Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-08-30

God Almighty struck him dead in his
sins. say my mind is. carried back
wildly to the prisoners of the late war,
and cannot meet in reunion without
thinking of these men. And / will 90
further and say that l am in favor of
giving a pension to every man who
served in q rebel prison, from the day
of his discharge to the day of his death,
(applause.)
Now there is a great deal being said
about fraudulent pensions. But there
is one thing l find, that every man
who gets pension, served in the war.
Some men may get more than others,
but none too much, (applause.) No,
fellow soldiers, l am in favor of put
ting every man who served on the PEN
sion rolls. Fellow soldiers, Ihave occu-
pied more time than intended, -(cries
Ego on" Ego ONLY
look down on faces that went with
me to the sea. There is the old flag
that went with us; where we were il
was, and when gaze upon it cannot
but recall that grand march from At
lanta to the Sea, and from Savannah up
through the Carolinas. We received it
| untarnished, and let us hand it down
to future generations, 20 teach them
that they must preserve it, and hand it
down to their children as pure as when
we received it.
CThree cheers and tiger for Gov.
Rusk.)
The song, John Brown" was then
announced; the president said it was
probably one with which the old soldiers
were not acquainted. but if any knew
it they were requested to join in. From
the rousing chorus which followed, it
was plain that the veterans had not
forgotten it.
Ex-GOv. FAIRCHILD
was then introduced to the audience.
and spoke as follows:
Mr.. President, Comrades and Ladies
and Gentlemen:
1t is a source CT great congratulation
| and pleasure to us all that we meet here
to-day under such favorable auspices.
That thousands of this great and sur
prising county have come to re-baptize
themselves in the love of the union and
the states. As has been said so well before
me to-day, the value of this reunion
is beyond that of all other assemblies,
as we gather here together. 1t has been
said, but cannot be said too often, that
the boys meet together not to tell stories
and tales of war, but meet that they NAV
know why we fought, twenty years ago,
and that their children may know what
their fathers did and why they did it.
As cOmrade Watrous said, the story of
the past shall be carried on from one
| generation to another and [ hope the
day will never come in this broad land
| when these reunions shall cease.
It's not for jollity that we meet here
to-day, but because we still love the
Union, and we want all the people,
moth and south, east and west, to love
and cherish the Union as we do. And,
therefore, we meet here in old Grant
county, one of the banners counties of
the world, in one of the best states
of the world. 1 defy you to find a bet
ter state, more prosperous state, any,
where, than the Badger state. That is
not Dragging, my friends. Go where
you will, travel where you may, and
you will come back to your homes and
tell your friends there is no better state.
1t has been my fortune to travel in other
lands, and after sojourning abroad
many years, come back filled with new
love for It, There is no place on Gods
earth where people are so happy. so
well educated and so we'll housed. [
have stood on the docks at Liverpool,
and seen Irish, Welsh, Norwegians,
Swedes, Germans and English crowding
down there, bound for New York.
They had old clothing, of queer cut, as
you know, and many of you .brought
it here. Oaughter.) l remembered,
in my youth, in Wisconsin, when they
first began to come to the state, before
we were state. remembered them
in their little cottages, then in the hum
BILE farm house, then in handsomer
buildings with fields and horses and
wagons, with plenty of money to pay
church dues and some to spare for
amusements and going to the circus,
and with their children in the little
school-house on the top of the hill. So
l saw these people, not as Europeans,
but as patriotic Americans of such is
our land. and God bless them all. And
L hope that all that can get here will
come anu help us make this the great ma
ton God intended we should be. Not
one man or woman in this country APP
preciates his country. 1t is so good.
| When you sit in towns and county and
state, and oftentimes talk about politics
and think everything was going to the
dogs, and scold and find fault, there
are things to find fault and scold about,
and | hope you will continue to scold.
Sit in your houses and criticise, and see
that your servants do right. But with
all the faults you may find, and every
fault we see, yet tell you we are the
happiest located people on the face of
God earth. And want these children
to know, and those that come after to
know how good a land this is. and what
| these boys did to preserve this land to
them. That could not have been done
| if you old veterans had not taken
knap-sack on your shoulders and forty
round of cartridges in your box and
went to defend the flag. And it was
not for any personal benefit that you re-
ceived. All the money on earth would
not pay you for standing up and letting
i'O ohooo "o JOu thouSh HiSub HISS
you, and yet you did take your life in
your hands and march to battle. Many
of you knew what war was. You had
seen the dead brought back, and were
acquainted with its dangers. Still you
| took your guns and went to the front.
| WhyP Because you loved liberty and
this land better than your lives. Be-
cause you wished to give your children
an united country. / want these chill
dren to know this, and l want them to
tell with pride what their fathers and
grandfathers did and why they did it.
And so l say we ought to meet once a
year, certainly, and every man ought to
come and meet his old friends and COM
rades.
1t is difficult for me to express myself
when l stand up before the boys, as we
cannot meet together and talk with
each other, without thinking of many
boys who are not here And 1 know
there are many fathers and mothers in
this assembly, who are weeping silent
tears because their boy is not here. l
met an old lady yesterday on the train
and felt very much flattered when she
sent for me, she told me the name
of her boy and his company, and the
poor old mothers eyes filled with tears
as she said, II wish my boy could be
with you tomorrow. She had been
sadly afflicted, not only her boy, but
her husband had died in another regi-