Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-06-01

these streets Of Augusta q first heard them
IN April, 166l,-the call Of the boisterous
Drum, the silver voices of the martial buRle
Again true men obey the call Of duty. and
those Who were citizens yesterday are soldiers
To-day. We recall the pale cheeks of heroic
women and the flushed faces of no more heroic
men. Once more We witness the agony Of
parting-to many Of which there has since
oeen no meeting and will not be on the shores
of time.
Again We proudly march to the wild inspir.
ing music of war under the Haunting flag which
has ever since been so dear to u.s. We
| recall the hardships of the fied.-Again We
march with blistered feet in clouds of dust
burning with thirst, all day under July suns
till late at night; again we watch with the
stars, or in the Wild storms and the piercing
blasts, We stand guard on lonely outposts
Again we are in the thick of the fight OF
stand on the git-edged hell Of battle-and in
quick review, Bull Run, Antietam.
Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness
pass before US with their harvests of death
and glory. And while these shifting scenes
have been flooding the minds of my com.
rades, other memories have been thronginp
the souls of those before me whom position
land duty kept at home. What measure OF
unceasing anxiety and prolonged agony did
not the heroic women who had husbands.
sons and fathers at the front endure? Our
struggle was for an hour, our hardship
for day or week. Their bodipe
anxiety for four years was unremittine.
1t was the last thing at night; it came with
| the morning light. Before such uucomplain-
| ing and unfinching fortitude, the hero of the
| battle will offer reverent homage The
sense of bereavement which the rites of
Memorial Day bring, at this remote period.
to half the 6resides in the land proves that in
| tens of thousands of cases this forebodiug
was prophetic.
But precious as are our kindred dead
| and while yet the tears come at the recollec-
ton of them, We do not mourn them alone.
Thank God. in this hour. inspired by its
grand and touching memories, all the coun-
| try's dead are ours, because they are the saw
iors of common fatherland Many of those
above whose graves you have stood rever-
emily to-day, you never knew. The dead may
| have belonged to the race upon whose dusky
backs, the unspeskable outrage of human
bondage was written with the lash; or a for
eigner. without country, he belonged to
| that gallant but unfortunate people, whose
| wrongs during seven centuries, are a witness
| of the infamy of British rule; or coming
| from the land of Saxon or Gaul, he was un-
| able to speak our language. We care not :
at this honr when we commune with the
spirits of heroic mould. the artificial barriers
Of race and the distinction of family are for
cotton and traditions grow dim because we
catch a glimpse of the golden age foretold by
| sage and profit which will usher in the broth
erhood Of man and the fatherhood of God
| Tonight, what matters it! Our kindred NAV
| lie 'without a grave, unknelled, uncoffined
and unknown to human being where they
| fell in the forefront of battle. They may
| sleep under the historic sod of rugged Gettys-
| burg; or their blood may have crimsoned
and consecrated the emerald slopes of Fred
ericksburg; or their names were lost with
| their lives in the lonely jIngles of the Will
derness, or their souls may have fioated out
of the narrow river of life into the ocean of
| eternity on hospital couches; or from the
unutterable horrors of Andersonville,
the gates of Paradise swung open
to their enraptured vision. 1t mat
tiers not, God knows the spot where they
| lie, and he has noted the sacrifice; He who
clotheth the fields with verdure, will adorn
these graves v it'll His lilies. To-day human
voice may not utter word over that I'M
known resting place, but Gods messengers,
the winds, will whisper his requiem through
the boughs of the lonely pine.
| I shall not attempt to eulogize the dead
whom we honor. They gave their lives for
their country. In this simple phrase lies all
that can be said. The heaped-up words of
praise and admiration can not add one jot OF
title to the heroic simplicity of the bare fact
Herein is condensed every attribute of
patriotism and sacrifice. They neither need
nor would they wish the vain glory of re-
| iterated praise. The benefactors of all
future time, they sleep in the ''windowless
palaces" Of eternal rest.
| This Republic is to-day the most favored
. nation on the globe that it is, we owe, under
| God to the martyrdom of the quarter of mil
! lion of men to whose sublime devotion we
render the tribute of praise tonight. This
vast empire, with its civil and religious free
DOM with its unparalleled opportunities, with
its just laws and equal rights. with its ad
vsnced and advancing civilization; is blood
bought legacy. But for their deaths, we
should not to-day be nation: but for their
faithfulness, human freedom might to-day
have no home.
| What can be done to keep alive in the
hearts of people the genuine spirit of patriot
ism: is a most appropriate question for us to
consider. What can we do to foster that love of
of country, that respect for its institutions and
that regard for its welfare which will insure its
healthy existence? The question admits of
many answers. In the outset we should adj
preclate the dement's winch we ueTlNe from
our institutions. fear we do not do this.
fear that we do not fully realize that ours
is the best Government in the world for all
classes of people. And yet that it is is a fact
which cannot be controverted. Here is the
point at which we begin We must teach the
child at home that his country and its insti
tutions are the proper objects of affection and
admiration. The same lessons should be
taught in our public schools: they should
run through all our literature and be pro-
claimed by teacher and preacher; in short.
| in everv place and at all times. the import
ance of intelligent patriotism and of genuine
love for country should be inculcated. At
the same time. our ideal of the American
citizen must be one which will command re-
.pect because OF his intelligence, his self
respect and his genuine manhood. We must
rrepudiate the idea that the Dragging,
clustering Brother Jonathan of the comic
prints, with his striped pantaloons. his elon-
gated coat tails and his uncouth language, is
| the representative American. In s'urdiness
of character, in self poise, in Retrospect. in
intelligence. the American citizen should
| have no superior. By virtue of the position
his country holds in the family of Nations,
the true American should be the first citizen
| of the world.
| can do no better in the brief season that