The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-10-05
ANNUAL
REUNION
or THE
list O. V. /.

list o. V. i.
The 10th annual reunion of the
list o. V. I. was held at Tippecanoe
city last week. After Gov. Foster
had addressed the veterans, Mr.. R.
NJ. Murray, our candidate for Con-
gress, was then called and delivered
the following address:
Mr.. President and Soldiers of the
list Ohio volunteer Veteran Asso
ciation-I am glad 70 be present
with you upon this occasion, to call
to mind the scenes and incidents of
the most trying time in the history
of our Nation. Ii the year 1861, at
the outbreak of the rebellion, l was
attending school at Willoughby, q
town in Lake County, this State.
How well 1 remember those days
the very air was tremulous with ex-
element. School books ceased to
interest. School became almost a
prison., and, the dullest Of all per
sons, the patient teachers who tried
to make their country's peril subor-
dinate to their calling as teachers.
Everything took On a martial turn,
the word Zoudve was heard com
monty mentioned upon the streets.
The days of militia training had
been passed by so long that the
young men of 1861 did not know how
a man would look arrayed in uni
form. They soon found out, and
what q change it made! Common
school boys were, as if by magic,
changed to heroes. There was a diff
ference of caste established at once
between the officer and private sold
Ter. At home all met as equals; in
the barracks, in trenches, and on the
field, to more firmly establish dis
cipline, the social difference was
created, between the officer and the
private soldier. We should feel
proud of the effect of our institu.
tions, that now the prejudice Of case
is all obliterated, and the question
is rarely asked, was he a Captain
Colonel or a private soldier?
There has never been a time in the
whole history of this country when
so many tears were shed as in the
dark days of 1861, and there was
great laughter, too, for the crying
was mostly done by those who were
obliged to stay at home. Character
was developed with wonderful rap
idity, and young men were praised
for merits that were never noticed
before. Of course this feeling wa.
mere intense in the first days of en-
listment. By and by, instead Of rails
ing q whole company of soldiers in
small county town, the boys wer'
distributed in the various regiment
of the different States, and what
list of battles they were engaged in
0h, if we could, today, cluster to
gether all the scenes which they saw
and bring them up that they nigh
pass in panoramic view before us
this would be an occasion never t.
be forgotten; but it is well that W
cannot. AS each year makes q thick
er turf over their graves, the keen
ness of grief becomes, year by yeal
duller and duller. With the living
age is creeping upon all who ha
children in the war; and, already
thousands Of parents have crosse
the dark river, and joined the soldie
boys upon the other side. Lookin.
at life from oDe standpoint, it BIZ
comes a question who saw the mos
of life, the parent who went to res
ripe with age, or the young man G
twenty who passed from life to deaf
amid the rattle of mueketry and th
booming of cannon.
, These reunions are times for til
cultivation of the memory, haltin
spots in time to go back, call up an
, live over those scenes of trial an
doubt that characterized the day
when we we're at war within our ow
boundary lines. Not only this, Blu
to bring back out of the dim, mist
: past and from the wells of memor
the forms and faces, as well as W
can, of those who yielded up thei
lives in defense of their country
We're it not that such occasions a
l this were set apart to recall thos
| who we're natched from life at
time and at an age when life is sweet
est, in the springtime Of manhood
then in the hurry, hustle and fatigu
of everyday life, the memory woul,
become blunted, and we would no
properly honor our soldier dea0
t What mother is there who thinks to
day that she could spare her boys t
don the clothing of the soldier? Al
who were boys then are either in rip
manhood now or gray-haired an
showing marks of age. There or
young mel here to-day who a no
remember the din and excitement @
that time of war. There was hurry
ing in hot haste, and livid lips whis
pered the dreadful tidings from da,
to day.
But the hot-headed youths wer
not filled with that dread Of the con
, sequences which older men well kne1
must be the result of all the tumult
What q multitude there was of them
"Stripplings from the college passet
from their classes to the camp. TIL
halls Of theological seminaries sen
forth their best, whose lips wer,
touched with eloquence; lumbermel
from the forests, mechanics from tn
benches, farmers and sons of farm
ers left the land untitled" and learn
ed the new life of facing peril ant
death. The winds blew from ever,
quarter to fan the flame of this sa
cred and unquenchable fire.
Once a year the graves of many o
our dead soldiers. are covered will