St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-07
THE BOYS IN BLUE.

THE BOYS IN BLUE.
Garfield Post g.. A. E., Entertain
ment Druids Hall.
Garfield Post No. G.. A. r. held a Target,
attended and very interesting social gather
ing in Druid hall last evening for the benefi
of its relief fund, which presided over a.
master of ceremonies by Senior Vice Depart
ment Commander r. A. Becker, who after
selection given by the First Regiment band
opened the exercises with the following re-
marks.
Comrades and friends of the G. A. R.
This is an open meeting of Garfield post No.
8. I am gratified to see SO many Of our
friends and comrades present. AS the pro-
ceeds of this evenings entertainmentare fol-
the benefit of the relief fund, l would state
that this fund is used solely for the purpose
of assisting needy and sick comrades, in or
out OF our order, as well as their widows and
orphans. We have a committee on relief
whose duty it is to visit comrades or their
families, who need such assistance, and allay
their immediate wants to the best of their
judgment, after which they report the same
to the post at the next meeting. A number
of such cases have presented themselves to
us, since our existence as a post, and were
attended to as far as we were able. The G.
A. R. since its organization has expended a
great deal of money for charitable purposes.
1t has built several soldiers homes, one of
the most prominent is located at
Chelsea, Mass, and is presided over
by a veteran and a veterans wife.
1t is with no small amount of pride our or
ganization can look back to its charitable
work in 1883. The total amount expended
for that purpose reaching the large sum Of
S106, 907. "a, relieving the wants of 5,422
comrades. The order in this state has abun-
dant cause for congratulation in the exhibit
made during the past year. It is everywhere
evident that the old soldiers are awakening
to the fact, that the G.. A. R. is an organiza-
ton of which every honorable discharged sol
diers should be a part. Over 1000 old soldiers
have enlisted under the banner of F. G. 81 s.,
in this department, within the last year, and
hundreds are rapping at our doors for admis-
sion. This is very gratifying, for as our or
der increases in membership, the relief funds
of the different posts in this department will
also increase, and consequently more Chart
able work can be accomplished by US. Thank
you, ladies and gentlemen, for your kind at
~tention, 1 will close my remarks, and call on
our comrade Wood and friend, who will sing
America, after which the programme of the
evening will be carried out.
A male quartet, composed of Messrs. A.
L. Drew, D. H. Tondy, E. P. Martin and s.
F. Kerfoot. of Hamline university then gave
a well received sample of their superior vocal
talant, which was followed by a song by Belle
Morse, a hesitation by Miss Dunn, and a flute
Duet by Comrade Wood and son.
Miss Agnes Green, of Saltwater, gave a
mastery recitation, descriptive of the slave
lad who preached the coming fire brand from
the steeple of the church of st. Mitchael at
Charleston, giving free scope to her descrip-
tive, pathetic and emotional powers, which
was followed later in the evening
by a humorous colloquy supposed
to have taken place between several jokers
and their victims in the role of a set up job
of deafeness which just tickled the audi
ence, both young and older grown, clear
Town to their toes.
A piccolo accompaniment in a selection
by the band was peculiarly fine, as also one
being beautifully rendered by what
is known as STEMS string
band. The recitation, ''The Polish
Boy'' by Fanny Bean, a sweet trilling song
by Fanny Cakes, the recitation 1.-The Picket
Guard'' and ''Dick Schneider's Ride'' from
Red Wing to save his whisky from the inter
nal revenue officers, a recitation volunteered
by D. H. Tandy of Hamline, were heartily
encored.
Rev. DR.. Riddell made a short but very
pertinent address, having first by %laughable
anecdote wrought up his audience into the
best of humor. The underlying tenor OF
his opening remarks was to show that as
civilization advanced and its wants neccs-
STATED, it was supplied with the great forces
necessary to its progress. Thus, when the
late war came upon us it was found that
there were u~nrecogniZed treasures of patriot
ism which were undreamed of, lying until
then dormant in the souls of men in this
nation to preserve it to freedom.
While the soil Of Europe had been sown
thick with the dust of men to sustain the
power of monarchies, our wars had been tc
conserve the rights of personal and national
liberty; to establish the idea that a man was
a man in which there was no human owner
ship, whatever be the color of his skin, andin
which the lives Of freemen had been laid
down to establish alone the divine rights OF
mankind.
Foreigners had flung at us that our coun.
try was crude and raw because We had no ivy
green castles and no Westminster Abbey.
But our new soil needs no such antiquity to
give it glory, for in place of such we have
the hallowed graves of those who fell for free
dom's sake in freedoms battles, the wreaths
of laurel which crown, will never fade.
The speaker closed with words of heartiest
commentator of the object for which the
audience were gathered together there and
said it would be a dark day for this country
should it ever forget its dead or its living
soldiers of the late war.
The exercices closed with the o "Good
Night by the Hamline quartette and Gamer
ica'' by the band.