Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1882-05-24
Decoration Day.

dication OF the near approach OF tne uay
which patriotism has gratefully dedicated
to the commemoration Of the soldier dead.
With exquisite grace and delicacy, gratitude
and sentiment were mingled in the choice
of day for the realization Of beautiful
conception. The season when the turf is
greenest, when flowers and foliage are fresh
est in charm and color, when the songs OF
birds are sweetest and the skies are bluest,
is suited TO the cherishing Of memories that
should ever have the freshness Of springtime.
The season, the occasion tends inevitably to
soft and chastened sentiment. Amid the
glories Of autumn the feelings inspired by
memorial day might have borrowed from the
crisp air, the ripened harvests, and the gleam-
ing forests a grander and more heroic strain.
In winter time, the glow of life tempered by
frost and snow, by the death of nature,
by the withdrawal Of all adventitious APP
peals to the senses, day Of commemoration
would conduce to reflection, and reflection
would tend to severe and practical estimate
Of the magnitude of the supreme sacrifice
for country made by the soldiers Of the war
of the rebellion. There might be felt then
higher and keener appreciation Of the re-
sponsibility they are under who possess an
inheritance which represents the lives, the
wounds, the sufferings, of millions Of men,
and the endless train Of associated sorrows
and miseries which those entailed No one
would change memorial season, no one
would strip it of the Christening sentiments
it inspires, no one would deprive it of its
martial displays, but it should be forey-
ermore sacredly devoted to furnishing up
the fading memories of the war, and as
siduously intoxicating the moral and politi-
cal graces, virtues and duties which shall
make its victories perpetual. Petty ambi-
ton should never be allowed to profane it
with fulsome oratory for personal exaltation.
Florid elcquence, trite and aimless senti-
ment, are sadly out Of character in COM
memorating the virtues Of those whose fame
is "the arduous greatness of things done
for principle in the fierce battles Of stu
pen dous war. On the part of every citizen
it should be day of calm reckoning up Of
what this nation has cost, and study Of
those means by which the liberty secured to
us shall not only suffer no impairment, but
shall be purified and strengthened by each
generation through whose hands the gov
eminent descends.
The day should be great national polit-
ical Sabbath, every speaker priest, and
the duties and obligations of citizenship the
text of his discourse. That teacher in NOR
ais, religion, or worldly knowledge most
truly serves the great end of instruction who
prepares his pupils to live-daily-well Or
dered, useful lives, earn an honest liveli-
no cd, and, when they die, leave the world
somewhat better for their having lived in it.
Greenhouse morals, Sunday Christianity,
instruction that shines in the schoolroom but
does not make connection with the intensely
practical world in which life must be lived,
never make men and women. Patriotism
that bio ssoms out only on Decoration Day
and Fourth of July and exhales stale fra
GRANGE in hackneyed platitudes or in vague
and vapid sentiment that scars in clouds
of gush and buncombe, but never descends
to the tame affairs of everyday life; that is
unctuous on public occasion, but habitually
engages in vicious partisan politics, schemes
to cheat the tax collector, or takes false
oaths to escape its fair share of public bur-
dens; shirks its duty to church and society !;
attends town or school meetings to vote for
men who will administer the laws upon a
narrow and penurious scale; advocates mig
gardly appropriations for schools and other
benefcent public institutions, or, what is
Just as injurious in its consequences, that
which is either indifferent TO the common
duties of citizenship or is so engrossed in
personal matters as to be Indifferent to
them,-patriotism of this stamp never makes
or saves a nation. The Decoration Day ad-
dress should be inspired with the sweet and
tender Influences of the season of flowers
and foliage when dealing with the memories
of those who persisted in the war, but the
glory, strength and maturity of autumn
should give it manhood, and the unimpas-
stoned, reflective mood of winter should per-
wade the application of the great principles
for which the soldiers Of the Union fought
to the plain duties of citizenship. Let no
hszy sentimentality obscure the lesson
which the ceremonies of the day should en-
force, but let the speakers put it clearly and
boldly to every citizen to see to it that by
his daily conduct, by his habitual acts and
precepts, "these dead shall not have died
in vain"