The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1878-07-11


lives, to the God of their fathers they tiiiioyy
Duckled on the armor, and fastened to
meet the foe.
No trifling sacrifice was this!
They did not hesitate, in the path
thus opened up before them, to ask,
will it pay?
Nay: The inspiration Of heaven was
upon them, and they conferred not
with flesh and blood; but listening to
the sublime battle cry of duty, they
joined the army of the Union.
Their country to them, was every
thing.
Their country had been rudelv at
tackled and her flag basely insulted !;
and they fastened to repel the attack,
and to avenge the insult. a5s -
Devoid Of ambition, and with no de-
sire for fame, they laid themselves on
the altar. .,,... .
Thus strong and vigorous in body
and mind, they went down into the
battle; and those who lived to return
God bless the absent butnot forgot
ten-came back wounded, with con-
stitutions shattered, many of them
diseased beyond recovery.
What a mighty debt is here! and it
is increasing with every step of the
government in reconstruction.
1t is accommodating, not by billions Of
gold, but by the multiplied forms of
blessing that are daily produced from
the precious blood that was shed.
This debt we never can fully dis
charge.
This obligation we never can fully
meet.
In the name then Of regenerated
Republic, let the allied host Of the ma
TONS defenders, accept the thanks of
a grateful people, and we know that a
response to our thanksgiving comes
from the heart Of a hundred thousand
who are scattered at this hour over
our vast domain from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and from the Canadas to
the Gulf.
Our children and our children's
children will rise up and call them
blessed.
We owe a debt to those who suffer
ed; but who are not, for they sleep
their last sleep, some in unknown
graves, some beneath the quiet shades
of their ancestral homes.
The deposits in the vaults of the Ma
tional Treasury would not suffice to
cancel this obligation On earth it
never can be paid, fol courage and
zeal and devotion, when consecrated
to 3 grand principle are above all
price.
To speak Of money in this connec-
tion-it seems a mockery and an in
suit: except it be in aid of the widow
and the orphan it's too mean to satisfy
the claims which the thousands of the
slain might bring against, not only the
nation, but mankind for the whole
race are debtors to those who die on
the battle field for freedom.
And yet, while we cannot expect to
cancel the debt, we can, and will cher
ish their memories as sacred; and as
another has said.
We will garner their dust Their
ashes shall be kept as the mamma of
the Tabernacle.
They have died to their friends, but
to us they shall live from henceforth
in monuments of marble, in immortal
song and undying story, and in our
own, and the cherlshing hearts of our
children and our children's children
into the latest generation.
God, whom we magnify for victories
won in the past, victories that have
cost them SO dear, will make this an
niversary to their posterity and to us
in all its tender and glad memories,
the fondest, proudest, and most blessed
day of life's years.
We have thus, at length, dWelt on
the sacrifices and sufferings that we're
borne by our citizen soldiers in their
patriotic devotion to the old flag in
the dark hour when treason was lift
ing UP it's hydra head for the over
throw Of the government, all this to
incite in our hearts, purer love, a
more lasting devotion to our country,
ana a loftier appreciation of the claims
which our government has upon us as
those on whom has been conferred the
rich legacy of freedom-a legacy seal
ed with the blood of the millions slain.
And all this that we, as citizens of
the Republic, may so value this legacy,
that i'll the coming years, we may in
diligently rejoice that we have a
country, and that we may with a laud-
IDLE pride, before the nations of the
whole earth, proclaim,
We are American citizens!
And yet, fellow citizens, with all
that we have in the history of the
past for FORMULATION, there arr
other thoughts of sombre shade
which crowd upon us as we cast our
eye over the land to-day, and see how
corruption abounds, and how chicane-
ry and fruad are attributed even to
the highest officials IN the nation.
Wemay hope that our chief execu-
tive and his cabinet ministers are
pure. ard that the results Of the pres
ent investigation may prove to be on
ly the work of disappointed politicians
inauguratel to throw suspicion overi
the party that is In power, with the
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