The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-12-20

women, aDie ana WILLING ann Itifly etffifpptc
srcet,tirg The f,tdsd Is ake care of all the poor
Of Zaii~svllie, wtE5oat rcgaad to sea6. class
ditfon, that therefore the proposal to organize
sEegret That, while oshaf cities are associating
their charities and working under eoss.mon
bureau, Zanesville already pas four or five distinct
draw supplies and To ftlrtheradd to the number
-popularizeti by the woryi soldier H--is not
Only eaIissly ely ans,lessssasy but hadv,ses f
comes too late-neariy twenty years after the
close of the war. wtsel thySiat has made bouuti
ful provision for disabled soldiers and their children
in the Soldiers anaCOrphsns' Homes;' when the
widows must have been provided for long ago,
and their children grown q an age when they can
provide for themselves; When the Government ~
paying out pensions almost without limit, and in
every town Of any size, 'iWomen's Societies for
the care of all the poor have been formed, and are
in successful operation
The protest concludes as follows:
=" II Is a right and honorable thing that soldiers
should have their Mutual Benefit Socities,
and stand ready, not only to help each other
but to help US, when in visitatioTs we
find the families of their dead comrades needing
assistance, but this multiplication of Women's
Societies we must protest against
The objection covered in the protest having been
fully and 1t is believed, clearly stated attention IS
directed to the errors, without doubt uninten-
tional, that they embody.
The first error is in the suppositon that Relief
Corps auxiliary to the g. A. II. is in any sense
to be classed with the ordinary giving asso-
citation. Relief Corps is IL helper OF the Grand
Army of the Republic. Its motto IS the glorious
Its mission is to work side by side with the Grand
Army. dividing honors with it, but working to
perpetuate those honors,e by keeping. alive the
memories of those dark and trying days when
every State, and city, and town, and hamlet,--nay
every fireside where the fires of loyalty burned
brightly obligated itself to care for the Nations
defenders should they ever reach their homes, and
to deal reyerently and tenderly with the widows
and orphans they should leave behind. The Char
ity of the Grand Army and the Relief Corps Is the
golden link which binds Fraternity and Loyalty.
and makes the link strong loving hands and
grateful hearts welded together with eonsecrated
lives and daily sacrifices make it, is the go
rious mission of the Womans Relief Corps.
There is no aims giving in the Grand Army, in
the ordinary sense The aid extended the needy
comrade and his family is bestowed privilege
and accepted q right. The charity of the Order
Is to appoint unto them that mourn, and to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of JOY for
mourning, the garment OF praise for the gar
ment of heavness.' The charity that is dispensed
with the clasp OF Fraternity, under that cloak of
secrecy which does not let the LETT hand know
what the right hand doeth, this comrades and
sisters, is our common work
To the second objection, that the organization of
a Relief Corps comes too late twenty years after
the war;, we would reply that there Is not single
argument that can be urged against Relief Corps
that cannot be urged against the Grand Army. As
to the need for either the comrades themselves
should be the best judges The Relief Corps hold
themselves in readiness to disband any day upon
! q word from the Grand Army that the exigency
demanding their services is past. TO the question,
" Is it past" the desolate and broken homes
throughout our State and country must be the best
| answer. But the assertion IN Obteetfon number
two every eomrade knows TO he miseonstrned.
Even in Ohio. where, through the exertions of the
Grand Army, Home has been provided for sol
dieFs' orphans, there IS not room enough in the
institution, with its accommodations for more than
] GOO children money enough appropriated by
the Legislature, TO admit all that apply. Appli-
cations refused constantly, and the board of
trustees have urged largely increased appropria-
ton TO meet the needs Of the hour Does this look
| as though all the soldiers children were grown
/ and provided for?
Reason as you may the simple fact is every COM
munity has the soldiers widows and orphans who
need just such as the Relief Corps give.
7 If their little homes can be preserved intact by
! bridging difficulty and then, supplying
! q garment paying q months rent, sending some
1 physician helping fhe children to pair of shoes
| or putting work into the hands Of the willing
mother, this must be doiie. good mother in an
humble little home Is better than all the Orphans
Homes that can be bull. from Maine to Mexico
One point seems 10 be utterly ignored By those
who go upon the presumption that because the
war is twenty years over there are no orphan
children. 1t is that the child of soldier born
since the is quite much child and n every
sense as much OF All orphan when the father dies
although babe day old as those who chung &c
his garments when he said goodbye for the war
/ AS to the 'bountiful provisions the veterans Of
! the @. A r. knowiwhat grim sarcasm Hes con-
cefsied in those words.
Finally, il indeed there was no need of Post O.
| the G. A. r. q Woman's Relief Corps in Zanes
| vile, it would be the less the duty OF the
comrades and their loyal helpers to organize. The
work is not all for the poor who with u.s. fol
| the poor at all 1t has purpose over and above
all these, which incudes aIi and aninates ALL anC
that is to inspire grand spirit of patriotism in ths
minds of the boys and the girls who are growing
up beside us, who must reflect our spirit and per
The theme is boundiess as eternity the duties
enjoined are the hottest and most sacred known K
| human speech.
! Comrades and sisters stand immovaflc upor
| the broad principles Of Fraternity. Charity anc
| Loyalty, the shibboleth of the Union itself-sines
| the Grand Army is the Union-the only federation
I xpfl m eppf no mn lar IA Ye
| ligion, but which embraces all in the holy minis
trations Of patriotism as beautiful in peace
was sublime in
i Expecting great things from the old iron town
KATE B. SHERWOOD,
National Senior Vice. President
ALL ALONG THE LINE.
Many of the Relief Corps are arranging t
provide all the needy soldiers families with
good Christmas dinner.
| Forsyth Relief Corps, Toledo, will, according
| to custom, see that the widows and orphan
under their care are provided with Christina
good things.
Delos Northway Relief Corps, Orwell, Ohio
! is to be instituted by Mrs. Lottie 9I. Myers
| Canton, Ohio, assistant instituting and install
ing officer for Ohio.
Minerva, Ohio, has been forwarded an appli
cation for a Relief Corps and hopes to be mus
tered shortly. Ohio has now eleven Corps full,
instituted, with applications for several NOR
before the Department.
Mrs Sarah Matthews, Kinsman Ohio, who's
poem on "reminiscences of the war appeared i
THE TRIBUNE some weeks since, writes US tia
Kinsman Post is in a tiourishing condition, an,
that the few needy families are assisted, no
only by the Post, but the good citizens gen
orally The wives and daughters, assisted i
G.. A. z. supper last year, which netted tn
Post S114 and are soon to arrange for another
Memorial Day is one of the great days 70
Kinsman. when all the ladies of the place as
sist
Forsyth Post, No. IS, aud Forsyth Relic
Corps, No. I, Toledo, Ohio, are to have join
installation OF officers the first week in Janu
airy.
The march of the Broom Brigade is heard i
the land. 1t is a feature of the G. A. r. enter
tainments, Green Springs, Ohio, and Hun
boIdt, Kan, benefit relief funds
Phillips Post, Hopkinton, Mass. has follows
( IL rfS.. r