The Press., 1884-06-05

fering limbs of the much injured African race.
 In the beginning of the war we were very fond of saying to ourselves that it was not waged against slavery but against secession. The hearts of men are mysteries, and it may be true that man did not propose the destruc- ton, but it is very clear that the Almighty thus disposed the course of events. That war is one of the things that tend to make man be- heve that there is Q God, one that rules in the affairs of nations as we'll as those of man, and that-for His own inscrutable purpose-he visits the sins of the fathers upon the chil- dren. see nothing of unreasOn in consider ing the war 8 great national expiation for a great national sin.
 An invaluable result of that war, now ma turing, is the purifcation of our politics. The war upturned social and political elements from the very bottom. Dregs and scum came to the surface. They mixed intimately with what was pure and good. The resulting fer ment has been enough to deceive the eyes of the purest and most clear sighted Self-seek- ing and official rruption-infuencing dis honesty and knayery wherever the leaven could work-have seemed commoner than ever before, and altogether the commonest thing in our affairs of government and busl- ness. But has time has worn on, and the fer ment has proceeded to its later stages, the
  ness, and particularly in political affairs. There is already scattered throout the length and breadth of the land powerful minority, largely young, mostly educated, and almost wholly unselfish, who are determined that our political system shall be put upon sounder, safer, and surer basis; who are determined that all the business offices of the government shall be divorced from politics. that fitness s.lall be the only test for the attainment or re- tention of such offices; that men shall not be lured into politics by the hope of gain; and that the jackall cry, ''to the victors belonged the spoil" shall cease to be heard in the land as political rallying cry. And this move ment will roll on to success despite the sneers and Instructions of the present race of self seekers, until once more it will be high and honorable ambition to seek to serve ones country in the political arena.
 I wish all who hear me, particularly the youth and younger men, might fully appreci- ate how much the present movement for the purifcation of politics is legitimate and log ical result of the strife which came to victory largely through the death of the class of men whose graves we help to decorate to-day; and might fully appreciate that a victory in this present contest is as important and far reach ing in it's resnlts as the victory our soldiers won.
 The dry-rot of political corruption will de- stroy free institutions far more efectually than any assault with bullet and bayonet. The men who will unselfshly carry the ban ner of political purifcation to victory, will de- serve as well of their country as the men who defended its life and honor in the field.
 This brings me to the last consideration that l shall urge. We must make the lives and deaths of our citizen soldiers constant lesson to the living generation, and to those who shall follow after, if we would preserve what they have bequeathed to us. The sure foundations of our liberties, of our free insti- tutions, and of our form of government are found in the hearts of the people, or they were as we'll built upon shifting sand. We may write our laws with all the wisdom o1 Solomon, embody in them all the eternal truths that fell from the lips of our Savior adorn them with every grace of diction ane every trick known to rhetoric. We may en- grave them in letters of gold upon tablets o1 silver which, like magical Memnon, may re spond to the beams of the rising sun witt soft strains of music, but if they are not the honest expression of the sentiments and be- iefs of the people, the whole people, they might as well be traced on the shores of the sea to be licked away by the next incoming wave.
 The rush that this people is making toward great wealth, toward vast acquisitions in learn ing, in art, and every department of human activity and energy, is something unparalleled in the history of the world; and our growtl in patriotism must keep pace with all our oth CT growth, or this magnificent fabric of the union of the states will soon tumble apart into disorder and chaotic fragments. Every pos sible means must be taken to nourish in the hearts of our children and of their children an intense love of the unity of the whole country.
 What better way for you of this town and community than to erect monument to youl soldier dead? The project is entirely feasi. ble. Let all parts of the town unite in the effort and the thing will soon be accomplish. ed. Place your monument upon your village green or upon some other appropriate spot that you can all agree upon. Let it be 8 shaft, statue, fountain, or whatever other noble and dignifed thing your hearts and minds approve; and let the legends put upon it tell in brief the story of your participation in the glorious strife. Then upon it by day and by night, at morning and at evening, fire, shining into the hearts of all beholders the old and the young, the youth and the middle-aged, nurturing and nourishing the seeds which will be found to have grown to heroism, worthy of our sleeping dead, if the nations future shall need defenders.
 Peace be to the ashes of the sleeping heroes whose blood has cemented the states of ths union into nation-a nation that gives noble promise of withstanding the shocks of coming ages. Honor be to those memories whicl wake to new life in our hearts the sacred flame of patriotism which dying out will leave behind it the ashes of our free institutions Glory in it's brightest halo ever adorn the names of our soldier dead multitudinous and shining host the farther shore who wait to to welcome each comrade. and eacl friend. The poet writes:
 "OA fame's eternal camping ground
 Their silent tents are spread,
 And glory guards with solemn round
 The bivouac of the dead"
 But let it never be forgotten that for each grave you decorate to-day, for each of the burial mounds that stretch in endless and serried ranks at Arlington, at Gettysburg, and at all our national cemeteries, and for each