Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-10-06
tAnR,n.u.ntou,hurrr.

When Col. Ingersol faced his old com
| rades, the Boys in Blue, at the Indianapolis
Convention, the inspiration Of the occasion
caused HIM to give impromptu utterance to
the following eloquent, touching and pa
thetic passage. We have never read any
thing Of the kind equal to it. It proves
him to be . nAtural-born orator Of the
| highest order.
BE was recalling the scenes of the War,
and said: 81,
The past rises before me like 3 dream.
Again we are in the great struggle for ma
| tional life. We hear the sounds Of prepar-
| stidn-the music Of the boisterous drums
The Silver voices Of heroic bugles. We
see thousands ef assemblages, and hear the
appeals Of orators; we see the pale cheeks
Of women, and the flushed faces Of men;
sad ia those assenhiagss We see AL the
dead whose dust we have covered With
flowers. ( We leose sight Of them no more.
We are with them whom they enlist in the
| great army Of freedom. We SEQ them part
| from those they love. Some are walking
! for the last time ID quiet woody pisces With
| the msidsns they adore. We hear the
vhisPsFings snd the sweet VOWS Of etsfnal
love rs they Hngaringiy part forever. 9th
ers are bending over cradles, kissing babies
| that are asleep. Some are receiving the
/ blessings Of the oldmen. Some Ere parting
who press them to their hearts again and
Gessn, and they say nothing; and some are
| talking with wives, and eHdesVoring with
i brave words spoken in the old tones to
i drive hEsy the awful fear. We see them
part, We see the vile standing in the door,
| with the babe n her sYms-standing in the
sunlight sobbing- -st the turn Of the road
| S.kk1d wayes-shs. snsWerssby holding high
10 her loving bands the child he isgOne'
and forever. go
. We BEE them all Is they march proudly
away under the AAHnting Gags keeping time
to the, Wild, grand music Of war, marching
down tie streets Of the crest cities, through
thStowns aad aeFoss the Pr9iries, down 70
the Hsldsct Elogy, to do and 70 die for the
Wa 90 With them one and all. We are
By thsiF side on the goF3 AsldS, In al the
| weary marches. We stand guard with
them in the Wild storm and under the
! onist stars, We are With them IN FaVines
| running With blood, Ia the burrows Of old
fields. We are with them between contend
| ing hosts, unable TO move Wild With thirst,
the life ebbing slowly away among the
I Rithersd leaves. We zee them pierced by
bsEls and torn by ShsliS in the trenches by
forts, and In the WhiFlWind Of the charge,
where men become iron Withnerves Of steel.
We are with them In prisons Of hatred
and famine but human speech can never
tell what they endured.
We are at home when the news comes that
they are dead. We see the maiden in the
shadow OF her first sorrow. We see the sill
vered head Of the old man bowed with the
last grief. The past rises before us and We
see four millions Of human beings governed
by the lash; we see them bound hand and
toots we hear the strokes Of cruel Whipss
we see the hounds tracking women through
the svamps; we,l see babes sold from the
breasts Of mothers. Cruelty unspeakablei
Outrage inhnite
=. -Four million bodies in chains-four mil
hon soaIxin fetterS. All the sacred rela-
tions Of wife, mother, father and child
trampled beneath the brutal feet Of might.
And all this was done under our eva beau
titGl banner Of the free. F.-H
Thepsst rises before US. We hear the
roar aud shrek Of the bursting she'll. The
bpoksR fetteFs'fali. These heroes died. We
look. ,lnstead Of slaves we see men, and
women, and children, The wand Of pro-
gress fopehes theDaacti ion block, the slave
pen, the whipping post and we see homes
and hresides, and school houses and books,
aud where all was want, and crime, and
cruelty, and fetteFs, We zee the faces Of the
'saIT