Helena weekly herald., 1885-06-04

Donelson, Charlottesville, Gettysburg and
other fields where foe met foe in sullen
combat, and the results were hailed with
shouts of triumph or mourned with wall
ings of defeat. The hours are bright TO
you now then " were dark and gloomy
\ Now you look ~, ward with satisfaction
at your career; ..sn you looked forward
with apprehension &c your death The old
soldiers wear no sauCy crowns of triumph
they need none. 20 cross Or star OF any
royal der decorates their breasts, for our
Nation has none to bestow. The simple
star aud shield speak eloquently of the
tented field. On their brows they wear
the laurel- OF a Nations praise and on their
Z hearts l. set the cal of "A ROYAL. knightly
manhood, tine best order of which heraldry
can boast.
The Nations dead Not yours or mine
alone. but The Nations, Sudden death
and lingering disrase have done their
work. Tneir lives are siilled now. but the
great ihrpl'iInr. pulsating heart OF the
Nation pIe>>es them close To her bosom,
and says, They are mine forever; not dead,
but only sleeping" Bring flowers TO strew
upon their graves; haLg out your banners
of grief and insignia OF desoiation. The
flowers speak to Us of immortality and the
asphodels of death are even now on the
beautiful hills of Paradise blossoming into
amaranths OF eternal beauty.
For those who we're arrayed upon the
other side in that memorable struggle we
have no words OF bitterness. The Coufed
crate army was not composed of hired
assassins from foreign shores or wandering
lshmaelites, ready TO strike at the institu-
tions of our country but II consisted of
the flower OF Southern home life. Brave
and hopeful the mass of them went forth
with firm conviction of right and a su-
preme confidence IN the ultimate success
of their arms. The Georgia or Texas home
is Just as desolate without the sons pres
ence as the home of that Massachusetts or
Iowa mother who gave her first-born TO
her country, and the shattered arm wrap
ped in the tattered gray is as pathetic
as though it were held in the faded
blue. Suffering and grief are COM
mon to all, and it is that fellow feeling that
has made it possible for the Nation to be
builded up again stronger than before.
To the living this day with its duties
comes with lessons full of import We
know better than ever the duties of the
citizen we know better than ever the
principles of the government under which
we live, we understand better than ever
the different interests that form Its COM
ponent parts; we learn easier than ever its
precepis and promises Palsied he the
hand that would seek to erase from the
volume of national life the annals of tr-
umph with which its pages are filled, and
stilled be the lirs that would seek to inn
part 10 a united people any dogmas upon
which the sentiment of the country might
again be divided As the years roll on
may the prayer OF the Cambridge bard be
realized in its fullest and completest mea-
sure
sail on. ., ship Of stat
Sail on, q, Union, strong and great,
Humanity with all its fears,
Nth all the hopes Of future years,
l. hanging brcathlc-s on thy fate.
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmcu wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast aud sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
Ia what forge and what "A heat
Were slaped the auclors OF thy nope.
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
'Tis of the wave and not the rock
Tis bat the Tapping OF the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale.
In spite OF rock and tcmpest's roar,
la spite Of false lights ON the shore.
sail on, nor fear to breast the sea.
Our hearts, our hopes are all with thee,
our faith triumphant % our fears,
Are ali with thee-are all with thee.
At the conclusion of the above address,
the delighted audience hailed Mr. Thorn
burgh with well aerited applause, and
many were the friends who crowded around
the stand to congratulate him upon his
brilliant effort.
After an interval made musical with
choral by the Amphitheatre Band, the
next orator, Mr.. \. J. Craven was intro
duced. lie spoke rapidly but With clear
and distinct enunciation, and not using his
manuscript was enabled TO illustrate his
animated discourse with many pleasing
and appropriate gestures The following
is the Grafton IN full:
oRATION OF 4. ). CRAVEN.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Soldiers and EciioT
Citizens The West is always ready with
fitting voices 10 commemorate the valor OF
her heroes. With a sympathy as broad as
her prairies and plains, she to-day joins the
East, the North and the South in their
tribute of flowers.
Ii is well that the mountains should
echo forth their praises for the patriotic
dead, for their rough peaks have always
been temples Of freedom. When the plains
were enslaved, when the valleys were
changed into camps for the warriors, when
tyranny had forged chains fer the peasant
nv, the world looked to the mountains for
lis refuge, and their rough ranges are LOOM
ing in the blue haze of history as an ever
lasting fortress of liberty.
There is no greater source of coDgratula-
tion for this Western Commonwealth than
is found in its appreciation of heroism. You
are not here for empty parade, for hollow
hypocracy Is never the companion of an
earnest tear or generous tribute. And
the memories OF the past, coming as they
do from the parental fire-sides, from the
tender recollections of home, from the hasty
enlistment at the urging of the fife and
drum, from the tented field and the mid
night camp, from the wild rage of the bat
ties, from the care of the wounded and the
burial of comrades these invoke spell
of sacred reverence, where all distinctions of
rank are leveled, and the jingle Of wealth
grows powerless and mute. We come,
rather, as people-not party as fra
ternal brotherhood-not a faction, as a
community-not a section. For if there be
one thing above another which shall stand
forever in modern history, whose grandeur
will only increase with time, it is the
ability of the American people to forget
their feuds, to harmonic their differences,
and to march on with the solemn tread of
years. away from the carnage and victory
of war to the more glorious triumphs of
peace.