The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-06-02

house, and perhaps many Of the neighbor-
ing dwellings The roof had to be cut
away and the weather boarding torn Off to
reach the fire. The damage is tri!iing
Insured in the Home" of New York,
and Farmers" Of York, Pa. The fire
engine arrived about twenty minutes after
the fire was extinguished. The bold fire.
men discovered, after they reached the
ground, that they had forgotten to bring
along the hose. AS the fire was out, how
ever, this little oversight did not cause any
Inconvenience, since if they had had hose
the water supply would have been wanting
in this locality.
/ DECORATION DAY.-The commemorative
ceremony of strewing flowers upon the
graves of our dead soldiers was not gener-
ally participated in by the citizens of Elk
ton on Wednesday. The Groome Guards,
under command of Lieut.. Tuft and the
Elkton Cornet Band, were almost alone in
this work of love, and right molly did they
perform it. During the morning they Wis
tied all the cemeteries and, placing a small
national flag at the head of each grave,
strewed flowers upon them. No distinc
ton was made between soldiers of the two
armies. Mr.. S. J. Price, a member of the
Guards, had charge Of the flags, and as he
planted them upon the graves of former
acquaintance, he was wont in his quaint
way TO recall to mind many little incidents
of the past, illustrative of noble traits of
character in the deceased.
In the afternoon they visited Cherry Hill,
where We must needs believe, from the in
terest exhibited upon the part of the PEG
pie in the ceremony, that the memory of
the dead soldiers is held in higher regard
than in Elkton. Here almost the entire
population of the town was found assem-,
bled at the cemetery with rare and beauti-
full flowers in great profusion. Ladies,
young and beautiful, middle aged and old.
Joined heart and hand with the visitors in
this work, and fairly enveloped the resting
place of each dead hero i'll floral beauty.
In this cemetery lie the remains of Chap
lain Joseph T. Brown, Major Ben Ricketts,,
Sergeant w. G. Davidson, Corporal w. T.
G. Zane, VIM. r. Drummond, r. Alexan-
der, George Biddle, M. Simonton, and
others, whose names we could not ascertain,
their graves being without mark.
After the ceremony of decoration was
over the company proceeded to the church,
where short addresses were made by Revs
Messrs. France and Eanhorn ana r. c.
Thackery, Esq, interspersed with music
by the choir and band. The speech of Mr..
Thackery deserves mole notice than we
have space to devote to it. 1t was truly
thrilling piece of oratory, and he held his
audience spell-bound during it's delivery.
The little poem, with which he concluded,
we give entire:
THE FATE OF THE vANQUIsHED.
Ours the fate of the vanquished;
Whose heart aches never cease;
Ours the tears,
Regrets and fears;
Theirs the eternal peace.
Anger they dropped forever
With the passing burden of breath.
The blue and the gray
Are alike to-day
In the coorless land of death
And the living who wore the blue
May bring to the sleepers flowers,
For the blue and the gray are friends to- day
In happier land than ours.
After the conclusion of these exercises /
the Rev. Mr.. France, in the name of the |
people of Cherry Hill, invited the visitors
to adjourn to the Hall over McCullough's |
store, where the order of exercises would /
be somewhat varied. Upon repairing
thither long table was found loaded with
delicious cake, while in the center of the |
room stood tremendous punch bowl
capable of holding we don't know how
many gallons-tilled with just the most
delightful Murphy punch-iced lemonade
it was ever our lot to taste. This ar
was presided over by Messrs.
Joseph Cantwell, William Brown, James
David Work and AL Saxon,
and if any set Of man can beat them brew
ing Murphy punch we would like to see
them.
After doing ample justice to these good
things the Guards formed in line and went
through short drill exercise, the band
played one or two very sweet pieces, and
then both band and Guards gave three
hearty cheers for Cherry Hill and its people,
which were as heartily returned by the by
ISLANDERS when the line of march for home
was taken up. All the visitors expressed
themselves as delighted with the reception
given them by the residents of the Hill.