Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-05-29
DECORATION DAY.
GarIands for the Graves Of the
Heroic Dead. IRE
Ancient Armies-Their Equipments
ton an 0id-Time ceremony-Mhy
It's Continued-An Emblem
of Unity and Peace.
DR., TALmAGE's SERMON YESTERDAY,
Special 10 the Register.

tbians, kiss, Fifty thousand which
could keep rank"
Decoration Day next Tuesday! Lift up
YOUR ewes and see all this land from San
Francisco to Canada the people gathering
in the Cemeteries. They are bringing
flowers. The drums are beating the grand
march and the minute guns are the heart
throb of the nations sympathy. They
bring flowers in wreaths. That suggests
the conaueror. They bring flowers in
crosses. That suggest awfut sufering-
Some of the flowers are white. That means
victory. Some of the flowers are red or
crimson. The seed for them was planted
at Manassas Junction and Charlotte court
house-planted in grave-trench and cover
ed with the iron rake of battle, blooming
now, suggestive of the blood that was
spilled and of the ruddy flash of musketry.
In this national observance we do not
merely put perishable wreath on the
pillow of dust where the dead sleep, but
we put garland upon courage, garland
upon discipline, garland upon self
sacrifice, and
A Garland Upoh Patriotism.
The military science of the Bible is pro-
foupdly interesting. Cain and Abel
we're the first combatants, and all the dis
putes between individuals and families and
nations have been only the echo of Gains
club! In Bible times ell the men be-
tween 20 and 50 years of age were
enrolled for the standing army.
Then a law was made for special
service. There were only four or five classes
exempt-those who had built house and
had not lived in it, those who had planted
garden and not plucked the fruit thereof,
those who were engaged to be married and
vet had not led the bride to the altar, those
who had been welded for less than one
year, and all those very nervous people
who would probably run at the sight of an
enemy or faint at the sight of blood. These
were exempt. The army was put into di-
yisions-the centre, the right and the left
wings. The defensive weapons were shield
hemlet, breast plate, bucA'"r. The often
siye weapons were spear, sword, sling, java
lin, the calapult-which was a great bow
managed by machinery, discharging arrows
TO great distance-arrows so heavy that
some men could not lift them-and the bal
lista, which was a great sling swung by
machinery, throwing to great distance rocks
and balls of lead. The shield was made of
wooden willow work, covered with three
thicknesses of hide of leopard on one side,
so that the warrior might thrust his arm
in. Attacking an enemy on the level these
shields came close to each other and made a
wall
Movable and Impenetrable:
but attacking battlements these shields
were held overhead to resist the fall OF
missiles. The breast-plate consisted OF two
pieces of leather, brass.covered, one piece
falling over the breast, the other over the
back, the two pieces of leather fastened at
the side OF the warrior with buttons and
clasps. The ankle and the foot wore an
iron boot. The bow was so stout and strong
and stiff that it could not easily be bent,
and one warrior would frequently challenge
another warrior to bend it. The strings of
the bow were made out OF the sinews of
oxen. In case the shape of an inverted
pyramid the arrows were placed and fast
ened to the back, and when warrior want
ell to dislodge them he put his hand over
his shoulder and brought forth the arrows.
The wall of the ancient city bent inward
so that the aSsailing party might be attack
ed on the flank. The battering.ram was a
beam hung on chains in equilibrium. This
great war machine was brought up in front
of the wall and then a great many men
would lay hold of the beam and push it
back away from the wall as far as possible
and then suddenly let go until the
beam became great swinging
Pendulum of Destruction.
A tower capable of holding twenty or
thirty men was built on the back of an ele-
phant, the elephant made drunk with wine
and headed toward the enemy, and what
with the heavy feet and the swing prObos-
els and poisoned arrows shot from the
movable tower, the destruction was some
thing appalling. Chariots of war were
driven down, each chariot with two wheels,
So that it might turn easily, the driver
standing, n sword fastened to the pole be-
tween the horses, so that when the horses
went ahead the sword would thrust, and
when they turned around it would NOW
down. Sharp, glittering swords were also
fastened to the hubs of the chariot. Going
into battle the army carried flags beautiful
" embroidered-th flag of Judah with the
lion-the flag of Reuben with the man
the flag of Dan with the cherubim. The
noise of this advancing army, what with
the rattle of shields, the clatter of hoofs
and the rumbling of chariots, and the
shouting of captains, and the vociferation
of the entire host was so great that the
prophet compares it to the
Roaring Of the Sea.
While our men of modern time talk much
about advancement in the art OF war, we
are not TO come to the conclusion that the
ancient army was an ungovernable mob.
Through the text we catch Glimps OF 90
0G0 men who could keep rank. We are all
praying for the day of universal peace. We
al want the time to come when the last
weapon of war will be changed into an i'm
plement of agriculture, and yet there is
something within US which is stirred in
the presence OF armed men, We involun-
tarily keep step at the sound of the drum.
We thrill at the blast of the bugle. We
cannot help but wave our hats as a regi-
ment passes. While sometimes the disso-
lutte and the vicious take arms, we cannot
forget that Joshua was a soldier, and Caleb
was a soldier, and David was a soldier, and
Hayelock was soldier, and Healey NickerS
was a soldier, and Washington was a SOL
der, and though the latches OF the he'll
NETS of these $4,000 men of the text long
ago were lifted from under the chin, though
al IDelT weapons nave Deeu uuStruuS. IOT
ages, yet we cannot to-day look upon the
80 coo men OF the text without a thrill of
emotion as We ses them marching on and
keeping time
In this national observance Ne put
Garland Upon Discipline.
With the soldiers OF the late war as we'll as
the soldiers of David in the text, it was
drill, drill drill. They did not keep rank
without practice. When they first began
they excited the merriment OF old soldiers,
and in after time they drew forth impa-
tient reproofs from the drill master; but
after great many blunders, and after
blistered hands and exhausted bodies, they
knew so much about military discipline
that they could keep ranks. So it is, my
friends. in all our work in the church and
in the world. 1t is drill, drill, drill, or no
success. How many men not willing to
submit to this drudgery are absolutely
useless to the church and state because
they cannot be preachers or orators or
Christian workers? They are discouraged.
1t seems so easy to preach, so easy to edit,
so easy to bargain, so easy to sculptere the
statue, and draught house, and execute a
picture and medicate a wound that they
will try it; but after they, find out that it is
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