The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1876-06-10

time, as compared with the hundred years
past, If it shall retain its present power,
organization and status wa
Memorial Ceremony,
COMPOSED IN PART By REV. D. F. BROOKS,
AND READ BY HIM AT EAST MIDpLEBuRY
DECORATION DAY.
The tread of thousands at the city Of
the Declaration of Independence brings to
our minds the recollecticus of the sturdy
virtues and the earnest breathing after
liberty of the fathers who suffered untold
miseries and privatIons TO purchase the
liberty and union enjoyed by their de.
scendants We, their sons and daughters,
in this centennial year feel proud to num-
Der them among our ancestry. And
while we pay tribute to the memory
OF our brothers who lately fell, we desire
also to remember our fathers OF the Rev.
olution. | therefore with these flowers
decorate this monument, in grateful mem.
ory of those noble men, whose colonial
blood purchased American independence
one hundred years ago. These also
(aowers) 10 token of the memory and in
appreciation Of the services Of the brave
men of the war of 1912, to whose mem,
ory now decorate this monument.
And now fellow comrades of the G
A. r.. fathers and mothers of the patriot
dead, and friends here assembled, we are
about to decorate with flowers and honor
with beftting ceremonies the graves OF
our comrades buried here who served
with US in defence Of our country in its
great trial. We meet for no empty show
but to testify from full and overhowng
hearts that the remembrance of their sac.
rifce has not grown dim with passing
years. Standing by their resting places
thoughts arising from our relations in
military service rush past in rapid sue.
cession. We recall with pleasure the
unsel6Sh devotion Of these men who fell
that liberty might live, and that the gov.
ernment bequeathed as heritage by our
patriot fathers might not perish from the
earth. We will bury the animosities oi
hate engendered by the war, and try to
forget all save the good in the past
while We renew our infexible purpose TO
maintain tho government saved BY the
devotion OF our comrades sleeping in Iii.
hallowed ground. In memory of the
honored and heroic dead whose remains
here find shelter and repose, deposit
these flowers, thinking not of the creed OIL
color, politics, nationality or rank OF the
comrade, sleeping below, knowing only
they were patriots who bravely served
where duty called. May the lesson o.
purity which these flowers symbolic resi-
in our hearts, and incite in us feelings O.
patriotism which our comrades showed il
life and exempliied in death Here is
fitting place to call to mind the men who
stood with US in the ranks Of active duty
In the field of battle, to think of tha
terrible charge 10 which some comradt
was snatched from the ranks Of loyalty
and hurried away to Libby or Belle Isle
there to waste away and die and be
buried in a strange land. with not even 4
board to mark his last resting place. oil
taken prisoners and died we know no
how. That father and mothers aching
heart is only relieved by the remembrance
of his bravery and the noble cause il
which he fell, and while the empty chai
only is left, they stare at the vacanc,
and can see in vivid and glarng letter
the awful newspaper heading, Missing !!
and my boy was never found There
fore in honor of our comrades slain il
Freedoms battle, yielding up their live
10 prison pens, dying in hospitals from
wounds or disease, who nov sleep il
graves far away and unknown, plac
these flowers upon this grave. Thes
beautiful flowers will fade, this gree
mound shall be levelled with the plain
but the historic streams by which on
comrades fought will be dry and the bat
tie mountains where they bleed will b
washed to the sea ere the story of lhei
valor dies out or the result Of their hero
ism ceases to affect mankind.
Closed with appropriate prayer
ln murder case 10 Tennessee q pa
OF mud was brought into the court roou
aud the prisoner was directed to set hi
foot upon it, with a view TO show til
jury that a footprint near the scene {
the murder, of which there was evidence
was that Of the alleged murderer. Tn
prisoner refused t. "put his foot IN it,
and this refusal was accepted by the jur
as proof of his guilt, and be was conyic
ed. On appeal the conviction was S,
aside, the supreme court of the stsi
saying; "Such testimony should /
promptly rejected, aud not be permitte
to go to tn, jury at all, Tor jurors wit