Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-05-31
AT THE 0RAvEYARDS

Flowers had been provided in the
greatest profusion-wreaths. bou.
quets and loose. .flowers-and when
the cemetery was reached orders
were given that the graves Of all
soldiers-Union and Confederate
were to be decorated alike-an or.
der that was strictly observed. De-
tachments of the Grand Army were
sent to the other cemeteries and
the same rule observed in decorat-
ing the graves.
After prayer by the Rev. Mr..
Hutchins, Col. J. g. Eastman was
introduced and delivered the tol.
lowing address:
COL. EAsTNfAN's ADDRESS.
chow sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's honors blest
When Spring with dewy fingers cold,
Returns to deck their hallowed mould,
She there shall dress sweeter sod
Than fancy's feet have ever trod.
By fairy hands their knell is rung,
BY forms unseen their dirge is sung.
To bless the turf that wraps their clay.
And Freedom shall while repair
To dwell weeping hermit there"
The prophecy of the poet Collins
is realized. Freedom in the her.
mit's garb sheds the sad, dewy tears
of a nations grief to moisten the
flowers placed above the bosoms of
our brave ones who have gone to
sleep. The fairy hands of the de.
parted spirits who, through all
time, have struggled for freedom,
are ringing the knell and centuries
Of freedom-baptized forms unseen
are singing the dirge; and yet it is
a song of mingled grief and joy
grief for their loss and joy for their
achievements.
This commemoration is modern
and unusual. Since the time of
David it has been the custom of ma
tions to erect to the leaders of their
armies, their great Generals, Mar
shals and Captains, monuments
and obelisks upon which were in
scribed the success of the battal-
ions they led and to whom, more
than to the officers, the victory be-
longed, and not to the individual
success of the heroes who composed
the battalions. IL was reserved
to the civilization of this
century to recognize that hero
ism did not exist alone in
the hearts of leaders, but in brave
privates who marshaled upon the
field of battle, and marched to
prospective death under the direct
ion of discipline, instincts Of prin-
ciple and love of country. It re.
mained to the American people to
discover that the rank and file were
the heroes Of all wars, and q grate-
full nation of fifty millions of peo-
pie, blessed by the heroism of those
whom they honor, now approach
the humble graves of their loved
and lost ones and lay upon the clay
above their bos0ms tribute more
honorable because more universal.
A decade and . half has swept
away the active grief of our in.
ternecine strife. That period has
been characterized by the sorrows,
the struggles, commercial depres-
sions and agricultural interferences
resulting from war which affect
ed the whole civilized world. Does
the present existing condition of
things convince US that 1t has en-.
tirely swept away the animosities
of which the war was born and
which it generatedf Are we not
still, as members of a great govern
ment harboring in sectional hearts
the same feelings of sectional strife
which created the sad necessity Of
the service we are this day render
ing?
And In the presence of these
mighty dead, these silent heroes of
patriotism, whose graves, regard
less of the color of the uniform,
whether blue or gray, are being
decorated by those who loved them
and believed they gave the highest
evidence of their devotion to prin-
ciple by sacrificing their lives in its
behalf; should we not waive all
questions of sectional strife and
bury in the deep vaults which hold
their sacred bones all causes of dis
sension which may lmperll the lib
erty and grandeur Of the greatest
government the world has ever
known?
To these modest dead a nation
says, sFor you death had no
sting, fighting In the right as 1t
was given you to see the right
you can face your God with the
same fearlessness with which you
faced your enemy"
And In the firm belief that the
soldiers God has in the last grand
quarters bound your brows with
the amaranthine wreath Of imor-
tality, as lay this earthly fading
tribute upon your graves, I say, In