The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1882-08-30
The Bloody Shirt

The time has again arrived for the
hardhearted Republican to wave the
bloody-shirt They know thatnoth-
ing so Gspleases a sensitive Demo-
crat and yet in spite Of prayers and
threats they continue to wave it
for what is bug-bear and bitter
memory to them is the banner of
Gods salvation to every honest, 10y
al Republican. And why should
the Republican party cease to wave
the bloody-shirt Because it is told
to do so by the Democrats? mol
When the children of Israel were
hidden to sprinkle blood upon the
door-posts and lintels that the De-
stroying Angel might see it and pass
by, and when that bitter wall went
up from Egyptian homes bereft of
the frst-born, and only those were
saved where blood appeared, do you
think the Jews would be in n hurry
to erase this evidence of their obedi-
ence, this sign of their salvation ut
the bidding of those who bad so
previously oppressed them ? They
would leave it there and point it out
to their children and tell them to
render God implicit obedience and
faithful service. So this bloody I
shirt of ours Is an emblem OF the
nations salvation, thing too sacred /
to be buried, too holy to be forgotten. /
1t has in it inspiration for genera [
tions yet unborn, and is the oritlam- /
me under which the Republican /
party shall be led to victory, as 1
long as its loyal shall be remember /
ed and its disinterested courage /
held in honor. II the Democrats do /
not wish the bloody-shirt waved in
the coming contest in Pennsylvania, /
let them give Gen. Beaver back the /
limb be lost on the field Of blood +
and glory. As often as he shall
stand before the people and voice
the great principles of the party that
has honored him with It's confidence,
80 often will that wooden leg have q
double eloquence. 1t will lead the
thoughts OF his hearers back to the
day when the bloody foam of the
sea of battle was dashed ON the door
steps of your Pennsylvania homes,
and the thunder Of three hundred
cannon shook your native hills and
every movement of the man will
brand with deeper shame the party
which aimed to put assunder what
God and the Constitution had join
ed together. If the Democrats do
not want the bloody-shirt waved,
let them restore to health the pale
and sickly men who contracted fatal
diseases on the southern battle
fields, and who drag along cheerless
lives of pain and privation. Let
them goto the graves, to the swamps
of Chicahominy, the tangled wild
wood of the Wilderness, the ominous
rows in the cemetery at Gettysburg,
to sylvan hooks in many a country
church yard. and cry, Come forth
Come forth, and if the dead answer
and earth trembles in the parturition
OF reborn men, and the places that {
knew them once know them again,
there is still another task for the :
Democrats to perform. Go TO the ,
mothers who have sorrowed these ,
long years, to the wives who have !
faded under the wrench of the dear ,
est earthly tie, to the children whose !
lives have been darkened by loss
and privation, and offer balm for ,
their heart wounds and salve for I
their bitter pain, and when all this ,
is done another duty awaits you.
Blot out the National debt from ex-
istence, paw it dollar for dollar from :
your own pockets and return to the ,
rest of your couDtryraen the sums ;
they have been obliged 10 expend in |
taxes rendered necessary by your /
treason and when you have done |
all this, when every wound is healed {
and every cent paid, then We viii ,
cease to wave the bloodv-shirt, but !
until then it is our duty 10 wave il I
and we shall not shrink from the /
task. II
The national debt statement shows
a decrease for July of 81, SCOOP.