The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1874-06-04
Decoration Day.

inc an animal tribute of floral offerings to the
memory of our heroic dead, was delightful
dav In to the time of the moving OF the
procession scarcely cloud could be seen in
the sky. Early in the morning numbers OF
children could be seen vending their way TO
the EXPRESS office bearing loads of flowers to
be strewn upon the graves OF friends ana
strangers alike. About two O clock the pro-
cesson moved, headed by drum corps with
muffled drums The Sunday School from
East Stroudsburg joined the procession IN
body, bearing banners with appropriate IN
scriptions and large quantities OF flowers.
Upon arriving at the Cemetery, the Rev. b.
n. Sanderlain offered prayer, after which
the Rev. j. f. Chaplain, delivered an elo-
auent eulogy upon the dead, whose honored
graves were about to be strewn with flowers.
He said:
Ny FRIENDS: Gratitude, personal affection
and patriotism assemble us. We have come
to decorate with flowers and evergreens the
graves of our country's defenders, and some oil
the best promptings of our nature should IN
spire u.s. Gratitude should; for we owe them,
under God, a debt which it would be difficult,
| if not impossible, to estimate. Personal alice
ton is the motive with many of you; for these
silent sleepers who but little while ago en-
acted their part in the tragic scenes which cul-
minated in giving us these precious blessings
of a saved and thoroughly established nation
ality, are your brothers, your sons, your hus-
: bands, your fathers, your kin, your friends
Fl Patriotism prompts; for we show our love OF
country in cherishing the memory of those who
died in their countrys defence.
l No greater proof of love of country can be
!. given, than for man to lay down his life for
lit Statesmen have their names embalmed in
the nations heart, for having fought the bat
tie of ideas Scientists and inventors have a
conspicuous place in national remembrance for
the promotion of its intellectual and national
!, interests Phianthropists and public benefac-
tors are not forgotten. Statues OF brass or mar
BILE and monumental columns perpetuate their
memory Who will say that it Is wrong ?
Who would deny them this small recompense?
These memorials are tokens not only of esthetlc
taste but largely of a nations virtue. And yet
none perhaps of these cOmmemOrated ones
made any real sacrifice of ease of pecuniary
emolument of any earthly comfort but per-
, haps most of them reaped in their lifetime a
rich harvest of fortune and of fame. But here
are men lying in these Cemeteries, who made
a sacrifice of all,-of ease of comfort, of busi-
ness. of health, of life for the defence of insti-
l down in such hopeless wreck and ruin, that
statesmen, diplomatists and public benetactors
would have labored in vain anG spent their
strength for naught.
I share. | must frankly confess, with Chan
J ming. in such horror of war that the heroes
= of history are not my heroes, for the most Of
: them are men of blood. War is such a stu
D pendous wrong, such violation of the spirit ot
81 Christianity, such q monstrous scourge and des
u tolo hot | a OF
i be heard on an occasion like this, without de,
=. precating and deploring it. But there are
- worse things than war, which war may have
! to combat and overcome. 1t Is worse, to
el give up tamely TO misrule and anarchy. 1t Is
worse, to part with liberty and to surrender
the dearest rights of humanity. 1t Is worse, tc
e abandon the very civilization of the age and
: let the world go back under the dominion o.
ideas, laws and customs which Christianity !;
! abolishing and will utterly annihilate. \ wal
81 for the prevention of these worse things isthe
one in which these men, whom we honor to-
e day, were called upon to fight. If ever there
was justifable contest 1t was the war in de-
fence of our national union. We must as soOr
, think of forgetting our revolutionary fathers
Il who died for the gift of our precious institu
tions, as their sons, who died for the mainte
nance of them.
e As the present is the child of the past so /:
alton inherits from the past; it, in turn, ms
transmit to the next. From the dead we have
life and what may be infinitely better than life
5 These dead men have enriched us with wealtl
e of peace. prosperity and joy, both personal, do
mestic political and religious which we can
o not adequately appreciate. We must guarC
the sacred trust, augment the store and pass i
on to future custodians. IL we would have th'
grateful remembrance of those who are to sue
: ceed us, we must accord it to such as have gone
e before A golden chain of sympathy and lows
: will thus unite the ages and unity the race.
The defenders of our national life fell in what
;, may prove to have been the most eventfu
i epoch of modern history. 1t certainly was the
}, most pregnant and important in our history
n We shall sadly undervalue the magnitude O
: these momentous events and of their salutary
q and far-reaclling influence, if we put not some
mark of our appreciation of the results attained
and of the instruments used in the Providence
: of God, in bringing them about.
I, 1t would be crime against God and human
ity, for us so feeby to hold the principles fol
e which these men shed their blood and sacri
4 feed their lives as to fear to speak them. 4
lesson written in blood must not be erased from
the memory of all the coming generations. l
Z is the lesson of our compact and ever-to-be
maintained nationality. 1t is the lesson o
e mans personal liberty. 1t is the lesson of th
V equal rights OF citizens before the law. 1t /
:, the lesson of practical christianity in the tru
" brotherhood of man. But in asserting thes
sacred truths over the graves of those who die,
in their defence and for their yindication, lie
, us never SO far forget them as to utter wor,
tending toward the alineation Of any. Sec
tional strife should have no place in our hap
py land. North and South were not inimca
in the contest for personal liberty for it ha
l. been decided by the Divine Arbiter in the tru
est interests of both. East and West are nc
,r antagonists in the financial issue now before u
for it will be decided, if the teachings of polit
, ical economy and of history be not disregardeC
u for the conjoint benefit of both.
But while we honor our dead, by the genel
u Gus promptings of national gratitude and dee
20 crate their names with flowers, let us, M
t. friends, so act our part in the drama of life,
Il stand for the defence of truth and righteous
ness and SO benefit our generation, that whe
-lura fol ataf1l l,ra a.t, l..