The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1885-08-14

the roar of the awful contest, all clasp
hands over the ashes of greater than
Cesar, of him who never soiled his
robes with the blood of conquest, and
to whom, notwithstanding, his great
success as soldier the love of peace
was sole absorbing passion.
Well may the American people mourn.
His life and his death have performed
the double Office of riveting the bonds
of national peace, his great magnanim-
ity and serene patience have invited the
sympathy and admiration of the world.
Westminster Abbey clothes herself in
mourning, and Englands most eloquent
divine pronounces an eulogy upon the
departed, into the embraces of the cold
and silent tomb we commit the form of
the best beloved of the nation.
Weep, We summer skies, and thou ev-
er. lasting sun! Shed hallowed and sub
dued radiance upon the bier of our
great commander. Flag of our union!
Emblem of all our liberties cling closely
to the sacred urn. In it is the dust Of
him who through every vicissitude of
tempest and calm when all thy folds
were torn with storms, and all thy stars
were rayless with darkness and despair,
covered thee with his protecting arm
and carried thee victorious through the
roaring tide and gave thee for OH inner
itance to thy defenders, and to the
American people forever more.
Rejoice We heavens and we celestial
ones! That into your radiant home has
come the spirit of him from whose lips
amid the greatest perplexities and cares,
no profane or angry utterance was ever
heard to fall, and whose sublime pa
thence through months of languishing
and pain was fed and kept alive through
q steadfast faith that somewhere in the
great beyond, your blessings and your
prayer were waiting for him.
Soldiers of the Grand Army of the
Republic, to you this occasion must be
one of peculiar and mournful interest.
How wildly before you to-day arise all
the scenes of the battle field and the
camp. You remember how much you
respected and loved good commander
Away down in the teeth of the enemy,
where the battle-axe is the bloodiest,
where Greek met Greek and the death
grapple rolled your dead and dying
comrades in the dust and rubbish of the
battlefield. How much greater your
courage, how much tirmer your nerve
when you knew some brave hearted
cautious, cool-headed officer was in com
mand of the battle.
You know how to appreciate goot
general, and venture to say that there
is not one of you who does not carry il
your heart or hearts the profoundest adj
miration for the great military ability
as we'll as the sincerest love for the hu
name and gentle manhood of the Hero O
Appomattox.
He has gone. Thus one by one YOU
ranks are broken, and the Grand army
is passing from our view. The hum
blest soldier and the greatest general
he whose duty it was to obey, and h,
whose grand prerogative it was to com
mand, must all join the great arm,
whose sole commander is the grim ant
ghostly leader, We call death.
| 4 4
Soldiers of the Grand Army, you
great leader living or dying, has left yo,
a worthy example. Happy is it for yol
if you believe with him that when yo,
have fought your last fight you stacl
your arms and leave your wasted bOdie
where they chance to fall, we then g
hence into the realms of the immortal
/ will say no more. No poor words O
mine can add lustre to name whicl
seems to me to-day to be more illustri
GUS than all others. 1t is said the nam
of Garfield is ever heard in the sighin
of the winds and the moaning of the Sc
at Elberon. So will the whisperings @
the ancient pines upon Mount McGrego
ever remind every visitor there of tn
great life that went out beneath thei
shadows, and not only within those no,
historic and venerable shades, but ey
erywhere and for all time will the nam
of Grant be heard, and the illustriou
example of his patriotism, patience an
valor be felt, appreciated and admired
!, Greece had her Psricles, Rome he
Caesar, France her Napoleon, and Anne,
Mica her Grant!