Helena weekly herald., 1885-06-04


bitions that some Of ours might be fulfilled
and graiified. Ii IS especially fitting that
here. where these mountains lift their
heads above Us, 20 suggestive OF eternal
grandeur the comrades of the fallen Blue
should meet to show their loving remem-
brance and to pledge anew upon the altar
of their united countryis faith their lives
their fortunes and their sacred honor. Th G
noblest PASSIONS of the human heart are
appealed 10 to day. and he who in these
touches of sympathy fails TO learn purer
lessons of patriotism and higher attributes
OF humanity than he has ever known be-
fore. lcses its best and highest inspirations
Arlid the busy whirl and rush OF life We
are too apt to forget that our pr0udest
homage is due TO the dead. Every citizen
who Is proud of his country's histnrc
should be pIoud of those who made that
history possible. Some of its pages are
beautiful and serene, whereon Peace has
traced in letters of living light the progress
of the quiet arts, and some are ploughed
and scared by the iron hand of War who
has chronicled thereon in jagged letters of
tire the eternal truths of a Nations unity.
This volume of national life is an interest :
ing one 10 its readers. Some con over the
well-thumbed pages of constitutional
growth and development, cleaning there
from the doctrines and principles upon
which the Government was founded by our
fathers and upon which il must be main
tanned. Others are proud OF it, progress
in the arts and sciences and IN literature,
pointing with admiration TO the achieve
ments of Franklin, Fulton, Whitney, Bry-
/ ant, Emerson, Edison, aud other noble sons
OF the young Republic. But over in the
last part OF the present volume are pages
stained and crimsoned with the best blood
of the century, and he who would know
all of this Nations life, must learn OF her
dead.
The inquiry comes often from hon e.
hearts, Was IL really necessary that the late
war should have occurred This is neither
the time nor place TO discuss tha. question
Ii has been affirmed by the triumphant
shout of the North, and the answer OF the
reflective South is, I'VE were mistaken
Ask the student of history whether there
was any excuse or justification for the War
of tine Restoration, the French Revolution
or the War of Independence, and he i'-'ll
tell you that each OF these great events is
a mile stone along the highway of nations
marking the march of the world away
from darkness and barbarism. Human
nature is weak and erring, and can be i'm
pressed by strong minds with very peculiar
doctrines. The dogmas of human slavery,
nulliiication and supreme States rights
sound queerly enough to younger ears of
the Nation. We think of them much rs
we remember the theory that the world is
fiat, or wonder at the superstltlons of witch
craft in the days Of Cotton Mather Not
so old, perhaps, but Just as dead and obso-
lete The older doctrines were born of ig
nOrance and nuTtured in ianaticism. and
only needed the light OF education and
reasoning To shine upon their yagaries, and
the illusions were dlspelled forever. The
later doctrines were born of sectional
sehshness and nurtured IN race prejudice
and when the time came IN the onward
march OF humanity for them TO give way
TO the ideas of national unity and social
and political equality, education and rea-
sOning failed TO compass the difficulty.
Everything that could lie done 10 avert
war and It's inevitable consequences was
tried. The questions were argued upon the
broad planes OF the rights OF citizenship,
the constitution and the best known
methods of national polity, but one part,
by an overt act, proclaimed itself greater
than the whole, and an appeal TO the God
of battles was the only alternative. The
doors of the temple of Janus We're opened
the dogs OF war were unleashed, and the
abstIucting dogmas were shot to death by
the million guns of the Republic Then
came the troubled days of the reconstruc-
tiOn period, when there were not wanting
those whose ideas had gone down IN the
carnage of death TO aver that they would
yet block the wheels of progress and rem
der the work o. the war of no avail. But
the ark of the covenant Of national unity
became to tSese blinded and obstreperous
fanatics political Juggeraaut, and its
wheels were soon crimsOned with their
political life blood. Passion and prejudice
might tor time seem 10 prevail over what
was right and good and true, but out of II
all the Nation came forth cleansed, renewed
and glorified. The South knew that labor
must no longer be shackled by oppression,
and the North learned that those who had
lately been foes nov loved the country
with the zeal and true fidelity that alone
characterizes the American people. These
truths may be well-worn and these stories
Oft repeated, but 10 the strong and earnest
youth of the land they mean honor and
faith, loyalty and truth, eternity and
right.
1t was once my pleasure and privilege
to visit the historic battle-ground of Look
out Mountain. As we left the level Chat
tanooga valley the sun was shining bright
ly, and on the side next the Tennessee
river could be discerned long line of
earthworks, with ruined redoubts, redans,
and pits a little lower down the slope;
while on each flank were partly filled rifle
pits, and what appeared as II they might
have been epaulements for batteries. As
the ascent continued the sun became OBJ
scured and the gray clouds began 10 climb
up the mountain sides. Upward they
rolled over jutting rocks and clinging vines,
through the palisades and around the
crest of the mountain, until the heights
were lost in the mist and the white
winged hosts had pitched their phantom
tents upon the very summit. In fancy
Time Ietraced his twenty years eyentful
march and we were with Geary and Wood
and Grose and Ireland and Hooker, and
upon the other side were Stevenson and
Cheatham and Cleburne and Buckner and
Hardee. Ten Drawer generals never led
armed hosts in battle, and the contest on
that memorable day was the bravery Of a
Launcelot pitted against the chivalry of a
Bayard. But He who holds the destinies
of nations in the hollow of His hand was
with the right, and it triumphed. This Is
not the time to stir up animosities and
heartburnings that should be buried for
ever Almost quarter OF a century has
passed with its new and unrerformed
duties. Peace is within our walls and
prosperity within our palaces. and yet |