Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1884-06-05

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need it to keep us from falling into that
low existence which says Ills sweet for
ones self to live" We need it for our
selves and our children. By these means
we may teach them lessons which shall
last them throughout life. But let us not
forget that Eternal vigilance is the price
of liberty" and that the pathway of JUS
tice is the only pathway of peace. The
triumphs of peace are higher, nobler and
grander than all the battlefelds of the
world The war is over-let the peace
which has followed be a sacred and just
peace. l cannot believe there is one who
will say nay. Let the stars and stripes
the red, white and blue-form flag COM
mon to all of us, and in which the heart of
every true citizen shall take delight. Let
its colors have new significance. Let the
red stand for that crimson tide which
bought our country; the white, for the pu-
rity of the Nation, and the blue for its per-
petuity-as the azure sky is symbol of
immensity. May God continue to bless
our land. Compassed about by this great
cloud of heroes, let each and all be true
and heroic, and the future Of our country
will tell the world that the four years of
death have been swallowed in many CEN
turies of victory.
After which the Turn Verein Prize Band
rendered one of their fine selections. Then
Post Quartermaster F. P. Sterling delivered
the following beautiful Oration
Mr.. President; officers and comrades of the
Grand Arn.y Of the Republic.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: This is sa-
cred, holy ground. In this cemetery lie
heroes who were sacrificed on their cOun-
try's altar Let the foot press softly on
this green earth for it covers the moulder-
ing clay of martyrs.
Eloquent memory to-day repeats the epic
of their fame, growing more heroic as the
years roll on.
The asst rises before us, and we recall
the many scenes through which they
passed, the battles in which they stood,
and then dropped out of sight to be absent
from roll-call forever.
When, and upon what particular field,
amid what scenes of carnage, or under
what painful circumstances of bitter suf-
fering they gave up this life it is not neces-
sary, upon this occasion, for us to particu-
larize, for no tongue could express, nor
language portray what they mantully en-
dured, and, without murmur, suffered.
Some fell ON the silent picket line
some in repelling the force OF the terrible
advance; some died amid the bloody strife
of the battle field some wasted away in
hospitals, from bleeding wounds, or from
wasting disease They now slumber, at our
feet, the last sleep of death, grand
army of martyred men to the cause they
loved so well. Never again will they join
in The wild excitement of battle. The
sentry's challenge, the bugle's call, the
noise of the screaming shell, nor the fear
full rattle of musketry will ever disturb
them. Our comrades represented the
sovereignty and nationality of the people
in the greatest crisis of our history, and
after enduring the bitterness of sectional
conflict for season, sacrificed their lives
in devotion to the principles of equal rights
and national unity. What they did and
won was not for thems elves alone for they
are not here to enjoy the sweet fruits of
victory, but for many coming generations
yet to be.
Worthy representatives of the high
minded patriotism Of the fathers of the
Republic; they died that our country
should remain a united, peaceful and pros
porous nation that free government should
not perish that civil liberty should be
preserved to the people; that our glorious
flag should remain the ensign of human
freedom that our infant nation should
develope its magnificent future, the gran
deur and sublimity of its manhood.
Therefore, comrades, let us stand guard
around their graves, and also around the
truths for which they died.
Fortunately for the welfare of the Re-
public, the war produced no one central
figure in whose presence all others sink
into insignificance no one name whose
history is the history of the war; no Caesar
or Napoleon, whose towering pre-eminence
O'ershadows the country whose armies he led.
Not Meade staying the highest wave of bat
tie and whose eternal monument is Gettys-
burg; not the gallant Howard-the very soul
of honor not the chivalrous Sherman,
whose good sword cleft the Confederacy in
twain from Atlanta to the sea /; not Thomas
at Nashville. in that most complete vic
tory of the war not Fighting Joe"
Hooker, capturing victory above the clouds
at Lookout Mountain; not the electritying
Sheridan, who awOke at Winchester to the
roar of defeat but slept at Fisher Hill to
the music Of victory, nor even the iron duke
Grant whose military achievements from
New Orleans to Washington rank him
among the greatest captains OF history.
True, these are worthy of all honor but
not they alone, we say, not alone the Gen.
erals, starred with rank, should be en-
shrined in the hearts of the people, but
the soldier, the private, who carried the
musket and bore with patient bravery the
heat and burden of the long struggle. Ah,
l tell you that many private filled
hero's sphere, and to-day fills herO's
grave Every private was sovereign he
knew no superiors. He felt that the blow
he struck was for himself He felt the
greatness am, responsibility of American
citizenship.
One million five hundred thousand brave
defenders ON bended knee, swOre to protect
the emblem of their nationality, and then
marched out from loyal North and with
outstretched, uplifted hands stayed the
tottering temple of Liberty. Three hun
dred thousand of these patriots are dead
on the field of honor. They sleep In
every country from the Gulf to the frozen
regions of the North, from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and in our own beautiful ceme-
teIy here beneath the towering peaks of
these lofty mountain ranges, some of these
heroes have found a final resting place.
Standing amid these graves, we, who
have lived to behold the reaction from the
fervid enthusiasm of the war; we, who, in
these last years, have sometimes doubted
the value of the victory; we, from whose
eyes the glamour has vanished, can but
envy the martyrs who fell in the glow of
conflict confident of the final triumph of
the flag.
Our martyrs these gallant men, whose
privilege it was to hallow the close of the
Nations century, as the Revolutionary