National Republican., 1883-05-31

70 encounter the first shock OF the war and
though overwhelmed az the time by superior
| umphanty TO raise, with HIS own hands, the flag
Of the union over the shattered walls of Sumter.
MCPHERSON, Thompson. sedgwIck, Hooker
Pull Kearney Frank Blair, Candy, Charles
Meade, deceased patriots and heroes all. and
hos host % Of others, Others, whom | have mot time to
nSd Ssvoan S Ia u py 10 one p h oyS @ 81 s yS
the blessings we now enjoy. They have now
rested from their labors but their works follow
| them. And let us not forget the private soldier,
though he may sleep In an unknown grave, who,
according to the measure of his ability and oppor-
worthy American. Letthom all have monuments
| in our hearts, And, whilo we live, may the love
and the devotion to duty which were theirs, con.
tinue to be ours also.
Upon the conclusion of the grafton tho as
sembled party proceeded to decorate the
| graves, during which the octette, the same as
| at Arlington, sang several airs, and the 2d
artillery band played the "Cujus Amman" "
from Rossini's Stabat Mater; aud then tho
party, most Of them, took their way to AR
lngton.
THE CONGRESSIONAL CEMETERY.
Tho long gravelly walks Of the congress
sional cemetery were thronged all day with
the relatives and friends of the dead resting
in that metropolis When the assemblage
Ntto 'hiAou w oihSA Wy NOullduo NtOISb Js Il
Wood, of post No. z, 700 or 800 persons assem-
bled around the stand, which had been
erected in the southwestern part of the cem-
etery, directly opposite the monument of
Gen. John A. Rawllns. A largo number were
busy decorating the graves while the speak
ing and reading was going on.
short prayer was made by Rev. William
/. McKenney. The poem by Edward Renaud
was then read by Rev. j. II. Bradford
UNDER THE LAURELs.
BY coMRADE EDWARD RESAUD, or KIT CARSON
POST NO. 2 @. A. r.
The year brings back the scents Of May, tho
brown bee drones the hours,
While we, with solemn sounding tread bring
flags and fragrant flowers.
oh, sacred dead who round us lilo in Deaths
Look on US from tho heavens above with wan and
wistful face
Aud If the souls of men may reach from out the
spirit land.
Stretch forth, oh, comrades tried and true, one
kindly clasping handl
For we on earth 70 you in heaven, through fields
OF azure air,
Send up on this our sacred day grateful nations
prayer;
A prayer that God may bless the land you gave
The seed you waiored with your blood bedocks
x each grassy grave: ,,
numbered path;
No more the reeking saber cuts its fierce and
bloody swath;
For hands that held the shining sword or bore the
cleaning gun
Lie mouldorlng meath tho howery sod, their
deeds of daring done.
Ahl would to God that you could stand beneath
That all all t, the tS terror Of the mO dream might
pass away
That eyes that weep and lips that pale for twenty
Might see and bless the martial sous that fell be.
But vain the wish and vain the dream SO fain
are we content
To blend our flowers and tears and prayers In
Loves sad sacramento
oh, noble sons of sturdy sires, who died that we
Once more our mighty Union sweep across from
Our prayers turned to songs of praise for that
which you have won
For smiling fields that sleep serene beneath the
May day sun;
For stately ships that sail the seas beneath the
For cities fair that need no forts or gates or bolts
For peace and plenty through the land you made
Where hiy mill On souls to-day defy the stroke Of
Fate lo .48gM l...t e..
Sleep soft, sleep soft beneath the sod by food and
field and wood,
Since He fom battles bitter ills ordains the great
Since never sons of men may march to goal of high
desire
Unless the forward path they tread is swept by
blood and fire.
But we who stand secure above. to you who lie
Pledge faith and truth and honest hearts to keep
The fame that burns in manly breasts for hearths
and homes and all
That makes the land we love the best that crowns
this earthly ball.
BriAs flowers and words FLOWING praise for these
| our comrades dear;
But weep no more for those who wait for us who
linger here;
Above the golden gates of heaven and shining
battlement.
They bid US guard the land they saved, a gift Of
They bid US guard the starry aag the honOred flag
of old.
Ay. we viii keep the solemn pledge and guard it
Until that awful muster day when God shall call
DECORATION DAY, 1888.
Mr.. w. w. Granger, the orator of the day,
was then presented and delivered the follow
ing oration:
COL. W. W. GRANGER's ADDRESS.
| Sir Commander, Comrades Of the Grand Army, and
Fsiiow Citizens The human mind is 80 constituted
that some Of lifes facts and experiences however
often repeated, never entirely lose their interest,
Sunrise and sunset are daily facts but the gaze OF
| old age and infancy, no less than the stronger
vision of mid age turn with ever fresh delightto
watch the golden chnriots Of tho coming day
wheeling the eastern hills. or its banners OF
| glowing crimson, as they change to dusk and
| then to darkness in the fading west. The years
| have come and gone, and seasons changed as now,
| since man existed; but men have never lost the
sense of keen delight with which they see again
the springs deft fingers clothing the bare earth in
| Its new robes Of green, buttoned with dandelions
| and buttercups; fostooned with wreathng vines
and decked with flowers on shrub, bush, aud tree
whose odors fill the air with essences that seem
to vitalize the human frame with life as fresh,
| as new and glad as that which wakes the sleep.
| ing earth. The bard who sings OF spring 10. day
strikes In the human heart as sure chord OF re-
sponsiye emotion as he who sang when yet the
sing the seasons glories to the hundredth genera
tion hence, will, II he sings them WELL find eager
listeners still. This trait Is fortunate for the race,
as a source of constant pleasure from ever recur.
ring facts But IL Is especially fortunate for those
| of US on whom has been devolved the sad, yet
pleasing duty, OF delivering to-day the addresses
| which have become, by custom, a "hxed institu.
ton " In the yearly program for" decoration day"
| 1t would be almost as impossible to say anything
| spring or winter unlike ANY the earth has ever
known. II the homage paid, in all historic times,
| by every nation that has proved itself worth a
place In history, TO those who braYely fought and
nobly died for counlry's sake, had not centuries
| since exhausted thought and expression on the ,
subject, the yearly celebrations Of the last twenty
years at each of the hundred cemeteries where
rest our patriot dead would still have robbed the
theme Of all novelty and left us nothing new 70 say
All that preceded or led 10 the war OF the rebel
lion-all that was settled by It's results-all that
/ Nhn N,a