The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1884-06-05

I
1854 when you could not cross the line
between contestants without lighting
your way with keen steel or going bl
passwords carefully sorntinIzed no eV
cry step by hay0nets, you need only q
railroad ticket from New York 10 Now
Orleans or Charleston. Since the years
OF tlme began their roll has there ever
been in two decadea such an 0YeTmas
teflng antlthesis as between 1864 OF
complete bitterness and 1884 OF com
pleie sympathy. II 10 the difference be-
tween the archangel OF war with sword
brandished ard archangel Of peace with
sword scabbaTded
Contrast also the domestic life of 1864
with domestic life Of 1884, Yon were
either leaving home or far away from II
communicating by uncertain letter
What q morning that was when you left
home, father and mother, sisters and
friends crying, you smiling outside but
crying insidsl Everybody nervous and
excited, Boys OF tho blue aud gray
whether you started from the banks OF
the Hudson or OF the Savannah, don't
you remember the parting at the front
door, NJ the rAilcar window, or the
steamboat landngp The hu22a could
not drown the suppressed sadness. Do
you remember oil those charges TO write
home often and take good care OF your
self, be good boys, and tho goodbye
kiss, which they thought aud you
thought might be forever. Then the
h0m6'slckness as you paced the river
bank on a starlight night on picket
duty, and the sly tears you wiped away
when you heard group by q campfire
singing the "Old Folks at Home" The
dianer OF hardtack on Thanksgiving
Day, and the Christmas without any
presents, and the long nights In the hos
pital, 30 different from the sickness
when you were ut home with mother
and sisters at the bedside and the old
clock In the hall giving the exact mo-
ment for the medicine; and that forced
march when your l0ga ached, and y0uI
head ached, ana your wounds aChed,and
moro than oil, your heart aChod; home
sickness, which had In II u suliOCatiOn
aud pang worse thau death. You never
got hardened az did the guardsman In
the Cfilnean war, who heaftlesaly wrote
home 10 his mother; ~ don't want To
see any more crying letters como TO the
Cflmean from you, Those have re.
celyed | put into my rifle after loading
w. and lired them 40 the Russians, be-
c0use you appear TO have strong dislike
to them, II you had seen az many Kill.
ed as | hayey0u would not have as many
weak lleas ~ you now have" You
never felt like that. When q soldiers
Rnapsack was found after his death In
our American war, there was generally
a careful package containing the Bible,
q few photographs and letters from
home, On tho other hand tens Of thou
sands OF homes waiting for news.
Parents saying: "Twenty thousand
Killed. wonder IL our boy was among
them| On, what anxiety. Paintings
dead AWAY In post0llices and telegraph
stations, Both the ears Of God filled
with the gpbs and agOnies OF kindred
waiting for news, or dropping under
the announcement of bad n0ws. Speak,
swamps Of ChiclahOminy, and mid.
night lagOons and Ale RATS on the
Mississippi, and gunboats before Vlcks.
burg and woods Of Antietam, aud tell
to oil the mountains aud valleys aud
riyers aud lakes Of North and South
the jeremlads OF 1864 that have never
yet been syllabledl
Beside that domestic perturbation
and home'sicknesa of twenty years
agO put the sweet dOmestlclty of 1854.
Whore do y0n como from t0-nightY
From home Tho only campfire you
now sit NJ 10 the one klndled In stove
or furnace or hearth. Instead Of a
half ration Of snlt pork, fepast lux.
ufiaut because partaken Of by loving
family oircl0 and In sncred con.
lldeucea, Ah now | see who those
letters were Cor, the letterl you, the
young sOldlOr, took 30 long IN your
tent 10 write, and that you were 20
particular 10 put In the mDil without
any enc seeing you lelt you bO teosed
by your ComradOB God spared you to
come back, and, though lhe old people
have gone, You have u home OF your
own construction, and you are here TO-
night contrasting those awful absences
and lllial ana 6rOtherly aud lovely
heaTt'breaka with your present resi,
denco, which Is The dearest place YOU
will ever llnd this side Of heaven, the
place where your children were born
and the place where you want 10 die
To write the Agures 1861 | get up four
crystalS--crystal9 Of tears, TO write
the figures OF 1884 stand up four mem.
bere OF your household, figures Of rosy
cheeks and llaxen hair, II ! can gCl
them 10 stand atill long enough.
Contrast also tho religious OppOrtu.
mites of twenty years ago with now.
Often on The march from Sunday morn
Till night or commanded by officers
who considered the names Of God aud
Christ OF no use except " swear by.
Sometimes tho drumhead tho pulpit,
0ud you standing In heat or cold, All
the surroundings Of military life have
a tendency 20 make you reckless, No
privacy for prayer or Bible reali0g, No
sound Of church bell. Sabhaths spent
far uWay fr0m the place whore you were
brought up. To-day tho choice Of sane
tuaries, Easy pew. All Christian sur
roundlngs, The Dir full Of God and
Christ aud heaven aud doxOlogy, Three
mountains lifting themselves into tho
holy llght' Mount Sinai, laundering lta
lOwi Mount Calvary pleading ta saCri'
lcej Mount PlsgOh, displaying The prom.
ieod land,
1864, spending money by tho millions
and billions In devastation OF property
aud life, 1884, with finances 10 recon.
atructod that All tho stock gamblora Of
Wall street week before last failed TO
make national panic,
1861, the surgeons Of tho land setting
broken bones and OmpuiNtlng gangrencd
Limbs and putting In spllnts TO gunshot
fractures, and inventiDg easy Nmhua
lanCea for the wounded and dying, 1854.
surgeons giving their attentions 10
those In casualty Of agricultural or
commerce Or mechanical lllo The
0f the ambulance through our
streets not suggesting battlO bnt qulch
relief 10 aomO one fallen in peaceful III
duettiea. 1864. fhlrty.Rye million In.