Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1880-06-05

what they will not continue to you
Let the Union die or die the dealt
yourselves
10 you suppose, my younge
friends, that those who had home
there cared less for them than thos
who have them now 7 Fathers wer
fathers and mothers mothers
What was the answer then whel
the threatening thunder came omin
GUS ofevil over peaceful land3
In one state it was as it had beer
before that day:
He wl,o hath still left of two hands but ono
WfNthat let him grapple sword
| N he wh'timtir.s let hias hna.tiIe n auy
And forward, boys forward the word.
The murmurihg sound of the fierce battle tide
Steady resounds from afar,
Forward, boysl forward on every side,
For Vermont and her glitterng star,
HoANuru Uhc pt'ttc tuuU WAS HTSL Ill unc
fight
When Allen and Warner were here,
Should not be the last to strike now for tho
right,
Should never be foudd in the rear"
don't believe in quoting poetry,
and would advise nobody to do it,
unless it il good poetry, and was
written 10y a Vermonter, or ought
to have been written by a Vermont
er, and as | have done it to-day
several times it should be counter
balanced by prose quotation.
The poet before hand said Vermont
Should never be found in the
rear" Official reports show where
she was found. | quOte-and this
prose matches the poetry-from Gen.
Doubleday's report on Gettysburg.
81 think these extracts show that
1t is 10 Gen. Stannard and Col.
Gates the country is mainly indebt.
ed for the repulse of the enemy's
charge and the final victory Of the
Sd of July" That was said Of the
I'd brigade. 1t was OF the 1st-the
sold Brigade" that honored old Yer
mont, that braye Gen. Sedgwick
said "Put the VermOnterS ahead
and keep the column we'll closed
up" Other regiments not so for
tunate as to be brigaded together
made Il record of deeds as brave as
those Of the old brigade and when
the war ended it is enough to say
Vermont's soldiers had made her
poets saying true,
There is temptation to dwell on
details. Get anybody who was in
the army to telling in public or pri-
vate of what took place and he
takes no note of time even from its
loss. Your only safety is in my keep.
ing carefully away from all that.
But in brief these men who went
from their homes went many of
them to die-in hospital, on the
battlefield or in prison pen, it mat
ters not where, they made the last
great sacrifice-that of life. The
dust of some lies here, of others
God knows where! Their spirits
returned to Him who gave them.
We should keep their memory
green, for the respect and love we
had for them, and for what they
did.
We should do it by keeping their
memorial day, the grandest mOnu.
ment heroes ever had, whose rising
sun gladly gilds the clouds of heav.
ell in their remembrance and whose
setting sun fingers to shed its last
rays on tue flowers that deck their
graves. We should keep their
memory green, and it is the use of
this memorial day to help us do it.,
all the year round by being good
citizens, good neighbors, good
friends, by loving the old flag and
the Countrywide whole country
whose flag it is by being as ready
to defend it against all foes as they
were and as hearty friends to all
its friends as they were.
Especially in year like this
when we all are apt to get excited
we should remember that it is all
in the family. The danger to this
country from rebellion is gone, no
one will ever strike the Union
again with rebelltOus hand. Our
danger in the future comes from
possibilities of dispute as to what is
the righttul and legitimate govern
ment, and from faction fights of
that kind good Lord deliver us!
He delivered us out of greater
dangers in the past and will out OF
those of the future. Peace is upon
the land and prosperity awaits it.
In peace we should cement the
bonds of Union with our own peO-
pie and with those of other states.
Before many years here and there
soldier of the Union who fought
rightly to put down the rebellion
and here and there soldier OF the
Southland braver ones never lived
who fought wrongly to uphold
it, both obedient citizens of that
Union one fought to maintain and
the other vainly to destroy, can say
with "Uncle Jerry"