The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-06-01

no token OF reconc iliation, no brotherly hand
to extend? Ii l believed that, my comrades,
| would not De here among you, but should &C
count each such anniversary the accumulation
Vi curses, not blessings upon our country.
| One OF our great statesmen, who has been fol
many years fearless and able champion of
| Northan rights, opposes the observance of this
day, because he believes it serves to keep open
| the gulf between the North and the South l
cannot think it so. For believe that if brave,
true hearts actuate such ceremonies as these,
1.-THE flowers thus scattered will fill up the hGrried
| chasm, and with their sweet balm heal smooth
| the ugly scar of war.
Loving and gentle this devotion is; sweet and
soothing to our hearts as it may be, these do
not comprise all for which this day has value.
Ihese arouse the emotional part of our natures
they prompt us to worship, there is an ideali-
" and perhaps some romance in them. But
there is here, besides, food for thought to the
statesman and philosopher. Many years of.un-
equalled prosperity such as one has seen, may
wei give an overweening confidence to the more
unrenectlng of our people in the permanency
OF our institutions, and the steady increase Of
our wealth and power 1t is not in the average
human nature'to borrow trouble or to look far
into the future possibilities of events The
sense OF security is far more normal than the
sense OF peril; and even as the child vet un-
harmed by the rough contact of cruel world
and relying implicitly upon the wisdom of its
ma'ural protectors never dreams of danger or
injury, so the majority of US drift carelessy
upon the smooth tide of popular government of
which we think we are part, looking seldom,
II at all, at the chart, and with but slender
knowledge and less care of the winds and cur
rents which beset our course. We rely upon
our captains, ourpilots, our leaders by which
ever name they happen to be known, and it is
their attention would invoke to this-one of
the vast numbers of opportunities-for &C.
m naeg and Strengthening the power Of our
country 1t may appear puerile and visiona-
ry idea 1.-The strewing OF handfuls of flow
ers upon dumb graves may affect the destiny
OF nation; but the map of Europe has been
changed by lesser circumstances.
The student of history knows that the great
sovereignties of the old world, in the pride and
plenitude of their power, have been revolu-.
tonzed at first, and then toppled from their
greatness by hardly more than a hasty or i'll
judged word. The love of on, man and one
woman lost an empire-the hate of few men
has destroyed many 1t may be said that ma
tions-like their component parts which ''con-
stitute State" must pass through the va
rous stages from birth, through youth, into
into decay and death. The GLORIOUS Empires
and Republics of Greece and Rome, the con-
querors of the world-the seats of the arts and
sciences, the lawgivers of the earth, the found
ed through these mutations. and so have both
older and younger nations than these, and it is
argued that we must go down in our time with
the rest and that our decay is as certain as our
growth-perhaps as rapid.
Well, they are not all fools, nor careless stu
dents who thus hold. Indeed it would be mar
veous if we had been so builded as to last I'M
til the judgment; and what Individually may
think about it is unmportant 1t is pretty
well known that the popular belief is that we
are made to endure for all time. 1t is with
the popular belief and the recklessness which
it begets that wish to DEAL and to which L
have ventured to ask the attention of our
leaders. The opportunity then, which this day
affords must not be lost. 1t gives occasion in
your community for thousands of kind words
and deeds which soothe the sorrows, assuage
the sufferings and disarm the amimosities Of
those who have been our enemies but who
may easily be made our friends. Let it be I'M
derstood that in decorating The graves of our
Northern heroes, it is with no intent to perpet-
uate thelmemory of the strife between the
sections, or to cast contempt upon our fallen
foes. >r.fres 49, .sss.
Everything about us speaks more eloquently
than can human tongue of the system of con-
cord and harmony which is the natural law of
the universe. We will do nothing which can
ever mar the peaceful beauty of such a scene
And as We spread our offerings upon these
graves, may we not see our friends and broth
ers looking down from celestial nights upon
this band, and whispering, through the leafy
music all about us I''Forgive. as you hope
that we are happy and forgiven
At the conclusion of the Grafton the audience
Joined in singing America" and the exercises
closed with the benedction, pronounced by the
Rev. H. S, Whicher