Connecticut western news., 1879-05-28
CANAAN, CONN. WEDNESDAY,, MAY 2s. 1879.
Decoration Day.

they did not forget those whs had laid down I their hves for their Country. As if by . common impulse they set apart day in each year to do honor to their memory and to deck their graves with vernal flowers. It is well. Etm beautiful custom. founded l in the hearts of generous people, and deservea to be perpetuated for all coming time. The heroes who gave their all for their Country deserve such an honor and more. They died that their Country might live; and now
 "A sacred band They take their sleep together, while the year Comes with Its early flowers to deck their graves, And gather them again, as Winter frowns
 Theirs is no vulgar sepulcher green sods Are all their monument. and yet 1t tells
 A nobler history than billiard piles,
 Or the eternal pyramios.
 They need
 Nc statue or inscription to reveal
 Eheir greatness. It is round them; and the joy With which their children tread the hallowd ground That holds their venerated bones, the peace
 That ss~iaes all thas Eeasss sa.. end the zEaalth- That clothes the land they rescuedthese. tho mute As feeling ever is when deepest-these
 
 Rear'd to the Kings and demigods of old"
 But Decoration Day should not be de- voted simply to the decoration of the sol- disrs' graves. The services should take . wider range. We can best honor the dead by serving the living. In the first place on every such an occasion we should raise our voices m solemn protest against the crime and barbarian of war, and from each hal- lowed grave prayer should go up to AL mighty God, that it nay be banished from the face of the earth foreYermore. War is the greatest sin that can be committed in the sight of Heaven. It is ''the sum of all vil- liAnies." It brings untold misery and de- structien. It causes countless millions to mourn. It is utterly demoralizing and de- basing. It ruins the victor and vanquished alike. Like deadly malaria it spreads over the whole country and enters every home. Even after the .'last armed foe has expirsd' the conflict still goes on and the effects are felt from generation to generation. It is bsrbarlsm itself, yet how little it seems to move the hearts, even of Christian people. Within less than . generation the fairest portions of the civilized world have been desolatsd with this scourge, and we have wit messed the American civil war, the war be- twesn Austria and Prussia, the France Prussian war and the recent war between kuasis and Turkey. Hundreds of thousands of innocent lives have been sacrificed and thousands of millions of dollars worth of property destroyed. Yet how feeble has been the voice that has been raised against t, even from the rulpit. Let these at least who have experienced and witnessed its horrors. as they in each year gather around the graves of their fallen comrades, protest against It, and pray God that It may here after be averted from this beloved country. Again, would it net be we'll. would it net be very appropriate duty on Decoration day, especially for the survivors of the war, to renew their devotion to the old flag and, as they gather around the graves of those who 60 generously and nobly sacrificed their lives sn the altar of their Country, re solve that those sacrifices shall not be in vain. They died to save the Union-one and inseparable. That Uaion can only live In the hearts of the people. In Country % vast and with interests 30 diversified. its preservation must largely depend on mutual concessions and mutual ferbearance. II can only be held together by the ties of af- lection. Are those ties strong enough for such a-puIpoee? It cannot be denied that they are not as strong as they formerly were. We have come to look upon the old nag and the institutions of enr Fathers. from whatever cause, with far less feelings of reverence and respect than we formerly did. Even the fourth of July does not ex- cite the same enthusiasm it did in years ROns.hY. Our love has became cold, our fcelings blunted. We are beginning to hear whisperings about a stronger government. The Country is kept in . constant state of excitement by the greed and recklessness ofunscrupulous politicians They do not hesitate to resort 10 any means to accomplish their ends-falseheod, decep- ton, misrepresentation. abuse sad worse. fhs Country is becoming weary from un- rest.
 The worst passions arc excited aad local and sectional feelings are constantly ap- psaled to. The motto seems to be s.Party nrst and last and then County" The dan ger seems 10 have come which Wa hiDgton forssaw when, in his farewell address, he warned the Country against 'sthe baneful effects of the spirit of Party" ..The disor- dsrs and miseries which resait. gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repoee in the absolute power of an in- dividual and. sooner or later, the chiet of some prevailing faction. more able or mors fortunate than his csmpetitors, turns this disDosition to the purposes of bis own ele- vstion on the ruins of the public liberty" And 1t may bs well for us, even on Decor ati0n day and over the graves of those who have fallen fer their Country, to ask eur- selves the question. Shall all their sacrifices be in vain? Heaven forbid. Let us then Esnew our devotion to the old flag. Let as cherish, if possible, warmer love of Country. Let us resolve, as we did in 1861, Shat the Union must and shall bs maintain-- cd and let us adopt for our motto the mem- erahls words of Daniel Webster, ..Libsrty end Union, now and forever, one and in sspaEable."
 William Lloyd Garrison died at the res. idsnce of his daughter in New York last Saturday evening, aged 75 years. Mr. Gar. rson was born in Newburyport. Mass, and learned the trade of printer. After he had served bis spprenticeshIp he established the Free Press in his native city. This under taking was not successful and we next fad him the Editor of the Natural PASlGnthr0-