The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1880-07-16

General Garfield Speaks at the DedIca-
PainesVilIe, OhIO-What It Means and
Teaches.
PAINEsvuLE, O., July 4.-Gen. Gar
field spoke as fellows at tue dedication
of the soldiers monument here yester.
day;
FELLOW CITIZENS: / cannot fail to re-
spond on such an occasion, in sight of
such u monument to such a cause, sus-
tanned by such men. (Applause and
cheers) While have listened TO what
my friend has said, two questions have
been sweeping through plY heart One
was, What does the monument mean ~
and the other, What will the monu-
ment teach?" Let me try, and ask you
for a moment to help me to answer
What does the monument mean? Oh,
the monument means world of memo
ries, and world of deeds, and a world
of tears, and a world of gloTles. You
know, thousands know, what it is
County, CO ans, and ap y thn: is no small mall
thing, as every soldier knows. Let me
put the question to you for moment.
Suppose your country, in the awfully
embodied form of majestic law, should
stand above you and say. u want your
life come up here on the platform and
offer it" how many would walk up be-
fore that majestic presence and say,
Here l am; take this life and use it for
your great need? ~ [Applause.l And yet
almost two millions of men made that
answer [applausel, aud monument
| stands Yonaer to commemorate their ans
Wer. That is one of It's meanings.
But, my friends, let me try you little
further. To give up life IS much, for it
is to give up wife and home and child
and ambition. But let me test you this
way further. Suppose this awfully ma
jestic form would call out to you and
say: Il ask you to give up health and
drag yourself, not dead, but half alive
through miserable existence for long
years, until you perish and die In your
crippled and hopeless condition. [ ask
you to volunteer to do this" 1t calls
for a higher reach of patriotism and
self-sacTaAce, hut hundreds of thousaeds
of you soldiers done that. This is what
the monument means also.
But let me ask you to go one step fur
Their. Suppose your country should say
"Come here on this platform and in my
name and for my sake consent to be
| idiots" "a voice-Hear! HearD Con
sent that your very brain and intellect
shall be broken down into hopeless lido
cY. for my sake" How many could be
| found to make that venture? And yet
| thousands, and that with their eyes wide
open to the horrible consequences,
obeyed that call. And let me tell how
! 100000 of our soldiers were prisoners of
war, and many of them, when death was
stalking near, when famine was climb
up into their hearts and idIocy was
threatening all that was left of their in.
tellects. The gates of their prison stood
open every day if they would quit, des-
ert their flag and enlist under the flag of
L In aran nF 1nE exnTr,
| per cent. ever received the liberation
from death, starvation, idIOcy, all that
might come to them but they took all
| these horrors and all these sufferings in
| preference to going back upon the flag
| of their country and the glory of its
truth. (Applause.) Great GodI was
ever such measure of patriotism reached
by any man on this earth before. zap
plause) That is what your monument
means,
BY the subtle chemistry that no
man knows, all the blood that was shed
by our brethren, all the lives that were
| devoted, all the grief that was felt, at
last crystallized itself into granite
rendered immortal the great truth for
which they died (applause), aud 1t stands
there to-day, and that is what your
monument means.
Now what does it teachS What will
II teach? Why, remember the story OF
one of the old conquerors of Greece who
when he had travelled in his bOyhoOd
over the battle fields where Miltiades had
won victories and set up trophies. Re
turning, he said: These trophies of Mil
tiades will never let me sleep" Why
Something had taught him from the
chiselled stone lesson that he could
never forget; and, fellow citizens, thai
silent sentinel, that crowned granite col
umn will look down upon the boys thai
will walk these streets for generations u
come, and will not let them sleep wheT
their country calls them. Applause.
More than the bugler on the field, from
his dead lips will 90 out a call that thu
children of Lake county will hear aftel
the grave has covered US all and our i'm
mediate children. That is the teaching
of your monument. That is its lesson
: and il is the lesson of endurance fol
J what we believe; and it is the lesson o
! sacrifices for what we think; the lessor
of ism for what we mean to sustain
: and that lesson cannot be lost TO peo
pie like this. 1t is not q lesson of re
: venge; it Is not a lesson Of wrath il Ii
the grand, sweet, broad lesson of the i'm
mortality of the truth that we hope vii
. soon cover as with the grand shekinal
? of light and glory all parts of this Re
+ public, from the great lakes to the gull
: (Applause)
} once entered house in old Massachu
| sets, where over its doors were two
crossed swords. One was the sword car
ried by the grandfather of its owner Oh
: the field of Bunker Hill, and the othe
/ was the sword carried by the grandsir,
! of the wife on the same field, and on tn
other side of the conflict Under thos
; crossed swords in the restored harmony
| of domestic peace lived a happy AMI
= contented and free family under tn
: light of our Republican liberties. ZAP
; plause.l
Z trust the time Is not far distant wheI
| under the crossed swords and the lockei
: shields of Americans, north and south
I oar people shall sleep in peace and ms
i in liberty, love and harmony under tn
union of our flag of the stars ant