Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-06-06

Once more we meet in memory of the dead.
And martial music fills the perfumed air
Around the marble shaft in beauty spread
Are floral offerings Guild with tender care
Sweet blossoms, mathematical of Peace.
whose starry beauty from the emerald sheen
VI glossy leaves peeps forth with glowing grace,
And lends its lustre to the sad fair scene
sad day of tributary honors, rife
With recollections of fearful strife.
Around the haliowed stone Irvine mmortelIes
Enwreathed with laurels, for the victor dead
Though Peace may gaily chime her oyful bells,
widows and mothers still their tear drops shed
And soldier heroes, SCARED. though living still,
m In visions of the past, regard again
IN wars dread horrors, and do roam at will
with tired footsteps DER the ensanguined plain
Where arms lie canker'd with a CORY rust
ana blood banners trail low in the dust
Where many noble hearts iu manhoods pride.
For home and country are stricken down;
No kindly hand to soothe them ere they died
Or staunch the life blood from each gaping wound
There calmly resting meath the sable pail
VI battle smoke, that hovers DER the field.
Are friend and foe their lives beyond recall;
Their warfare ended with their eyelids sealed.
The Blue and Grey lie sleeping side by side,
VI mother love and wifely kiss denied.
But DER Columbia's mighty hills and plains,
Peace once more sheds a welcome genial ray.
Freedom unfurls her banners, and remains
standard true, where Liberty holds sway
Land of the freel thou dear-bought land, all hail
goody heritage indeed art thou.
May noble minds in future years prevail,
To keep thy annals free from stain as now
Ia love of country emulate their sires,
Their hearts be kindled with like patriot fires
About forty little girls, dressed in
white, wearing black sashes, and
with boquets in their hands, appeared
on the stage and sang"N more the bu,
giles stirring blast" After the singing,
the Marshal, Capt Chas. II. Baxter, in
charge, mar ched to the monument and
strewed flowers, while the Band p aged
cirge. After their return and auie,
was restored, Col. Clark introduced
Gen. James Bintliff, of Darlington,
who delivered the following
ADDRESS:
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, and Com
rades Of The armies of the Union.
In this presence, surrounded by memorials
of departed worth, looking into the faces oil
men and women whose greatest grefs cluster
about the events which, at each recurring
Decoration Day unavoidably pass 10 solemn
procession before the mind we assemble to
reverently honor the memory of our patriot
dead. To die for another, or for cause sacred
to man, has ever been held TO be sacrifice
worthy of divinity. For this reason sacrifcal
death has always commanded the first place in
the affections of mankind; and because
through the vista which such self-abnegation
opens to US, we obtain glimpses of the great
possibilities which as a race lie before us
Broad as human ills, therefore, and high a:
human aspirations is the significance Of the
offices by which we express our gratitude an(
generation for the examples, patriotism ant
virtue have left on record for our guidance
As we engage in these memorial services, VIZ
imbibe the sublime spirit which animated ou
departed heroes; and there comes from arounC
and above US benedictions and sweet assur
ances that it il not in vain we do homage Il
those whose lives added a new lustre to human
achievements and whose death. throughout al
the generations to come, will impart highe
dignity to human character. The nation rise
from such scenes as these imbued with ne.
sense of greatness, and honor, and trust il
Him who endowed so many millions of ou
countrymen with the spirit of self-sacrifce. ani
consecrated from every rank in society, hun
dreds of thousands who enriched the soil will
their blood to uphold the right. Every agt
has worshipped its heroes, and when literature
had no existence, in our modern sense, th,
brave leaders of one generation became tn,
gods of the next. Poets and harpers strucl
LuS igEe III TIC Iuuc US6ihuibSS VI CifillLdtloD
to awaken in their hearers the highest posi-
bilities of their nature, by singing the brav,
deeds of noble ancestries. Fired by patriotic
emulation, the offspring of giants rose to al
altitude greater than that of their heroic sires
and, in their fame, the nations of to-day fin,
incentives to worthier developments of exis
tence. We are not limited to remote ANTIQUITY
when searching for examples of heroic action
The demi- gods were not greater than the heroe
of Valley Forge or Princeton; of Shiloh o
Gettysburg; of Lookout Mountain or Kena
saw Vicksburg or Spottsylvania Cour
House; Of Nashville or Five Forks
with whom our history is entwined. De
votion and selfsacrifce are not restricte'
to any age or nation. Our liberties had no
been buiided on this continent, but for sue
daring as the men Of old wisely considered
claim to worship. In every generation Their
is a throb which answers to the pulse whic
beat at Thermopyla and Marathon. Histori
times are rich in deeds of self-immolation
nobler in their unquestioned truth than tn
tabled leap of Quintus Curtius or the labors G
the God Hercules. Winkelried, acceptin