Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-06
A Speech BY tne Next prssIdent.

Early in July the Soldiers Monument
at Painesville, Ohio, was dedicated with
imposing ceremonies. There was a
large military and civic procession, and
speeches were made by General Gar
field, General j. d. Cox and others.
The following was General Garheld's
speech;
FELLow-Cfr1zENs: cannot well respond on
such an occasion, in the sight of such mOnu-
ment 10 such q cause, sustained by such men.
While listened to what my friend said, two
questions have been sweeping through my
the other, what viii the monument teachY Let
me ask you for moment TO help me answer,
what does the monument menur Oh, It means
a world Of memories and a world Of deeds, a
world of tenrs and world Of glOres. You
know, thousands know what It is 10 offer up
your life to the country and that is no small
thing rs every soldier knows. Let me put this
question to you for the moment suppose
your country IN the awfully-ombOdied form OF
majestic law, should stand above you and say,
." want your life; come up here ON the plat
form and offer it," How many would walk up
before that majestic presence and say: Here
4 am, take this life, use II for your great
needs" And yet almost one thousand million
men made that answer, and the monument
stands yOnder to commemorate their answer
That is one of its meanings. But my friends let
metry you little further. 10 give up life Is
much. for 10 is to give up wife, homo and
ambition. But let me test You this way tur-
should call ont to you: II ask you 20 give mp
health, 10 drag yourself not dead but half alive
through memorable existence for long years
until you perish and die In your crippled,
hopeless condition. / ask you to vOluntCOr 20
do that, and IL calls for q higher reach Of pat
riOtism and self-saCrhce." But hundreds Of
thousands of you soldiers did that. Tint Is
what the monument means also. But let me
ask you to go one step further Suppo3eyour
country should say: Come here on this plat
form. and in my name and for my sake CON
sent to be IDIOTS. Consent that your very
brain and intellect shall he broken down into
hopeless idiucy for my sake" How many
could be found to make that vonture2 And
yet thousands, with their eyes wide open 70
the horrible consequences, oDeyed that call.
And let me tell how 100000 Of our sOldierswere
prisoners Of war, and for many OF them, when
death was stalking near, famine climbing up
into their hearts and idiOCy threatening all
that was left OF their intellccts the gates Of
their prison stOOdOpen every day II they would
desert their Tag and enlist under the flag of
the enemy; and out Of 10000 not two per
cent ever received liberation from death,
starvation and idiOoy. All that might come Of
them. but they took all these horrors, all these
tho hng OF their country and the glory Of its
truth.
Great God, was ever such a measure Of pa-
trlOtism reached by any man on this earth be-
fore That IS what your monument means.
by subtle chemistry that no man knows all
the blood shed by our brethren, all the lives
devoted, all the grief felt, Mt last has crystal
dzed itself into granite and rendered immortal
the great truth for which they died. and It
HtHHu9 tHtIc tJ-uAg' lulS ID "nut gouI liAuuu-
mont means.
Now what does It teach? why, I remember
the story Of one Of the old ClnquerCrs OF
Greece, who, when he had Travelled I'm his boy
hood over the buttlehelds where Miltindes won
victories and set up trophies, returning said:
"The.e trophies OF Alitiadss will never let
nc sleep" Why something had taught him
from the ChisClcd shore lesson he could
never forget. And, fellOw-ctizcns, that silent
sentinel tnat crowns the granite column will
look down upon the boys that will walk these
streets for generations 20 come, and will not
let them sleep when their country calls them
More than the dead buRler on the fields, from
his dead lips will 20 out Il call that tho children
OF Lake County VIII hear after the grave has
covered all That Is the teaching Of your
monument; that Is its lesson, and II Is Il
lesson of endurance for what W. believe, and
IL Is Il lesson of sacrifices for what we think;
a lesson Of hcrOsm for what we mean to sus-
tain, and that lesson cannot bo lost to II poo
pie Ike this. II Ia not u lesson Of revenge,
brOnd lesson OF the Immortality of truth that
we hope viii soon cover rs with u grand she
knuh OF light ind glory In all parts of this
republic uOm the lakes TO the gulf.
once entered house in old Massachusetts,
whore over It's doors were two CrOsscd swords
One was the sword carried by the grandfather
of Us owner on the field of BunkGr Hill. The
other sword was ca ricd by the English grand
sire of the wife on the same held aud on the
the other side Of the conflict. Under these
CtO iscd swords In the restored harmony,
domestic peace, the children lived happy, con
tented, free and united under the light of our
republican liberties. trust the time Is not
far distant when under crossed swords and
locked shields of Americans, North and
South, our people shall sleep in peace and rise
in liberty, love and harmony under the union
OF our ng Of stars and stripes.