Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-10-10
RESPONSE
BY Col "A. Stewart. Depaztmeas
Commando.

.
/ respond to your greeting, ana gladly
/ convey TO you their unqualified thanks
/ for the welcome you have given them to
I this temporary abode, within sight ofthe
proud capitol Of the great soldier state Of
/ the union.
You have extended TO them the "hOs-
/ pitalities Of the prolific west" on such
8 gigantic scale as to leave no room for
Improvement, within the scope allotted
to you
The enoampment at Fort Scott pro
vided for a semi-annual encampmeDt
and soldiers reunion, leaving it to the
council Of administration 20 fix the time
and place. The council which con-
Vened at Wichita, declared
unanimously in favor Of Topeka, having
faith in the promises Of men, who, If
they undertook q hereuiean task lii o
this, would carry it to q sue
have performed 3 work that entities
them TO the gratitude of every individual
on these grounds. At the call of their
president they assembled, accepting the
/ duties assigned them willingly, and
/ through the long hot summer days, and
up to the present time, have ia0Ored as
/ siduOusly, that you, my comrades, from
the Missouri river TO the 'raging Arkan-
saw" and from the Nebraska line, down
L
might have the opportunity to meet to-
/ gether in the tented field
In comparative comfort, and tIifing
/ expense, and enjoy the sweet intercourse
of friends whom you may not have seen
| for years, and perhaps viii never es
again. In this connection we fail toe
to express our gratitude TO the business
men Of Topeka, who have gone down
! into their pockets, aud placed the means
Il = - To-
/ of s'3S" for defraying the heavy expenses
/ incident to an afair Of this kind. The
/ press throughout the state. and across
/ the border, has been exceedingly kind
| and liberal in their timely notices of this
] grand demonstration. And the various
! railway corporations have touched bed
rock in the matter Of rates
and thus given the lie
] to the oft repeated assertion that corpo-
| ratiOns are sOulless.
! You remember the occasion when a
/ gifted son of Texas was led to eXclaim,
! "What are we here fOr?" The lOaves
/ and fishes are not a significant part of
/ the answer, applicable to a soldiers re-
union. We are here my comrades to re-
count the days that are past, TO revive
! their memories. and to cementthe friend
/ ships that shall live forever. We are
here to grasp the hand of the old boys
who touched elbows in the ranks who
/ bunked together under the same strip of
canvass, and shared alike the tolls, dan
gers and vicissitudes OF a soldiers life.
# We are here to fight the old battles over
again, and listen to the old stories and
the old songs that beguiied away many a
/ weary hour in camp.
In the faces before me, corps, brigades,
! regiments and companies that once had
an existence are represented. No field
/ of blood and carnage, Of bitter strife and
! prolonged agony, of marches by day and
/ watches by mig hit: no prison pen begOtten
of hate and hendlsh malice, but what has
/ a representative on this ground to-day.
In coming together let Us not fail TO
] take advantage of the occasion for which
/ this reunion is partially designed, to
labor in the interest Of an institution that
| has been reared upon foundation laid
by your hands and Cemented
by the blood Of your slaughtered
comrades some twenty years ago, namei y
the Grand Army OF the Republic. Our
/ duty is to stimulate and encourage the
/ faint hearted, to bring the stragglers back
into line, and to renew within ourselves
the embodiment of the spirit Of'6l. We
are here to extend the living principles OF
fraternity and charity to every griZzled
veteran who has WOrthily worn the blue,
and u the name ofOur heroic dead, place
upon his breast the insignia Of an order
held in veneratiOn by one whose name is
immortal, and proudly worn to day by
three hundred Thousand Of the rank
and file of that grand old army that
followed him on to victory.
We are here to greet the loyal ladies Of
the land, and bid them God speed in the
noble work they have undertaken. They
stood at our backs in the days when
war winged its wild desOlatiOn," and
they recognize the fact that their work
is no more com 2leted than ours, as the
years go by. At every turn Of the path
way in life they meet Us, and the desti
tute and helpless bear witness to theil
noble deeds of charity.
The generation just coming on the
stage of action, many Of them enrolled II
the National Guards, larger number II
the Sons of Veterans look to you fol
guidance. Our precepts are undoubtedly
right; our practices should conform tC
them. Obedience to the laws of the
land is Just as essential to good govern
ment to-day asst was q quarter ola cen
fury ago. The Grand Army Of the
Republic is an exponent of this principle
blot it out and the sacred memories Of tht
past are not potent enough to keep life
ia the organization q day. Loyalty with
us means one flag, one Union and one
Constitution. In the measure that yoJ
= inculcate this sentiment in the
minds of your children, 81
lit viii be measured out Il
the country when our names are forgot
ten. Coadon trea on and make IL co
equal with loyalty. and you fertilize the
eerpent's eggs that viii hatch bro
to fasten their fangs again In the vital
J the nation.
LOYALTY is the dome Of our structures
It took mountains of wealth and riyell
of blood to establish Il; let the mes
saoe 90 forth in thunder tones To gree
the twentieth century, that "the Union
must and shall be preserved, p and II
diving leave IL to your offspring as th'
- In I'D Ea-La-aanE n. him VII