The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-05-30

Iub OIAVo, TUG ROVut NuV Aups.
In tInHled wood, In mountain glen, o.
On bAttl .plA n In p isOD pm,
LIE dean for n aud ylul
Pour hundred ILOOIAUd men who gave
Th,ir blood our iatlomtd tollIo save,
GOOD illsna, for mo and your
To-day will be observed as o legal
holiday In New York, and perhaps In
other parts Of the county. The graves Of
tho fallen soldiers Of the Union in oil the
National Cemeteries, and in many that
are not National, will be strewn with
aowers In commemoration Of their heroic
deeds, A peculiar feature Of the day in
ono olths leading National Cemeteries Of
the country will be that the graves oI
Confederate soldiers will also be strewn
With flowers. The Secretary Of War on
Tuesdsy last announced that today
Saturday the grounds Of Arlington
Cemetery would "be opened to all
orderly persons who desire to decorate
any of the graves within that inclosure."
This is the first tIme that such o thing
has been allowed on Decoration Day in
that cemetery, and Is worthy OF attention
as showing the soitened tone Of public
opinion In regard to the war. Is1oes not
indicate any change Of principle among
the people, but simply signifies that the
Union element OF the country no longer
feels disposed to cherish resentment
against It's fallen foes. We sre, in other
words, coming to that point expressed in
Mr.. Summers battle aIg resolutions, for
which, 1.-TWO years ago, he was condemned
in Massachusetts,, and from which con-,
demnstion he was relieved before no died.
We are willing to blot out all.
insignia that can keep alive q sectional
feeling. The speeches that will be made
to-day wlll;be very different from those
that were made for The first two or three
years succeeding the close of the war.
For the most part, the men who have cul.
ture enough to be selected as orators TO-
day have intelligence, II not magnsnimity
enough, to RECOGNIZES the incoming Of an
era ol good feeling. And while we owe
honor and veneration forever to tho men
who gave their lives Tor their country,
and while We may be sure that they will
never be forgotten in the annals OF the
nation, yet tho day is at hand when we
will all recognize that they died that we
might be one people; that VIC might be
more closely united than We had been
before the war and that all vestige Of
the old sectionalism might disappear with
the cause OF It.
1t Is undeniablo that the popular heart
Of the Union people beats more symps-
thetically for tho Southern people to.day
than for many years before or since the
war. Thee oil the South was grievous
and most grievously have they answered
1t. History furnishes few parallels to
such utter overthrow and subsequent
humiliation as the Southern peo-
pie. have endured. A curse seems
TO 1eat upon them: They have
endured succession Of misfostunes that
have almost broken them down political.
ly, socially and commercially. The
plaques Of Egypt were hardly more grie.
vous than the tl,ods, pestilcncc, destruc.
ton Of crops, and worse than all, the ter.
rlble governmental spoliation which they
have undergone. The picture OF their
desolation Is lorblddlng enough to oawaken
sympathy In tho most unrelenting ma
ture. The Northern people have gazed
upon it with increasing interest and sym.
pathy for long time past, and today
they are generally ready to bury tho last
vesnge ot-thelr war feelings in the graves
Of their dead. 4.ERG.