The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1885-05-30
MEMORIAL DAY.

The United States have few anniver
Saries that are observed and celebrated
generally. We have Washington
birthday, which everybody keeps, part
Iy because it comes at time of the yea
when it is more convenient to have /:
holiday than it is to stick closely to bust
pess, and partly because there is feel
ing OF reverence in the hearts of the PEG
pie, sand an impression that in the
Father Of his Country the nation saw
the greatest and best President it vii
ever have. The Fourth of July belongs
to all; it is celebrated because the peo-
pie want to shout and shoot, to burn
powder and fire rockets, to make
speeches and go more or less wild with
enthu iasm over the anniversary of the
Republic;''we celebrate the Fourth" be-
cause We cannot help 1t, and
wouldn't if we could. And then
we have Thanksgiving Day, which
comes along in time for feast to mark
the close of the harvest toll and the be-
ginning of the winters laziness.
Thanksgiving is the LATEST and most
meaningless of our public anniversaries
If it is regarded as a religious observ-
ance. it is a strange and inconsistent
way that we have of observing it, and if
tits not religious anniversary tits 10Th
ing except an occasion when the Jon
agrees to give itself up to visiting and
feasting. Christmas is no more Amer
lean than it is English, German, French
or Italian; 1t is not national any more
than Easter is national, but belongs to
that portion of the world that Is
civilized and Christian. The only
two days which are American and
national, therefore, are the 22d of Febru-
AIRY and the Fourth of July. A third
is being created, and that is to-day. the
Memorial Day which is struggling to
maintain itself and become fixed and
lasting anniversary of the Republic
That Memorial Day has not taken
stronger hold upon the people, regard
less of special effort on the part of
anybody to have its recurrence marked
as Washington's Birthday and July 4th
are marked, is due to no want.ef reYer-
ence, respect and thoughtfulness for
the men whose memory and deeds it
commentaries, but rather to the I'M
kindness with which the Americans
4olx 20 haI.lox-c ~
The people are appreciative of the
heroic deeds of the brave
fellows whose lives were sacrificed
that the nation might be saved; the
living are full of love and admiration
for the glorious dead whose graves we
decorate to-day; and yet Memorial
Day has not come to be what its
eriginators intended nor is it all that the
occasion should suggest. Happily it is
growing, and certainly is it advancing,
steadily spreading itself over the
country, and becoming part of the
national nature of the people. A few
years more and Memorial day will be
fastened in the hearts, the affections
and the habits of Americans so firmly
and dearly, that it cannot be destroyed
even should those who now find it
necessary to be active in providing for
ITS fitting observance, fail to
specially note the anniversary. Moth
ing can destroy the peoples Fourth
of July; here in Utah we have verif-
cation of the truth of tais assertion. All
that could be done to annihilate the
Fourth has been tried, and the glorious
day comes around regularly, to be
hailed with enthusiastic and patriotic
joy. 1t will soon be that nothing can
interfere with Memorial Day, which
will be needed and celebrated as rever-
emily, appropriately and faithfully as
any anniversary that comes to the ma
ton.
1t is pleasing to note the steady and
certain growth of Memorial Day, for in
this Observance it is seen that the bitter
ness which used to mark its recurrence
is being sweetened, and the sectional
enmity which formerly gave itself vent
aA the occasion has been softened or
overcome. The American people are
indeed "a nation of brothers, and when
Memorial Day comes to be what it
should and viii be. the anniversary will
be sacred to all, and the tributes win be
to Americas fallen heroes.