The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1879-06-20

power, the SCUM points Win h0nesl
pride TO the endurance, the courag,
aud devotion Of her women, and the
unsulled record Of her men in arms,
Amid the ashes Of her material desc
lation, with all a mothers tenderness
and love, she still proclaims the stain
less honor, the matches heroism Of
her dead. Well might you inscribs
upon each grave Earth never pill
lowed upon her bosom a truer son, moi
Heaven opened wide her portals to re
ceive a manlier spirit" These green
mounds are our sacred treasures, over
which the tenderness and beauty. the
courage and manhood Of the South
viii ever maintain their faithful Wig.
lis. The work that we now do is only
in honor Of the dead, but il may serve
for ths instruction and
ELEVATION OF THE LIVING.
Nothing that we can do can make
the sleep Of the hero here more peace
fol or profound. No flowers that we
may strew. no peans that we may
sing, no eulogiums that we may utter,
no monuments that we rear, can reach
them in that far-of cline in which
the soldier spirit rests, but the living
may profit by the study Of their lives
and emulation Of their virtues. Sleep
on brave men; your race is won, your
work Is finished. your fame secure; the
tongue Of detraction can not harm
you, the shafts of malignity fall light
ly on your graves; posterity, that
safest Of all custOdians, is the guardi-
an of that verdict for which you died.
"yOn marble mln.irsIs vOicsiui stone
In deathless song shall tell,
when many a vanished year hath down,
The story hov 70 ELL;
Nor vrsch. nor change. nor winters blight.
Nor times rsmor.sles- doom.
Can dim one ruy Of holy Hight
That gilds our glorious tomb"
Fourteen years have now gone by
since the close Of that struggle, which
shook a continent to its foundation and
dotted this land with the graves of its
slain. The generous earth has en-
ployed these years in ceaseless efforts
TO Obliterate the ravages of war; it
covered the scars and healed the
wounds fnrrowed deep in its own bO-
som with the flowers Of fourteen springs
and the verdure of as many summers;
each cicstrix inflicted upon the face
OF nature has long since disappeared;
no painful evidences of that strife re-
main, save in the hearts Of men less
generous than their common parent.
The dead of both armies have long
since met and fraternized under the
trees on the other side, whilst the par
Elephants in that great contest yet left
among the living are to-day trusting
each other as brave men must ever do.
There is
NO LONGER CONTENTION or DIscoRD
between the wearers Of the blue and
the gray. Let him tell who may, the
advantage that would accrue if the
quiet graves in which the brave SOL
diers OF both armies are buried might
render back to life the moldering
forms Of their manly occupants to
make room for the embittered ghouls,
those caricatures upon humanity, who
seek to disturb the rule of peace, with
the mutterings of bitterness and strife,
and seek to light again the flames Of
war from which their coward natures
shrank in the hour Of their cOuntry's
peril.
Here, in the solemn presence Of the
dead, | venture to indulge the hope
that, at no distant day. the fame
achieved and glories won, by Federal
and Confederate alike, shall be gath.
cred and garnered up, to be woven
into a chaplet which shall be cherish
ed with pride and love as a common
legacy bequeathed by valOr to the
people Of a common country. May
the time come when the mention Of
the name of a Lee or a Mcpherson,
a Thomas or a jackson, will kindle q
flush of pride upon the cheek Of every
American citizen alike. Till then, Il
the love and tenderness of our women
to the nobler impulses of our men. ",
commit the graves aud fame of oul
martyred dead. May the American
youth. in far distant years, gather
about these consecrated graves to reat
anew the story of their occupants, ant
from the mournful pages catch an in
spiration Of patriotism, of courag'
and devotion that may prove tn
stanchest bulwark for the protection Q
their cOuntry's liberties.
A clergyman of an original turn o