Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-06-05
GRAFTON
Delivered by Hon. Grove L. Johnson Be-
fore Sumner Post, No. 3. G. a. B., at
the Metropolitan Thsater. Sacramento,
Memorial Day May S1st).

the Metropolitan Theater, Sacramento
Memorial Day MAY s1st).
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: w,
have met this evening TO finish the pleasing
vet sorrowful labors of the day. What ar,
those labors thus curionsiy interviewer Will
pleasure and sadness. They are the decora
ton during the day of certain graves IN yon
der cemetery, and the endeavor this evening
to extract beneficial teachings from the con
duct, while appropriately commemorative
the services, of those whose bodies ill those
graves. No ordinary occasion this. 1t is
well, therefore, to examine what We have
done, why we did it. and what instruction We
can gain Sherefrom.
Daily in sorrow the parent seeks the grave
of the child the wife, OF the husband; the
child, of the parent the lover, of the sweet
heart; and garland the last resting place Of
their loved ones gone before them 30 81 the
land beyond the river, yet no comment Is
excited, no gathering of the people such as
this ensues, for it is common to all thus to
care for their family dead.
We have not visited graves to-day as chill
dren, lovers, husbands, parents, wives or
families, nor because of other social ties, but
as people, and all over this broad nation Of
ours communities have We'd with each other
in seeing who best would fulfill the obliga-
lions of the day. Not alone in sorrow have
we gone forth this day, but heralded by
martial music, honored by the escort of the
military, accompanied by the people Of all
ages; laden with roses and with lilies have we
entered the somber portals of the city of the
dead, and gathering around the graves OF
those we honored, have strewn the roses and
the lilies above their ever quiet heads.
Those who sleep in the graves thus dec
IS oh
they may not represent member of our
family, though they may have been in life
strangers to us all. They represent you and
[ and all of us. They represent the Ameri-
can nation that shelters and protects us.
They represent the principles upon which our
nation has become exalted and our people
happy and prosperous.
The lowly mounds that have to-day been
covered with the sweet flowers of our valley
mark the last resting places of some of the
dead heroes of the Grand Army and Navy
of the Republic, that upon land carried "Old
Glory" in triumph from the Potomac to the
Gulf, from the Ohio to the Rio Grande, and
upon the sea nailed it to the masthead and
swept the ocean wave of rebel cruiser from
stormy Atlantic to calm Pacific, laughed to
scorn the batteries of New Orleans, Mobile
and Vicksburg and wrote upon every stripe,
emblazoned upon every star of the dear old
flag the story of their valor and their victories.
The graves of such men should be kept
forevergreen and beautiful, not by individuals,
friends or societies, but by the united efforts
of all the people of all the land, that they
may serve as radiant monuments. ever re-
minding the sons and daughters of America
how their occupants kept. as did Horatius in
the brave days of old, the bridge of Union
against the enemy, that treason might not
despoil the citadel of liberty.
To-day is Decoration Day-rightly named
when the graves of such men are freshly
clad with flowers by thankful people as a
slight token of their love and gratitude To-
day, also, for the first time in California,
Decoration Day is legal as well as social
holiday. | congratulate myself that as a
member of the last Legislature l was per-
mitted to vote and work for the law declaring
the Both of May in each year legal holiday
in our Golden State. 1t was an act of tardy
Justice to the feelings invoked by the day, to
the sentiments of the people and the instincts
of manhood. Such law should have been
enacted years ago in every State in the Union,
and by the National Legislature, but so far as
California is concerned we can say better
late than never"
Those whose memory we thus revere and
whose graves we thus decorate died in holy
crease the dominion of their rulers no lust
for conquest no mere seeking after military
honor inpelled their combat or nerved their
steel. They gave their labors and their lives
for good, for progress, for principle, for law,
for country.
But we need not seek for language to ex-
plain their motives or to magnify their cause
such effort on our part is useless. They
themselves have told and yet tell the story OF
their march.
Hank Listen Do yon not hear even
now, as we reverently tread upon their dust
or ponder over their deeds so many, many
years after their death-do you not hear
coming to us family yet clearly through the
dimness of the past, rising above the noise
and busy turmoil of the present, sweeping
and swelling its music from all portions Of
our nation the refrain of the battle-hymr
they shouted forth DER land and sea when
charging on the foe:
In the beauty OF the lilies Christ was born acros:
the sea,
With glory in his bosom that transfgures you ant
As He died to make men holy, let US die to MAKE
men free.
While God is marching on.
Oh, it would be solemnly instructive and
interesting to follow the gallant sailors anG
soldiers of America during the years o.
toll and conflict required to make their sons
a reality, but time will not permit. Coulc
we but lift the curtain that hides the past
from mortal vision, and gaze with celestial
eyes upon the history of the days between
1861 and 1865, what panorama would be
presented There would be seen the battle
in the clouds, the sinking of the Cumberland
the storming of Fort Wagner, the defense Of
Chattanooga, the wooden walls of the navy
Ill &ba hot OF lin bf
uneoualed s'march to the sea, the massacre
at Fort Pillow, the magnificent attack anC
repulse of Gettysburg, the storming of For.
Donelson, the charge at Fair Oaks, the bloody
and fearful long-continued struggle in the
Wilderness, the surrender at Appomatox, anc
an hundred other scenes of awful grandeur
and terrific excitement, while Illuminating the
whole series of pictures with an everything
fame of glory would be seen the heroic
deeds of the individual soldier and sailor OF the
Union proving their words by their acts. Oh
them we may say, Nobly they kept their faith
thus pledged. Most glorious was the proof they
gave of their belief in the song they sang,
and in the principle that song crystallizec
into poetic life. The men who as soldiers or
sailors gave up their lives while wearing the
blue in the war of the rebellion most truly
died to set men free; died to make free the
bondage of the sin of slavery the country Of
their birth or adoption; died that you and
and all of us and our children might live a;
freemen in a free land-free in the truest anG
highest sense free alike in East or West, Oh
North or South for living, speaking or voting
by American citizens, regardless of race OIL
color They struggled, they fought, they
died for their country, for our country, ant
SO long as the republic lasts-which God grant
may be forever-so long will the memory o.
these brave souls that preserved its unity b.
cherished, their brave deeds recounted anc
their tombs garlanded by loving hands anc
lips as we have done and are doing to-day
True it is that the old proverb, "Out o.
sight, out of mind, is too often the faithful
commentary upon the conduct of mankind
in reference to the sages and heroes of the
world; that the lot appointed for all terres
trial things is to molder and decay that
all human actions fade away into thu
darkness of the aforementioned past a.
year by year is marked upon the dial of life
But of the heroic dead of Columbia, who's,
sepulchers are to-day honored in every ham
let in our broad domain, We well may say:
All, Never shall the land forget
How gushed the life blood Of her brave,
Gushed warm with hope and courage yet
has thaxyf nuerh 70, save