The Van Buren press., 1878-09-17
Martyrs Of the Plague.
The st. Louis Republican of the stl
has the following

Aho iot. LOUIS hepuDllcan OF the 9th,
has the following
If there were any cause to doubt the
truth of the brief panegyrc which the
Republican allotted, last Sunday, to the
noble heroes who sacrifice themselves In
duty's service on other fields than those
which war stains with human blood, the
ptifu chronicles Of the plague, last week
will amply testify that no more was said
OF them than they deserved. The whole
press of the land is ringing, to-day, with
praise of the achievements of these mod
est mon and women who are daily sacri.
fielng themselves upon the altar of duty,
performing tasks which require the high.
est courage the human breast can throb
with. No sectional or partisan distinc-
tion is remembered, in this hour of tri-
al, at the South, and East, West, and in
the far North, these considerations sink
out of sight in the admiration for the
nobility OF our humanity, and we are
proud that we can claim kindred with
those who cnnoble and dignity their race
by such glorious and unselfish deeds. Our
hearts palsate and beat with the deepest
emotions, when we read the daily story
OF these martyrs WHO drop d AL in the
performan &c of their divine nissi oa for
though husbands have been drlvaN bv
this dread angel OF death to desert their
wives, parents their children and chill
dren their parents, priest and doctor
flock and patients, these examples have
but brought into the boldest relief the
heroism OF those nobler ones who have
stayed faithfully at their posts, and fallen
in the performance of their duty. Even
grandcr arc the instances of the physi-
slclans aud nurses, who have gone from
healthy homes to the region OF the pes
thence, not unfrequenty with the almost
certain assurance that they went to Ger
tain death, and yet thus bearing their
lives to certain sacrifice, pursued their
chosen course unfinchingly, with simple
and humble belief that they were doing
their duty. Dead on the field of hon
or is the epitaph above the unknown
soldiers grave, but these greater heroes
have not even this meagre reward in
many cases for their gallantry in the
face of the enemy. They gather, as a
reward for their great sacrifice not often
more than a brief mention in the daily
kilograms telling of their death, and then
are boxed into rude coffin, and entomb-
ed in the potter's field along with those
whom they vainly sought to save. Yet
was there ever field of honor more hon
orable than theirs? Match it in wars
bloody carnage, if you can. Who can
measure the motives that inspire a SOL
dier's gallantry and estimate how often
pure patriotism outwcighs the thirst for
distinction, the hope Of promotion, the
greed of glory? These are but the 1.-THE
of the motives that influence bravery in
battle, or conspire to make the hero in
uniform. But what selfish consideration
can be laid at the doors of these martyrs
who strew the path Of the pestilence !?
They go to their battle-felds without
hope or intention of taking pecuniary
reward. They know that though they
may be wept for they have little or no
chance of being singled out by sympa
thetic and grateful world as individual
objects of sympathy. They can count
upon no reward of personal fame, for at
best it will be within such narrow
range that it cannot be accredited as of
any Importance as animating their ac-
ofuns ny Irs small prospect Of posthmous
reward. With these no selfish oxpana-
tions car be offered to account for their
sacrifices. Take the most striking ex-
ample so far brought forward, that OF
Col. Butler p. Anderson, of Memphis,
who went to that dreadful hotbed of
death in Grenada, in tho beginning of
its trouble, as the agent of the Memphis
Howard Association, and died there in
the performance of his duty. Not one
thousandth part of the world that reads
anxiousy each days report of the pes
thence, read enough of what he had done
to understand his noble galantrv, while,
doubtless, half Of tloso WI, nd know
what a gallant hero he was, have alrea-
dy forgotten him. And thore are hun
dreds moro as deserving as he, who have
gained much less Of feeting fame. Un,
honored and unsung, they rest in mar
tyr's graves, and it is the least we can
do to thus accord to them an insufficient
tribute for the merit of the sacrifice.