The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-09-29

ly recetling frontier. Upon its home
stcads the domestic alter has been erect
cd and the old fire re-kindled. The men
who conquered the rebellion have added
To their cOnquesis by overcoming ma
ture. They have compelled the winds
and the rains 10 serve them, and where
few years ago was the barrenness Of
desolation, now come the early and lat
ter rain and the earth blossoms as
rose.
And now with these first cares of his
mind and with q measurable prosperity
as the result of the hardest labor and
struggle with pinching poverty, the sol
der beihinks him of the past and lis
memories overflow him; he looks back
| at The exposure, the hardship, the dan
| ger of his military service through the
haze of sixteen years, and though the
missing limb will not come again, the
wound will not wholly heal, the rheuma-
tisni bcgolten of days and nights in cold
and storm VIII still rack his frame, he
sees only the joys and Civilizations, The
friendships and the frolics of the war
time, and he longs to look in the faces
of comrades and exchange greetings
and recollections. Out of this feeling
comes the reunion--and it has come to
stay. The ranks are getting thinner,
and so those who compose them must
draw nearer.
The true history of the war is yet TO
be written. The material for it is in the
recOllectiOns of those who served in the
franks and in minor official station. Be
tween these Was no jealousy Their
view was DISTINGUISHED and on the whole
comprehensive 1t is, besides, the his.
tory which is to perform the part Of
q teacher. Its facts, with the lesson
fthey teach, should be and. will be deeply
impressed upon the minds of the rising
generation in whose hearing they will
Z be recounted. That. lesson bequeathed
from sire to son will not be lost. Its
admOnItion will prevent future rebel
lions. by keeping alive that spirit of pa
triotIsm which finds expression in ma
honal unity, in equal and exac: justice
Il to all msn, in coMplete-obeaience TO the
will of the majority, and in the equal
enforcement OF all laws.
These reuniOns.shopld be kept up, and
their usefulness extended. They viii
afford not only means for social enjoy
ment ofthe ordinary kind, but the means
, of making and perpetuating the unity
which have mentioned. As the ranks
, thin out there will be need of help fol
the families of those who have gone be
fore. This rich, prosperous, powerful
. country ought 10 See to it that no one
who faithfully served his country in the
hour of its peril should die in want. Il
would be a reproach upon govern
. ment and people that such {
; the comrades help each other
!, They can relieve distress, smooth the dy
ing pillow and sOOthe the last hour o
those to whom the final summons comes
. The friendships of the war were strong
Those of peace among men who have
the bond of common service and {
common danger, whether in the same
! company, regiment, brigade or division
or not, ought to be equally strong.
And now, comrades, while we touct
the mystic chords of memory on thi!
: pleasant autumn day, and with all thes(
, cheerful surroundings, let us not fail tC
remember those who have gone before
, who sealed their devotion with theil
blood, and who sleep in the soil they
died to make free-the vanished anC
: nameless army of the Republic who
! were not merely willing to die, but to bt
!. forgotten, so that the good they die
, /, might live after them. What they dice
to preserve We enjoy to-day. Could they
be with us they would commend these
: exercises. When the last reveille shall
sound they will fall into line, not as O.
old, with the light of battle on theil
faces, but under the lead of Him whc
said: ~ am the Resurrection and thu
Life" for if there are white souls IL
Paradise, they are those of the men vhC
, laid down their lives in demonstration
of the truth that the ends of life art
, worth far more than living. At all sim
, liar gatherings they and those who may
hereafter be added to the melancholy
roll of our dead should be the subject .
special commemoration. To us all The
summons will inevitably come. MAJ
, we be as well prepared to meet it q
those who have gone before.