Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1878-05-23

other reluctance than the consciousness
of inability to do justice to the theme.
Thanks to the merits of our cohfsd-
crate dead, they need neither orator
nor bard to commend their deeds to
the present generation Of their coun-
trymen Manyfell far from home and
kindred. and sleep in unknown graves;
but all are gatjnered in the love Of
those for whom they died, and their
memories are hallowed in the hearts of
all true confederates
By the pious efforts of our people
many humble cemeteries. such as, in
their impoverishment. were possible,
have been prepared, and the confeder-
ate dead have been collected in them
from neighboring battle-felds. There
annually, with reverential affection,
the graves, alike of the known and I'M
known, are decked with flowers, ex-
pressive of gratitude renewable forever,
and typical of the hope of a resurrec-
ton and reunion where the wicked
cease from troubling and the weary are
at rest. -. ~. 4....'. {.
o., To be remembered, honored, beloved
by their people is the reward bestowed
on our confederate dead. 1t is the
highest which good and purely pa
trlotic man could desire. Should it be
asked, why then build this monument?
the answer is, they do not need it, but
posterity may. 1t is not their reward,
but our debt. If the greatest gift a
hero gives his race is to have been a
hero, in order that this gift may be
utilized to coming generations, its ap-
probation by contemporaries should be
rendered as visible and enduring as
possible. Let the monument, rising
from earth toward heaven, lift the
minds of those who come after to a
higher standard than the common test
of success. Let it teach that man is
born for duty, not for expediency; that
when an attack is made on the COM
munity to which he belongs, by which
he is protected, and to which his al
legiance is due, his first obligation is
to defend that community; and that
under such conditions it is better to
have 'fought and lost than never to
have fought at ALL" Let posterity
learn by this monument that you COM
memorate men who died in a defensive
war; that they did not, as has been
idly stated, submit to the arbitrament
of arms the questions at issuc-ques-
tions which involved the inalienable
rights inherited from their ancestors,
and held in trust for their posterity;
but that they strove to maintain the
state sovereignty which their fathers
left them, and which it was their duty,
if possible, to transmit to their chill
dren. =.
Away, then, with such feeble ex-
cuse for the abandonment of principles,
which may be crushed for a while, but
which, possessing the eternal vitality
of truth, must in it's own good time
prevail over perishable error.
Let this monument teach that hero
ism derives its lustre from the justice
of the cause in which it was displayed,
and let it mark the difference between
a war waged for the robber-l like purpose
of conquest and one to repel invasion,
to defend peoples hearths and affairs
and to maintain their liberties. Such
was the war In which onr heroes fell,
and theirs is the crown which
sparkles with the gems of pa
triotism and righteousness, with a
glory undimmed by any motive of ag-
grandizement or intent to inflict ruin
on others. We present them to pos
terity as examples to be followed, and
wait securely for the verdict of man
kind when knowledge shall have dis
PEELED Misrepresentation and delusion.
Is it unreasonable to hope that mature
reflection and a closer study of the
political history of the Union may yet
restore the rights Frustrated by the
passions developed in our long and
bloody war? If, however, it should
be otherwise, then from our heroe' S
graves shall come in mournful tones
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