revoly'
! its wheels within wheel. But th'
war. like all wars, brought on an era o
speculation. Now and then a commits
sion was purchased with whisky AM
cigars. Occasionally a quartermaste
''saved his wages" King Shoddy fiashet
his diamonds and giddy youth went mad
Initiation, luxury and greed drove ol
with wild intoxication. A falls
light glared on everything. Trutl
paled her Intellectual rays. Reaction
was not drempt of, and accountabilit,
was ignored or circumvented and post
poned. 1t was brazen age. The pres
was subsidized and public men retained
The livery of plundered estates, the robe
of misplaced confidence, the ermine o
the tricked and thwarted law were don
ned and Haunted as the garb and glory o
great enterprise and thrift. Men wen
| down on their knees and fawned ant
licked the dust. The tyranny of powe
repressed all honest thought. If an,
voice came from the wilderness, ant
! cried. g woe, Woe" thousand TOtarie
laughed it into silence. If any Cicero
held Cataline and Verres up to scorn, il
the corrupted currents of this atmos
phere, his eloquence was blown away
It was an iron age A free people wer
enslaved and knew it not.
paint the picture as of the past
Would that it were! Think you tha
this was what our soldiers fought for
In that great moment when they con
aiered prudence, put aside self-seekingan
bore their young lives to the very altar
think you that if foreknowledge had bee
given them of the greed that was to fol
low, they would have thought the priz
was worth the cost? In those cold day
when uniforms grew thin, and the Gov
ernment had none to spare; and child
rem CRED at home and the paymaste
came not near; when food was dole
out by an enemy and the prison opene
not its door, would it have added to th
ardor of their patriotism to see III
Forty Second Congress steal away wit
double store2 When they struggled TO
fourlon years rather than yield singl
State to slavery nay, when our BRAY
| old Second would have fought till thi
time to hold their captured rifle-pit 9
Spottsylvania, would they have though