The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-06-02

/ pA>
) lures upon darkened canvas. sketche'
upon the border scenes Of memory
should appeal to participants therein
but when you recall that come from tn
star lit mountains of Western Maryland
bold in every outline, superb in ever
trace, whose craggs and cliffs yet revel
berate with the murder9us butchery O
the battle of Antietam ard ever re
fleet their glory; when you recall that
was born in old Frcdericktown. dear t.
history and to song, and Graded neatl
the very shadows of llarpers Ferry, ant
Dy the banks OF the historic Potomac
whose tides have ever lisped its fame
you will readily comprehend the sincerit,
and sympathy that prompts the appeal.
To you it has been said that republic
are ungrateful. We are here to refut
the error; we are here upon gloriou
mission; We are here to prove that thu
fires of gratitude which have SO Ion,
lived i'll the soldiers heart have no
grown cold, nor the ashes of Oblivion
smothered the embers of love. Thos,
dear dead comrades are not going to ash
for bread and receive stone. We art
not going to mock the bleaching bone:
of those who died for us. We could no
forget them as they lie in their graves
with the gaping wound of sword AnC
bullet and bayonet and the death stare o
OF those who starved i'll the prison pens
yet tlaceable III the dust under the cot
I'm lids. We are here to Irvine the cy
press with the laurel, and | repeat oul
mission is glorious one.
lis sweet, sweet to be remembered
| the simple rustic cross that marks the
| last rPStlnU MACE Of unknnwn soldier
Is as sacred tribute to memory as the
calm cold marble tnat, keeps vigil o'el
the hero's tomb.
lhe gentle tear OF affection at the
grave of a departed or garland OF
flowers strown on the sleeper tomb is
indicative Oh more haliowed memory
than That expressed when the peallng
anthem swells the note OF praise or
Symboiized when the waxen taper illum-
ines the long drawn aisle and 1retted
vault where steep the stored brave.
And would rather bear on my heart the
generous love OF those fallen ones than
possess all the treasure Caesar robbed
from the golfers OF his conquered nations
or all the Jewels Hannibal stripped from
the frozen fingers of his slaughtered
'mShtS. We are here to assert that they
have not died III vain.
We must remember that by their her
culean efforts they have perpetuated a
government that is at once the wonder of
nations and the pride of the world.
though the way was opened to them by
those pioneers OF liberty and progress,
Fremont, Grant and others, whose
names Will be revered III every city, town
and hamlet in this broad land of ours.
where the heaft Oh humanity throbs or
the dust OF humanity repoSeS, yet II was
the humble ones who threw themselves
into the breach and plucke3 victory rom
defeat. And in the perpetuation of our
great, grand and glorious institutions,
they have traced their doings in adaman-
tine characters upon the closing tablets
of the nineteenth century, ever to remain
as the world goes spinning down the
grades OF time. The act of our martyred
President, at mention of whose name
every loyal heart must bow and every
tongue give praise, that act which caused
his name TO be waited from pole to pole.
TIL Its very echoes reverberated in the
sky, and recorded 1t to his undying glory
on hlgh, was but the twin sister in SEN
tlment. when caused Alexander H., Gar
OF all the RusSias. and ruler of one-seventh
| OF the world, to place his sign manual
upon the imperial ukase giving liberty to
mlili"ns Oh ser1S' ana who like his ncbleI
prototype fell the victim OF the assassin S
frenzy: ne voice OF liberty, born on the
oattlehelus OF gettysburg aud Chlcamau-
ga, found echo ON the blood stained fields
OF France, and from the ashes of the
crumbled empire the spirit of Republi-
canlSm rose, PhpnlX-llke. to soar i'll the
trall Oh inc American eagle. lhGy have
not died III VAIN, their example has given
a castelar, TO Bourbon SPAN; a Cavour to
sunny Italy, and even III old Finland the
sleeping hon OF Great Britain gives utter
ance to mntterngs OF repubilcanism i'll
ms siunoers. lhey dld not de Ill vain.
they have extended Il aSope, a-h"me and
a haven to the weary and oppressed of
each and every chime; they have given to
those weary wanderers, fleeing from the
deSPotlsm OF Europe-thoSe homeless.
helpless creatures, with mouths to feed
and bodies to Shelter-protection for the
present anu promise lor the future. hey
nave not dled IN VAN; they have raised
humanity to higher level: they have
elevated the lowly and downtrodden,
have given an incentive to labor, and
framed the world OF thought i'll which
is to he east the ideas of The coming cen
fury They dld not die III vain, for above
all they were true to the principles OF
right and humanity, and they succeeded.
say they dld succeed, for III my opinion
there was as lofty success III the frozen
features OF that proud boy who died
amid the Alpine SHOWS, clasping in his
death grasp ms loved banner, as IN that
olher scene "heh the rather OF his
country SINKS To rest meath the shades of
Mount vernon, amid the tears of the
loving ana the loved.