Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-06-03

What though this second revolution entails
| ed a vast debt upon the nation! What though
it devastated our fields and blighted our homes!
What though the best blood OF our citizens
| flowed at the altar of Union Standing here
| in peace and prosperity to>day, who shall say
| il was in vain? Was it in vain TO emanclpate
| race enslayed and raise them to citizenship!
Was it in vain to set on lasting foundations a
| truer bond of union TO secure fuller recog-
milton of the rights of man, higher national
honor and an abiding connection in the minds
| of the people that truth and justice are the
only rocks on which this nation can stand
| that in union alone is strength and safety ;
divided, we are nothing, united we are inylnc~
| ible.
| Standing by these graves to-day we are
1 Taught personal lesson, taught, that we i've
not for ourselves but for the whole world. The
mission which for eighty wears was yelled from
| our vision has lifted and a new future dawns
| upon us with celestial brightness From the
past we have rich heritage in the future
boundless opportunity That we may use it
Alright let us cultivate in large measure the
| spirit which actuated those whose death we
| this day commemorate IA spirit OF devotion
| to truth, right and country on whose high plane
selfishness, interest and personal ambition
| shall find no place---a spirit whose glorious
| light, shining in the lines of Socrates, Cincin~
natus and Washington, illumines history with
all the splendor of romance and IN humble
| sphere is pregnant with heroic deeds no less
| glorious because not found on the page OF
history, unsung of poets, and mute to fame
| This spirit is needed to-day; needed to re-
| sist low views of human life, base views OF pol
| tiles, unworthy views of patriotism, truth and
right; needed in every place where passion
| tempts, power threatens, money blinds, ana
| interest deludes. With the tender assocla-
tions of this memorial day let us bear to our
| homes the conviction that as our friends
| died, so ought we to live that we may
secure the highest possible good to the
| greatest possible number. Let us remember
that the glory and fame of martial exploits are
not lesa than the more beneficent victories OF
peace; that the deeds of Napoleon and Caesar
| are held in memory not more lasting than the
| humblest deeds of the obscurest refOrmer Let
| us remember that the highest achievements of
intellect unless pointed with philanthropy and
| and directed to mans highest good are vain
and transitory The highest literary renown
must sometimes fade, the tuneiul cantos of
| Shelly, the sublime song Of Milton will cease
| to captivate the taste; the grandest utterances
| of philosophy, the charm of oratory, and the
boldest flights of science must lose their beauty
and power, unless eliminating in mans true
1 advancement.
Though time and storm may efface from the
| polished marble the chiseled inscription, the
painter lose his art and the sculptor his cunning,
| though the poet may forget his song and the
orator his eloquence, though nations and thrones
may perish and the noblest work Of mans
hand crumble and fall, yet the record of a
noble life spent in honest endeavor, however
humble, to advance the public good, will
stand on the tablets of time, made deeper and
more beautiful with the passages of the years.
Standing by this monument with all its hal
lowed memories crowding upon us, let US
pledge ourselves to new devotion to our
common country. AS we pluck the cypress
and laurel to adorn this sacred grave, let US
put aside all that sclfshness and pride which
has been our bane in the past. Let us in this
sacred presence resolve that henceforth cor
ruption fraud and political dishonesty shall
find no place in our policy; that manly rec
ogntion of human equality, an honest and
faithful administration of public affairs, nation
al honor and good morals, strengthened and
enlarged by system of education free from
the wiles of any sect and the threats of any
faction. shall control our aim and guide our
political action.
/ For US it remains to complete the
work our sons and brothers so nobly began
Surely hour was never more proptious. The
|
II has been a century of experiment, fraught
with bitter trials, fruitful in impressive lessons.
We stand on the threshold of a new era, rich
in the experience of the past encouraged by
the promise of the future. surrounded by the
aids of a wondrous prospe rlty and cheered by
the smiles of peace Let that era be made
memorable by new and united endeavor to
| slant rpnuhliaa- Iii f---- i--*.-- ---e~
to be shaken, to finally realize the hope of our
| u L II.
government that shall be at once a protection
and a blessing, an asylum for all oppressed
humanity, a model of justice and liberty to
all the world.
Hon. J. Allen Barber followed the
speaker with these remarks
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:
had notintended and do not intend to make
a speech. | don't wish to do anything to mar
the pleasure you have Just had in listening 10
the orator of the day. We feel thankful to the
great Giver of all good gifts for this glorious
day-in this season of beauty, of flowers and
verdure-on which to commemorate the deeds
and death Of the men who died for their coun-
try We feel thankful TO the same benifcent
source that we have couutry--a national ex-
istence. And that our nation still lives and
holds high place among the nations OF the
earth we owe to our soldiers-to the men who
! s.
| That we are here to-day, secure in our lives
and property, that American citizens every
where to the ends OF the earth live in the
same security under the protection of our
national emblem-al this we owe to the men
| who peried that which men hold most dear
life itself-for the country that was dearer
yet. We ought TO cherish always the memo
ry as those marbles perpetuate names of those
noble men who made this great sacrifice Tor
the nation.
And as these men upheld the flag through
the years of the war at this great sacrifice, so
the people of the North ought to be ready and
willing to uphold it at equal hazard should the
occasion come again. And it may come again
soon. The "boody chasm' is perhaps not yet
| entirely bridged over. The volcanic fires that
| broke out so fiercely in '6l are smouldering
still. The people of the South are not vet all
friendly to the national existence which was
secured at the cost OF the lives of so many OF
our soldiers. The prospect that this oc-
caSion may come again may not seem i'm
minent. Neither did 1t in 20. At the begin.
nirg of the movement no State was in favor of
secession. A few ambitious and INSCRIPTIONS
| leaders were the only ones who favored the
| step. But, no !; [ am mistaken in sa wing that
| no State favored secession. South Carolina
must be excepted. The unprincipled dema-
gogues who urged on secession wanted to
| found an oligarchy based on human slavery.
| But in the progress of the war slavery was
destroyed utterly and forever. The South be-
gan the war and prosecuted il on the theory
that our country had and should have no ma
tiona existence-that the states were bound
| together by no indisoluble union but by
| mere loose league from which any state might
withdraw at any time. But the North went
into the contest and manteined 1t to establish
| the fact that we have nation and no mere
confederacy. And the North did establish that
| fact triumphantly and thoroughly. But at
what tremendous cost A cost of inestima-
| bly, precious lives. Those pillars yonder bear
the names OF the brave men who fell in the
long contest the names of full one third of
all those who went from old Grant County to
save the imperiled nation. And this is a.
small part of The great total, But we have The
satisfaction, Notwithstanding, that those noble
men have not died in vain--that though they
have fallen, the cause is triumphant
In order to reap the full fruits Of these great
sacrifices II must be impressed strongly on the