Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-27
TO YOUNG MEN.


] VIZ 'PNtHg VI WHICH, ne bdlus
Now, fellow-citi a woTl De-
fore ] leave you on the very eve "a
the holy day Of Coda fit moneu.
TO consecrate ourselves finally 20 a..
great work Of next Tuesday morn
ing. | see in this great audience TO-
night a great many young men
young men who are about 10 cast
their first vote. / want TO give yor
a word Of suggestion and advice.
heard a very brilliant thing said by
a boy the other day up in one Of oul
northwestern counties. lie said tc
me, "General, have a great mind
to vote the Democratic ticket" That
was not the brilliant thing. Laugh.
ter. said to him, ''Why?' SWhy,' p
said he, "my father is a Republican,
and my brothers are Republicans,
and ! am Republican all over, but
l want to be an Independent man,
and l don't want anybody to say,
That fellow votes the Republican
ticket just because his dad does and
/ have half a mind to vote the Dem
ocratic ticket just to prove my indie
pendence. did not like the thing
the boy suggested, but | did admire
the spirit of the boy that wanted to
have some independence of his own.
Now, | tell you, young man, don't
vote the Republican ticket Just be-
cause your father votes. Don't vote
the Democratic ticket, even if he
does vote it. Laughter. But let
me give you one word of advice, as
your about to pitch your tent in
the great political camps. Your
life is full and bouyant with hope
now, and beg you, when you pitch
your tent, pitch it among the living,
and not among the dead. T TApplaus. |
If you are not at all inclined to pitch
it among the Democratic people and
with the party, let me go with you a
moment while we survey the ground
where l hope you will not shortly
lie. 1t is sad place, young man,
for you TO put your young life into.
1t is to me far more like graveyard
than like a camp for the living. Look
at it 1t is billowed all over with
the graves of dead issues, of buried
opinions, of exploded theories, of
dlsgraced doctrines. You cannot
live in comfort in such a place.
Laughter. Why, look here Here
is little double mound. l look
down on it and l read, "Sacred to
the memory of Squatter Sovereignty
and the Dred Scott decision" A
million and half of Democrats voted
for that, but it has been dead
fifteen years-died by the hand of
Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies.
(Applause.) Young man, that is not
the place for you.
But look little farther. Here is
another monumental black tomb
and beside it, as our distinguished
friend said, there towers to the sky
a monument of four millions of pairs
of human fetters taken from the
arms of slaves, and l read on its
headstone this: "Sacred to the
memory of human slavery" For
forty years of its infamous life the
Democratic party taught that it was
divine-God's institution. They de-
Tended it, they stood around it, they
followed it to its grave as a mourn
er. But here it lies dead by the hand
of Abraham Lincoln. Applause. I
Dead by the power of the Republi-
can party. Applause. Dead by
the justice of Almighty God.
(Great applause and cheers.) Don't
camp there, young man.
But here is another-a little prim-
rose tomb laughter and 1 read
across its yellow face in lurid, bloody
lines, these words: "Sacred TO the
memory of State sovereignty and
secession" Twelve millions of Dem
ocrats mustered around it in arms to
keep it alive; but here it lies, shot to
death by the million guns of the
Republic. (Applause.) Here it
lies, its shrine burnt to ashes under
the blazing rafters of the burning
confederacy. (Applause.) 1t is dead I!
l would not have you stay in there a
minute, even in this balmy night air,
to look at such place. applause J
But just before leave it l discov-
er a new-made grave, little mound
short. The grass has hardly
sprouted over it, and all around it
see torn pieces of paper with the
word "fat" on them laughter :
and l look down in curiosity, won
dering what the little grave is, and
l read on it: "Sacred to the memory
of the Rag Bayy-Qaughter)- =
nursed in the brain of all the fanat-
ism of the world laughter :
rocked by Thomas Ewing, George
II. Pendleton, and a few others
throughout the land" But it died
on the lst of January, 1879, and the
one hundred and forty millions OF
gold that God made, and not fiat
power, lie upon its little carcass to
keep it down forever, Prolonged
applause.
Oh, young man, come out of that
(Laughter.) That is no place in
which to put your young life. Come
out, and come over into this camp OF
liberty, of order, of law, of justice,
of freedom, Amen of all that il
glorious under these night stars.
Ia there anV death here in on,