Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-09-11
ADDRESS ofWELCOME.
By
Hon. j. T. UpdegraR,
AT THE
SOLDIERS REUNION,
Aug. %, 1879.

Hon. J. 7. UPDEGRAFF, being intro
duced by W. V. b. CrOskey, Esq, Master
of Ceremonies, spoke as follows:
SOLDIERS, CITIZENS:
On behalf of the ladies, soldiers and
citizens of Jefferson county, greet you.
By their authhrity, and in their name, /
tender you that glad, heart-deep wei.
come with soldier so well understands.
We do not come to you with any words
of mere formal welcome. We want you
all, comrades, to know that you are
among friends, who feel honOred and
glad of your coming. To use an army
phrase, familiar to you all, we want you
to fill your haversacks with the best we
have in the town; for the people, and
especially the good ladies of Steuben-
vile, mean to issue to every man in line
to-day, full ratiOns from bOunteous
missary-cOmmissary edtG6Ies l
mean, mark you.
This greeting comes to you from the
hearthS of all our people. And yet We
are your debtors, for you have earned
a right royal welcome from every patri-
Otic heart in the land to every Ameri-
can home. Renowned soldiers are here,
who have struck "blows which have
echoed round the world" We greet you
with gratitude. Your fame has become
part of our Nations
UNMATCHED HERITAGE OF GLORY.
But with reverence as profound, and
with welcome as joyous, we hail you,
soldiers of the musket and knapsack:
"The sceptreless kings of the ranks, the vast
untitled brave"
A thoughtful writer has grandly said,
"The real heroes of the war were the
great, brave, Interchangeable" But
soldiers, all, of whatever rank or arm
of the great service, of whatever State,
party or creed, color or nationality, your
joyful welcome of to-day in the glad
and grateful acclaim of Il people whose
imperiled sovereignty you rescued and
whose discovered Union you restored.
Then welcome, and thrice welcome
brave representatives of the grand arm
les on whose tattered flags are written
Shiloh, and Perryville, and Stone River,
Petersburg and Chickamauga, and An
tietam and AppOmatax, and hundred
like stars that army's Orifiamme, and
make up the shining consultations of
your illustrous record. 1t was you and
your comrades, living and dead-alas
so many dead that our generation shall
be only fragmcnt-who quailed not
amid the disasters of Bull and Chancell-
orsville, but undismayed, hurled back
the rebel hosts at Getty sburg, entered
with streaming banners into DOnelsOn
and VickSburg; made immortal the
names of Lookout MOuntan and Mis-
sion Ridge, and not only Shook the con-
tinent but amazed the world, as you
swept in triumph through armies and
obstacles from Atlanta to the sea.
THE TRUE MEN AND WOMEN
of Ohio have no welcome they would
not gladly give to the men l see before
and around me. In this great State,
which gave $4,000 men to the cause of
the eUnion-one-eighth of the whole ar
my-the patriotism is not dead which
unlocked not only the stores of her
wealth, but freely gave her dearest
treasures; the affluence and flower of all
her manhood. 1t is alive to-day, as this
mighty multitude attests, and with no
BILE reverence .hOnOrs those whose valOr
and sacrifices gave to the country and
the world that peerless victory without
which the grandest nationality, the one
free Republic must have perished from
the earth. 1t was glorious work, and
nObly was it done. The Government
you rescued may perish by misrule, or
corruption, or party strife, and be blot
ted from the roll of nations, but the in
fuence, the spirit and the glory Of your
patriotism are immortal, and will be
forever among the worlds inspiring
and progressive forces.
Emblem and legend may fade from the por-
Keystone may crumble and pillar may fall;
You are the builders whose work is immortal,
Crowned with the dome that is over us all. F"
But, my friends, we cannot live upon
the glories of the past alone, however
ample or supreme. What is the lesson
that is left us, and what is the duty of
to-day?
The flaming signals cf 1861 were the
blood-red blossoms of war. In 1879
TUE WHITE LILIES OF PEACE
are the symbols of our country's deliv-
ance, and make beautiful all the ban
ners of our hopes. A French historian
has stEikingly said: "God gives justice
to men only at the price of battles.
Whether this be true or not, the War Of
the Revolution founded, and the greater
war against the Rebellion preserved
alike our liberties and our nationality.
But our mighty destiny is peace. The
full grandeur of empire moves gently in
the pathway of light. The arts and
victories of peace, free homes, free labor,
open schools, the rewarding wealth of
field and mine, an intelligent and pros
porous people, are not only the irrepres-
sible forces but the supreme triumphS
of national life. But shall we not make
practical the teachings and all the wis
dom of our great conflict and an Illus
triOus past? 1t is not only a mistake
but wrong to suppose, as some do, that
the design or effect of these grand re-
unions is merely to glorify war and
LEEP ALIVE ITS BITTERNESS.
If this were the truth, let them forever
be forgotten. But every true soldier
who hears me has already realized to-
day that these pleasant occasions have
higher purposes and better results. In
that joy of comradeship which only a
soldier knows, in awakened memories
of heroic sacrifices and noble deeds, of
awful perils and wondrous, GOd-guided
of the agony of hope and
and dread for your country's life, of
days sometimes canOpied i'll darkness,
and sometimes curtained in light, have
you not to-day felt your hearts warmer,
your patriotism exalted and your whole
being uplifted? Comrades, answer me,
is is not so? And thus is the love of
country developed, the feeling of ma
is deepened from mere senti-
ment into living, breathing, vital prin-
ciple, and then it is patriotism. This is
the soul of national life. 1t is the inspi-
ration of valOr, and hsroism, and sacri-
flee. Above all it is, and has ever been,
the bulwark of freedom.
The war was an awful calamity, but
it brought mighty compensatiOns. No