Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-10-23
10 Young Men.

The votes of the young men who for
the first time will this fall east their bal
lots fer a presidential candidate, if all
cast for one of the two great parties in
the field, would decide, by an over
whelming majority. the contest, in
favor of that party. No child born dur
ing the great war of the Rebellion has
yet voted for n president of the United
States. The young men of this Nation
whose ages now range from twenty-one
to twenty-three years, were born at
time when the life of this great Nation,
now the proudeSi, as it is the greatest,
Nation on the earth. hung in the bal
ance, and the wisest and the best pat
riots in the land stood trembling and
were fearful that the end of govern
ment of the people, by the people, and
for the people" had indeed come. They
were horn at time when the old flag
was being torn down and trampled in
the dust by Democratic Rebels, and
when their armies were trying to seize
the National capitol. When old gray
headed fathers and mothers, many of
whom went to their eternal rest ere
they could hear the glad shouts of vic
tory, were sending forth their sons to
fight in the holy cause of freedom.
When weeping wives and mothers, with
tear-dimmed eyes, watched the news
from the front, and prayed for the loved
ones who were Drawing death for their
country. and for home and the loved
ones there. When Rebel armies were
exulting in their Southern pride over
the overthrow of the government which
they thought they had destroyed; and
when Northern Democrats sent them
back words of cheer, eXulted in their
victories, and, safely in the rear where
no avenging hand could smite them
down, from the Democratic stump and
through the Democratic press, tainted
Union soldiers with being Lincoln
dogs and hireings" When brave men,
led by Grant, and Sherman aud John
A. Logan, bearing the old blood-stained.
starry battle-ilags through storms of
Rebel shot and shell, were Drawing
death in the horid carnage of the battle
field. When the dreadful roar of battle
drowned the shouts of maddened men,
while thousands Of brave heroes lay
bleeding, dying; and the smoke ascend
ing to Heaven from the battleiields, hung
like pail over the land. When brave
patriots, for daring to fight for the old
flag, were being tortured to death in
the Rebel prison-pens of the South, and
when Northern Democrats dared TO say
that it "served them right" When
the newspapers each week contained
accounts of mighty battles fought. and
the long lists-of The killed and wounded.
In such times, and amid such scenes,
these young men were born; and they
will this fall cast their votes. cast their
lot with and help one of those two
great political parties which were
struggling for supremacy upon the
mighty battleiields of the South, when
they were born. Can there be doubt
as to ho' they will vote? TO these
young men, Gen. Stewart l.. Wood
ford, of New York. in a recent speech
delivered in Buffalo, said: IL would
that my voice could reach every young
man who tins Fall votes for the first
time. In 1861. when your father signed
the roll as 4 soldier, and went back
home TO bid mother goodbye, she held
you up for the last kiss. Perhaps that
father never came back. and, during
the long, long nights that your mother
watched and prayed, the burden of her
prayer was that father and republic
might both be saved. Oh, boy! stand
this hour for that old party which gave
YOU your home and country"