The National tribune., 1883-05-31
Some Memorial Day Thoughts.

not to be the faintest trace of jealousy.
Some Memorial Day Thoughts.
OF all the panegyrics that have been pro-
nounced on the yalor of the American sol
der, and of all the invocations to patriotism
that have been addressed to the American
Nation, there is none at once so eloquent
and touching as the few simple words spoken
by President Lincoln at the conservation of
the National Cemetery at Gettysburg Nov
ember ID, 1868. Said he:
-Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth upon this continent new nation,
conceived IN Liberty and dedicated to the PROPOSE
ton that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in n great civil war, testing
whether that nation, or any nation, SO conceived
anG so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on
a great battlefield of that war. We are met 10 ded
ioate portion of it the final resting place of
those who here gave their lives that that nation
might live. 1t is altogether fitting and proper that
we should do this
But in q larger sense we cannot dedicate, we can
not consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.
The brave men. living and dead, who struggled
here have consecrated it far above power to
add detract. The world viii little note, nor
long remember what say here, but it can never
forget what they did here 1t is for us the living,
rather TO be dedicated here the unfinished work
that they have thus FAR nobly carried on. 1t is
rather for 10 be here dedicated TO the great
task remaining before US; that from these honorcd
dead we take increased deyotion TO the cause for
which they here gave the last full measure of de-
votion; that we here highly resolve that the dead
shall not have died in vain; that the nation shall,
under God, have new birth of freedom, and that
the Government of the people. by the people and
for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
1t was not permitted to this great man to
witness the completion of the task TO which
his countrymen were thus dedicated, but
there was then implanted in their hearts
that feeling of profound love and reverence
for the consecrated soil which holds the dust
of the Nations defenders, that has since
found fitting expression in the observance
of Memorial Day. Could the grave have
given up its dead, how it would have graft
fed the soul Of this illustrious patriot to
have witnessed the tender devotion with
which a whole Nation yesterday commemo-
rated the sacrifices of its sleeping heroes
TO have taken from the spectacle that every
city and town and hamlet afforded. the
blessed assurance that the dead had in truth
not died In vaini And, indeed, it was
sight well calculated to stir the heart of
every lover OF his country. In no ether
land the sun shines on does such a custom
flourish. The wars which have been waged
by the nations of the Old World TO satisfy
the ambitions of kings and princes have left
behind them only despair and desolation.
The soldiers of Napoleon, whose blood red
dened the path Of his conquests, were the
objects Of no such grateful remembrance as
is the portion Of orr own warriors, and the
gallant veterans Of the British line, whose
arms established an empire in the distant
Indies, dying, filed unknown and flower
less graves. These were brave men, and
among them were heroes as great as any of
which history has preserved record, but
they fought not for & government of the
people, and the fruit of their valor was SIM
ply the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the rich and pow
erful, while the poor were still further i'm
poverished. It is not with gratitude and
affection that the peoples of Europe recall
their achievements but with fear and trem-
bling, lest at any moment their rulers may
again exact the dole of blood, and to the
millions who have died in vain, leaving the
world neither better nor happier for the sac
riiice, may be added unreckoned thousands
more.
Was it in the thoughts of our Martyr
President when he declared that from the
honored dead we should take increased de-
vOtion to the cause for which they gave the
last full measure Of devotion, that long after
that cause had been won in the final over
throw of the rebellion, the graves in which
our heroes repose would contain an inspira-
ton for this newborn Nation? So it has
proved and must ever be while, once year
the Nation gathers around these shrines OF
! patriotism. From the contemplation OF
what they endured who gave their lives that
the Government of the people, by the PEG.
pie and for the people, might not perish
| from the earth, there shall come an inereas-
ing devotion TO the Republic, q larger appre
citation Of the preciousness of its free insti
tutions, and the resolve to maintain at al
hazards the Union preserved by such saeri
fees.
The Western Cyclones.
Whatever may have been the origin of The
recent cyclonic disturbances in the West, il
is evident that the resources of the sigma