The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-06-12
MEMORIAL ADDRESS
Delivered by Gen. John Beatty, at Della
ware, Ohio.


war have been ripened and converte
by time into tender and preciou
memories. Comrades, brothers an
sons whom we knew as John and Ro
and Dick and Harry are heroes nov
whose graves we deck with flowers
and to whom we raise granite columns
and of whom we speak reverently ant
proudly.
AS we grow older we realize tha
the space between the earliest deatl
of men Of the same generation ant
the latest is but speck in the grea
sweep Of time, and that before those
who precede us are fairly rested from
their labors in the grave we shall b.
with them, and that it matters fal
less therefore when we go than wha
we do before going. In other words
we find it is better to die early and fol
some good purpose than to live long
and accomplish nothing.
The farms we own to-day will pass
into other hands, the houses which
shelter us will perish, the money we
gather will be scattered. Friendships,
loves and hates and all the incidents
Of ordinary life, if not inferred with
US, will soon be covered by the debris
Of succeeding years. But the young
men-the boys-the brave hearts of
twenty years ago to whom this statue
has been reared, have left behind them
a legacy which for centuries will
prompt men to better thoughts and
nobler deeds. Their names may not
appear in history, but they will have
place in the hearts of kindred, and
their memory will be handed down
from father to son and so continue a
perpetual qualification to the family,
and tie binding it to the flag, to lib
erty, to union, to the principles for
which the soldier gave his life. In
short, If this monument serves to per-
petuate the soldiers memory in the
slightest degree, and to extend a
knowledge Of his deeds among men,
you have by its erection made the
Union stronger than it was, liberty
more secure than it was, and the flag
more likely to triumph on the battle
field than heretofore.
In fifty years from now some Of you
will come here again to look upon
this statue, and talk Of the men whose
deeds it commentaries. And there
may be then few still living who
bore arms in the great civil war, but
their heads will be very white, and
their limbs feeble. In another fifty
years every man, woman and child
before me will have disappeared, but
the monument will be here, and an
other great multitude will be here
also. There will then be famous
names of which we have not heard,
great interests Of which we know lit
tie, and great wars Of which we know
nothing, but the the theme on that
day will be the War Of the Rebellion,
and | trust your descendants and
mine may meet here on that occasion
to rejoice together over the preserva-
ton Of the Union, over its increasing
strength and prosperity, over the just
ness of its laws, and the purity and
wisdom of its officers, over the num-
Der and excellence Of its schools, and
the intelligence and thrift of its
people.
We may not hope that the orator
who stands in this place on that day
will mention the names Of many of
US, but we may console ourselves with
the certainty that our great grand
children will not omit to do it, and
when he, in better words than mine,
thrills the hearts Of his eager listen
ers by telling them how son of Del
aware county won victories at Rich
Mountain, at Iuka, at Corinth, at
Stone river, and on other fields, our
great grandchildren will nudge the
people round them and say proudly,
my great grand sire was on this and
that field with old Rosy, and the rec
ollection Of this fact will do them
good, and make them better citizens
than they would have been if their
grandfathers had not fought. and the
brave men to whom this monument
is reared had not fallen. And so we
are again reminded that it is wiser
and better FOR men to leave behind
them reputation for honesty, loyalty
and courage, than farms and stocks,
and bonds. The former their children
never lose, the latter they never keep.
A thousand years to God are but as
yesterday when it is past. and as a
watch in the night. Centuries to
those who sleep are as brief as hours.
The man who lay down to rest in the
beginning of time will rise at the end
thereof wondering that the night has
flown so quickly. The distance be-
tween the meeting here to-day and
that other gathering of a century
hence, is so short that we may call
across the intervening space to those
who speak and those who listen, bid
them hail and godspeed and tell them
that the comrades, parents, sweet
hearts of the boys to whom this mon
ument is reared are all mere to-day to
drop q flower and a tear ON the graves
of the beloved dead.
But our message should be to the
present rather than to the future.
We may be quite sure, il we act our
part we'll, those who follow US will
not be derelict in theirs. What then
is our part2 1t is that Of men who
have undertaken to govern themselves
to select their own officers-to act
primarily on all questions affecting
the honor and prosperity Of the Ma
tion-so maintain the Union for
which the soldiers fought, and to ap-
ply to its affairs the principles of lib
erty, equality and justice FOR which
they fell. This, then, is our part
the part Of the good citizen, and to
act it we'll we must behaye ourselves
soberly and wisely; we must go about
it deliberately and conscientiously;
we must prepare ourselves for the
work by laborious study and serious
thought; we must approach the dis
charge cf Our public duties with
hands as clean and hearts as honest as
those with which we should in prayer
enter the presence of God. To trife
with orr own nriyate interests is an