Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-05-30

lSS2-DOUBLE SHEET.
The call Of duty found them in the held,
The mill, the workshop, or the busting mart:
ines A ea,a nv' war; YET pfloe tneF strength re-
And checked the anxious thropb,ngs of the heart
Nor all unmoved a. men OF stolid sense,
"a MG sness resagn the JOYS OF home, and fiends,
The highest flights OF rhetoric transcende
The nation called them, with its loud alarms,
FOR home and union holy war to wage;
Inc nation called them, and they Sprang to arms
In all the panoply OF righteous rage.
When dangers threatened, and encroachfng foes,
with browning front, advanced to battle, then
Before the menaced affairs they arose,
living wall OF proud and dauntless men.
sserniy, with SERTED ranks, they stood to meet
The tide OF treason and its fearful shocks;
Thus on the shore the waves OF ocean beat
Thus stand the sentinel and shielding rocksl
Their valor saved the menaced nations life
This the desire supreme and their rewarc;-
AND nope sustained them In the battle strife,
The cherries bivouac and the lonely guard.
How grand their deedsi How vast the debt we owe
Ol gratitude to these devoted menl
This may the coming time more fully show,
BY stored marble and historic pen.
They raised the shield Of Freedom DER the slave,
And babe him rise to mans sublime estate;
land united back to US they gave,
And with their Life blood wrote the deed and date
Bring floral gifts to decorate the page,
Bid sunlight brighten these while nations read,
That thoughtful men. in every future age,
May garner there Of loyalty the seed.
o. angel visftants, the gift receive
OF spirit flowers that purest fragrance shed,
To place. for US, on martyr Llncoln's headi
Death, thou art grand when great men sink to
And Lincoln was Columbia's noblest son!.
thou S, hast classed him with Earths greatest
Who, sent Of God, the mortal race have runl
But not the dead alone were all the brave:-
o, country thou hast heroes living yet
VINO, as they move, their limOless garments wave,
And ask that thou their blood may not forget
The blood so freely shed our shame will be,
Ii we abuse such high and holy trust:
Then, country, bend thine AFFECT, serv1ie knee.
And, craven, lay thy forehead In the DUST
More blest than those who lie beneath the waves.
Or bent, unknown, with undist1ng uished sod
These dead rest peacefully In hOnored graves,
Beneath the soil that friendly feet have trod.
The singing summer streams, and summer birds,
The busy insects piping, mate to mate.
The signing pines, the far-on lowing herds,
The watchdog barking by the open gate;
Those, not forgetting these. the loved and gone,
year,
Chant loving requiems, as time rolls on.
In the same tender strains they loved to hear
SIumbering, from kindred and from home afar.
Are some, perchance who hither came to die,
strangers, unknown, but comrades In the war,
Here with our own let their cold ashes lie
Ask not before what affairs they have bent,
Mnat noly prayers they murmured soft and low,
ASK not their faith, their nation, their DESCENT
Ihey fought for us!-enough for US to know.
Bring wreaths for them-theirs be the same
reward,
Through coming years, on all Memorial days;
Alike with those we loved, let us accord
Inc noral tribute and the need OF praise
These flowers will wither in the coming night,
But love will nnger as the days return,
Undlmmed, like lamps diffuSing sacred light.
That In the grand cathedrals ever burn.
Sleep, honored ashes! Spirit hosts adleu,
accept the gifts that deck ChiS verdant sod;
Here, as we part, we pledge devotion true
10 Liberty and Union, Truth and GOdI
The choir then sang "Under the Flowers, by
sw eeney. Comrade Weaver made a short ad-
DRESS
Hon. EN-. Johnson was introduced and delivered
the grafton as follows:
Grafton Sf Hon. e. N. johnson.
Mr.. johnson said:
Mr.. President ana FeUo,1 Cittzens:-We have as
sembled together to-day In this "silent city OF the
dead" to spend brief hour in paying our heart
felt respects to the memory Of those VINO fell in
our recent struggle and to decorate their graves
with flowers. And In the commencement of nv
remarks permit me to say that 1t Is not my wish
or intention on this occasion to utter one word
that will crate harShly the ear OF solitary in
dtvtduaL But stern justice to the living and the
dead tmperatively demands that should utter
with no uncertain sound that we were esernally
ana reigOusly right In our Efforts to maintain the
unity and perpetuity Of the republic.
at ylo flff tho Rnr%
supremacy OF the laws and the Constitution over
two and a half million OF loyal men In whose
listed under the stars and stripea And six nun
ared and nly battle fields were stained with their
his workshop, the business man from his
desk. In fact nom all the various PURSUITS and
callings OF civil life. They endured all the hard-
ships OF soldiers life for four long and weary
years, That this government with It's grand and
glorious institutions might live But during those
long, eventful years. four hundred thousand Of
your brave comrades sealed their devotion to their
country with their LIES blood.
some died In rebel prisons some in hospitals,
and OCners, more fortunate, on the field OF battle
non, loaded with shot and shell. dealt death in
your serred ranks; and to-day, all over this broad
from the to the golden Of the
kind, sympathetic friends with loving hands and
aSSiAAA6 AS0a soy otAO"AaS uOWcIS OcI tuclT lonely
graves. For there
The mufded drums sad roll has beat .
The soldiers last tattoo,
No more on LIES parade shall meet.
The brave ana gallant retc
On James eternal camping ground,
Their silent tents are spread
And glory guards with solemn round.
The bivOuac OF the dead"
realize the fact that the custom OF decorating
the graves OF the nations heroes is not q new
one. but dates far back to the spring-time OF the
worlds existence. The student of history
will md recorded on it's me-hOnOred pages
that 1t was the custom OF the
ANCIENT GREEKS AND ROMANS.
on stated days in the year, to visit the graves of
their fallen heroes, and with hearts full of grief
and sadness scatter flowers on their tombs You
have all heard OF LeOnidas and his brave Spartan
band OF three hundred, who went forth to meet
Xerxes and his mighty army. They, falling at the
Pass OF ThermOpylR, evinced such determined
and tnytncible bravery that they saved their coun.
try from the ravageS OF the Persian invaders On
the hllOck where the Greeks made their last
stand was erected BY the Athenians marble lion
typical OF the bold hearted leader, Leonidas
Another monument was erected near the same
spot, containing this memorable inscription:
500 tell the Spartans, thou that passest by
That here Obedient to their laws we lie"
so I would saw AZ a Mt and auproprtata or,<o xn