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

who by his loss would be deprived of theil
only support, to meet death with compos
ure in order to serve the interests of his
country. The prospect of leaving ones
children to such fate might well make
towards of the bravest.
While we observe this beautiful custom
Of decorating the graves of our comrades
with flowers in the springtime OF the year
let us trust and pray that the custom will
survive after the present generation of sol.
diers shall have passed away, remembering
with sadness that thousands rest in un-
known graves, or who have never received
the last rite of sepulture, and that nc
friendly hand will strew flowers over theil
sacred dust. The angels will remember
them; their virtues shall not be forgotten
and their memories shall ever be cherished
by their surviving comrades.
by fairy hands their knell is rung;
By forms unseen, their dirge is sung;
There Honor comes, pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay.
And freedom shall a while repair,
To dwell weeping hermit there"
The chapter in the history of this coun-
try which recites the events of the late
war is a long roll-call of heroes, and the
reader in his imagination will see an al
AAocC SAuASoo PAOSSoolOA hlluS pooC uiul VI
those, who each in his day had been in
spired with lofty enthusiasm for great
purposes, with unquenchable fortitude,
self-devOtion, lofty hopes, and an uncon-
| querable faith in the future Of the cause
for which he fought.
! Some haye lived to witness the fruitiOn
of their best endeavOr, but others, on both
sides like breaking waves on the strand
OF time," were compelled to yield to the
universal law which limits all human eff
fort. The same universal law which ap-
plies to the one, will to the other Man
never quite reaches the goal of his inten-
| tiOns. The economy of Divine Provi-
dence is such that there is nothing lost in
nature. The part taken by the soldier on
the battlefield is not different from that
! taken by all honorable soldiers in the bat
tie of life. Some perish in the attempt to
construct the foundation, others while try
ing to complete the superstructure. Some
fall when the charge is sounded some in
the fierce rush and wild onslaught; some
fill the bitches at the foot of the rampant
others carry the banners over the crest of
the redoubt, and then fall-but all meant
the same thing when the battle began A
brave life may be lost in the contest, but
the example of brave life never dies.
The past, the present, and the future are
one. We enjoy the glOries of to-day, but
we cannot, If We would, release ourselves
from the sacrifices of yesterday. The liy-
ing are kinsmen of the heroes who are
dead their aims in life must find realiza-
tion in us; their effort and our fruition are
one.
There is no need to assume that the re-
suit of the recent fratricidal strife is ac-
cepted as the best solution which God in
his Providence could have vOuchsaied to
us all. 1t IS so accepted by all classes and
conditions of men everywhere. 1t has Sc
cured to US common flag common songs,
common interests-a common country, and
has laid the foundations for a common
prosperity, so deep and SO broad, that the
combined interests of the rest of mankind
cannot prevail against it. 1t is meet then
that We should annually come together in
remembrance Of the herOism of the coun-
try's hOnored dead
These in the robings of glory
Those in the gloom of defeat
All with the battle blood CORY,
In the dusk of eternity meet.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day
Under the laurel the Blue,
Under the willow the Gray"
Humanity has been given to hero wor-
ship from time immemorial. The educa-
tion of the boy who cannot tell something
of the heroic spirit displayed at Marathon,
Thermopyle, Waterloo, Wagram, Marston
Moor, Bunker Hill, Balaklava, Mission
Ridge, Antietam, or Lookout Mountain,
has been neglected. The same spirit which
A. A. L. oIa 81
clouds, was found at Lookout Mountain,
where old legends were turned into his
tory. Leonidus and his Greeks at
the Pass; HOratius and his Romans who
defended the Bridge; Macdonald and his
heroic followers, ninety per cent. OF whom
were killed or disabled in successful at
tempt to pierce the Austrian centre at
Wagram, were not more heroic than the
brave American mechanics and farmers
boys who fought so well in the battles Of
twenty years ago.
They abandoned the budding hopes
which their hearts had entertained ; cast
aside the thoughts of success in life. in
business, in professions, which they had so
long cherished bid farewell to happy
homes, to fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters,
wives, children and sweethearts in order
to sacrifice themselves for others.
Children became mimic soldiers gossip
ceased and life became real and earnest.
Many wife and mother passed true
Gethsemane night before enlistment.
Oaths of fidelity, and kisses for eternity,
were given, and many tried to look brave
from whose eyes the light had gone out;
who INDUCED in jests, which were prayers
in the soul; whose sobs were chOked back in
the throat who INDUCED in forcing cheer
fulness out of breaking heart, "a sanity
hypocrisy which God loves to forgive"
Then the heroes marched away to the music
of the drum and fife, which they had never
heard before, and which aroused the mill
tary spirit so long asleep within them, and
instinctively transformed the shambling
gait of the furrOw into the trim military
step of the soldier. Camp life was new
to them and many lonely evening was
the result 1t is said the soldiers of the
Crimea on the eve of battle sang Annie
Laurie, but each heart recalled different
name. But our soldiers sang Home, Sweet
Home, and as they did so, each looked
through kind Of mist to different home,
which he had left to imperil his life. Time
is too limited to follow them through the
battles they fought. There is nothing in
the military history Of the world which
excels their valor, and were the history of
their brave deeds and brave words written,
it would form a handbook of patriotism
for generations yet unborn. They were all
fit for place in the worlds rOll-call of
heroes.
" Let Laurels drenched in pure PanEassian dew-.
Reward his memory, dear to every muse,
n a rQfppO rlnS "a or
In honors field advancing his firm foot,
Plants it upon the line that justice draws,
And will prevail, or perish in her cause
ct No then Dernofnafa this Sacramenfal