The Van Buren press., 1877-05-22
DECORATION DAY,
ladies' Memorial Association Decorate
the Graves Of the Confederate
Grafton by Col, J, E. Cravens--
Poem by Col. Lockhart.

OF the Confederate dead, slumbering in
our cemetery, by the Ladies' Memorial
Association Of Van Buren,, took place,
last Thursday. The morning looked
threatening with rain, which, no doubt,
prevented many from participating in
the exerciscs of the day.
The profession formed IN front of the
Court House, under the command OF
Mayshals Brodie ana Hawkins, and pro
eeededto the yard in the rear of the
Cemetery, where the following pro.
gramme WAS carried out.
Prayer by Rev. J. c. Kennedy.
Grafton by Colonel J. Il. Cravcns.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN Obligated
by no legal duty, but from an obligation
almost as strong, we have assembled here
to-day, in the exercise OF the freedom
guaranteed by the constitution of our
fathers, to give token of the feelings OF
our hearts, by the work of our hands, for
the lost, yet loved, sons of the South
our comrades in arms. The manly forms
Of many of them, though now hidden,
are wcll-rcmcmbercd, for they were our
immediate friends and neighbors. The
majesty of the manhood of many of
them, when in life, some of us have wit
messed upon the battlefield, and the story
Of their heroic carriage amid danger and
carnage, is fresh in the memory of all.
Others lie here, the victims of leaden
messengers, or the burning fevers of IA
tigue, consequent upon war, whose faces
we never beheld, yet the knowledge Of
their services and death, in tho line of
duty, hallows the memory of their lives,
and this, the more so, because they fell
not upon their own soil, but upon ours in
its common defense, alongside our own
heroic dead. Their lives and labors be-
ing devoted to the same cause, deathl.
overtakiug them in the .samo struggle,
and their bed in death being in the same
soil with our own-here they lie togeth-
er--is not their brotherhood in the grave
and their joint labors in life, quite
enough to unity the feelings of our
hearts, so that, in memory, they be equal
ly esteemed with our own loved ones
Such are the feelings of my heart. When
we reflect that, perhaps, there lies in this
bed of sleep, the forms of many noble
youths from Texas, Louisiana and Mis-
souri,, whose fond mothers hearts would
leap with joy to even know their rest
ing place, is il human to restrain our i'm
pulses
4 'rN..-~ ,a'~ ..~..s~ os s,.'.aaes, nsssVao', ana
the iron-hcarted man of war should melt
in memory of the fall of the brave and
true, is indicative Of a health giving patri-
otism, of which sorrowingand war-smit-
ten nation may well be proud. Ours was
a terrific. fratricidal war. 1t is over, and
the citizen of every section of the Union
is called upon by every consideration,
looking to the public good, to repair the
losses from thy oblitcrating the prejudi-
ces cngendered by it, and stimulating n
healthful and patriotic memory of its
anti-sectional characteristics, OF which
any and all nations might we'll be proud.
The valor of our troops, on either side,
now that we are reunited, ought to be
the common pride of our people.
The military achievements Oft the dead
heroes, Lee and Jackson, are as much
the present prehistoric property of the
country, as are those of the living Chief
tains, Grant and Sheridan. The genius
Of jackson, in history will be accounted
American military genius. Why should
not these things be so? 1t is part of the
recollection OF many hard-fought battle,
that the admiration of the soldicry, on
one side, challenged by the gallantry on
the other, and Stimulating it, deeds ofno-
BILE daring were performed By both, un-
surpassed in the history OF valor, recor-
ded in ancient or modern times.
Our people, forgetting the causes which
led to these fierce struggles all along the
line, from Gettysburg to Elk Horn, not
infrequently, now unite in their homage
to true courage, and pay high tribute to
the fallen, without regard to the uniform
worn, and without regard to their feel
inss in the struggle; by floral offerings,
strewn upon their resting places.
This is appropriately the work of the
women of America. While they are the
type of human tenderness and love, they
are also the devotces of true and genu-
inc courage, and, indeed, inspire it, in its
greatness and grandeur This nation,
mighty in numbers, would be dwarf in
war, but for the soul-inspiring teachings
of its matrons, leading to true courage in
its youth, and their moral support in q
conflict between it aud any other nation.
An American volunteer army, without
the support of the women of the eoun-
try, might rs well be without powder
disintegration and defeat would surely