The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-06-01

| were tne nfst ifultsJ IL Thpiuly approaching
its completion Sectional and race lines
are being obliterated, and the people are
growing more and more jealous Of the ex-
ercise Of doubtful federal powers In re-
sponse to this we see the government with
drawing within the cleSrly-defned consti-
tutional limits Of administrative authority,
and the old love for the flag once more In
spring the thought and feeling Of the
South. There, in that sunny land where so
many Of our brave boys are sleeping, where
neither father, mother, sister, brother, can
stoop to drop the tear Of sorrow or bear the
gin Of flowers, at this very hour those whom
We called our enemies are doing homage
alike to the gray and blue. You-father,
mother, sister, brother, wife-whose dear
one rests beneath the southern sky, behold
Mt the silent grave to-day your place is
taken by one you thought your foe, and
| your son, your brother, your husband, re-
ceives the generous homage Of the southern
heart in the tribute of affection you are not
| permitted to pay. So, as in life these heroes
served their country bravely and nobly, in
| death they furnish that bond Of reconcilia-
| ton which shall entwine the hearts of the
people In new and more perfect union. In
such spirit as this we behold the promise
and the potency of future glory and great
ness.
When, during the war, an eminent citi.
zen was asked what we proposed TO do with
our Poland when we should have COM
pleted its conquest, the reply was, awe
shall liberate the Poles" Thank God, we
have liberated our Poles, and blessings by
those Poles themselves shall yet be invoked
upon those who made their freedom posi-
blel All honor, then, to our martyred
dead All honor to their glorious work
Again before our vision come the historic
deeds that make their names immortal
deeds upon which, with the crimson seal of
their life-blood, they have impressed their
devotion to their country and its liberties.
Let us, in tho presence of their mighty
achievements, filled with the spirit of their
patriotism, with equal unsel6shness and de-
votion to the cause of true union, rise to
that lofty citizenship, that elevated states
manship, which, in the words of Lincoln,
the last of our martyrs, "with malice to-
ward none and with charity for all, )" will
enable us to carry out the work of restora-
ton to its most glorious contamination.
Thus may we honor these dead and prove
worthy to transmit the glory that descends
from them, Father of Mercy, grant that
the seeds Of patriotism 5own by our honored
dead In soil wet with q nations tears may
spring up and bear generous fruit in the re-
turn of perfect Union, with all its blessings
OF purer laws, exact justices, equal rights,
and perpetual peace.
We hold our fallen comrades in the deep
est reverence, and recognise them as heroes
standing in the highest niche in Fame's
proud temple. We honor and revere the
humble soldier who carried the musket and
knapsack through the long and weary
march, the same as the highest officer. But
whats famel A fancied life in others breath,
thing beyond us, ev'n before our DEATH"
Yet we are apt to be very anxious to obtain
fame. as well as honor, reputation, and
wealth.
hold that It is not necessary to be rich,
nor powerful, nor great, to be a success
neither is it necessary to have your name
between the putrid lips of rumor to be great.
The happy man is the successful man in
this world of turmoil and strife and the
man or woman who makes somebody else
happy is happy, too. The man that has
gained the love and respect of his friends
and fellow citizens, his life has been a sue
cess, no matter lwhere he dies; and, if be
gets to be a crowned monarch of the world,
and never had the genuine love and esteem
of his neighbors and countrymen, his life |
has been an ashen vapor
Contentment, happiness, and peace of
mind are preferable to all the transient and |
vanishing glories of earth. can present
this idea to your minds no better than by |
citing the following eloquent and striking
illustration, in the language of the greatest
orator of the age:
"A little while ago stood by the tomb |
Of the first Napoleon, o magnificent tomb of |
gilt and gold, fit almost for dead deity, |
and here was great circle, and in the bot |
tom there, in a sarcophagus, rested at last |
the restless ashes Of that man. looked at |
that tomb, and thought about the career of |
the greatest soldier Of the modern world. |
As l looked l could see him walking up |
and down the banks of the Seine contem- |
plating suicide. | could sec him at Toulon
could see him at Paris, putting down the |
mob; | could see him at the head of the |
army Of Italy; | could see him cross the
bridge of Lodii with the the tricolor in his
hand | saw him in Egypt, fighting battles
under the shadow of the Pyramids; | saw
him returningI saw him conquer the Alps
and mingle the eagles of France with the
eagles of Italy | saw him at Marengo; | |
saw him at AusterlitE; / saw him in Rus
sia, where the infantry of the snow and the
blast smote his legions with the icy winds of
winter saw him at Leipsicj hurled back
upon faris; banished and saw him es-
cape from Elba ana fetake an empire by the
force of his genius. / saw him at the field
of Waterloo, where fate and chance COM
bined TO wreck the fortunes Of their former
king. | saw him at St. Helena with his
hands behind his back, gazing out upon the
sad and solemn sea, and | thought of all l
the widows he had made, of all the or
phans, Of all the tears that had been shed
for his glory and l thought of the woman,
the only woman who ever loved him,
pushed from his heart by the cold hand of
l said TO myself, as gazed,
l would rather have been French peasant
and worn wooden shoes, and lived in lit
tie hut with vine running over the door
and the purple grapes growing red in the
kisses Of the sum would rather
have been that poor French peasant, and sit
in my door, with my wife knitting by my
side, and my children upon my knees with
their arms about my neck-I would rather
have lived and died unnoticed and unknown
except by those who loved me, and gone
down TO the voiceless silence of the dream
less dust-I would rather have been that
French peasant than to have been that im.
perial impersonation of force and murder
who covered Europe with blood and tears"
Will the time ever come when the reason
and the better judgment Of men will over
cOma thair OagsiOng. nraitdicaq ambitions !