The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1884-07-16
THE BIZ UE AND THE GRAY.
DIR. TALMAGE HAS A FEW WORDS TO
SAY TO THE SOLDIERS.

| DIR. TALMAGE HAS FEW WORDS TO
| SAY TO THE SOLDIERS.
Soldiers of the Grand Army Of the
Republic, said Talmage to the Grand
Army at the Memorial service, and
soldiers who fought on tho other
side, hear me while / draw out the
contrast between the time when for
four years the nation was in awful
hemorrhage, and new, when the an
gel of war hath hurled the bloody
scimeter into the scabbard? At this
season of the decoration of soldiers
graves it is appropriate that [ revive
your reminiscence by putting 1864
beside 1884. Around 1854 1 shall
put a garland of red dahlias for the
carnage. Around 1884 / shall put
a garland of white lilies for the
peace.
Contrast, first of all, the feelings
of sectional bitterness in 1864 with
the feelings of sectional amity in
1884. No need of saying that the
North and South did not hate each
other. The hatred was long and
terrible. The two sections not only
marshalled all their early hOstilities,
but tried to get hold Of the sword of
Heaven, and the prayers of North
ern and Southern pulpits gave more
information to the heavens about the
best mode of settling this trouble
than was ever used. North and
South cursed each other with a with
ering, all-consuming curse. Beside
that antipathy of 1864 / place the
complete accord of 1884. Meetings
in New York to raise meney to build
q home at Richmond for crippled
Confederate soleiers cotton exhibi-
ton at Atlanta, attended by tens of |
thousands of Northern people Con-
gress voting 81 100000 for the New
Orleans exhibition. A thousand
fold kindlier feeling after the war
than before Since the years of time
began their roll there has never been
such an overmastering antithesis as
between 1864, ofcomplete bitterness,
and 1884, OfnOmplete accord.
Contrast also the domestic life of |
1864 with the domestic life of 1884.
You were either leaving home or for
away from it, communicating with |
it by uncertain letter. Boys of the
blue and gray! Do you remember
the homesickness as you paced the
the river bank on picket duty, the
dinner of hard tack on Thanksgiving
Day and the Christmas without any |
presents? Besides that put the |
sweet demesticity of1884. The on
ly camp fire you now sit at is the |
one kindled in stove or furnace or
hearth. 1864, spending money by |
the millions and billions in devasta-
ton ofproperty and life; 1884, with !
finances so reconstructed that ali the
stock gamblers of Wall street week
before last failed to make a national
panic,
Look along the line of churches
and universities and asylums and
homes with which during the last
two decades this land has been decor
ated. Oh, was not this country
worth fighting for? Do no: the
magnificent properties of1ss4com
pensate for the hardships of 1864?
Soldiersl Praise God that He has
spared you to see this day. Take
Take special ordination to garland
the,sepulchres of your dead COM
rades. Turn all the private tonbs
and national cemeteriesinto gardens
But they shall come up again, all
the dead troops. We sometimes
think of earthly military reviews,
but what tame things compared with
the final review, when all the armies
Of the ages shall pass for divine and,