The Portland daily press., 1886-06-01

| LUSdl, W SIc6b ucI uuDDdllu. lO WOou YIN
| of the grand stand had been reserved fol-
members of the Grant family. and theil
| friends; Col Fred Grant, his wife, and two
children, Julia and Y. S: Grant, Jr;; Jesse
Grant and wife, with their little daughter
Nellie; U. S. Grant and wife and child, ant
Mrs. Judge Dent. All of the Grant family
| them were Mrs. H. ii. Honore, W. G. An
drews and wife, Mrs. General Logan, Gen
| eral Navajo, Gen. Rufus ingalls,. Doctor ano
Miss Logan OF Illinois, Mrs. Governor Age }e
| of Michigan, U. s. Grant, son of Orvillt
| Grant, Gen. James B. Frisbie Of California
| and Dr.. Shrady.
| Itwas O'Clock when the masts of the
| Tennessee, Yantic, Brooklyn and Swatara
| with billy-cocked yards, came into view
| Half an hour later minute guns announced
| the approach of the marching column. The
| veterans were soon seated around the front
| of the platform, with the Amphion Singing
| Society in the front seats. Battle flags were
grouped about the tomb.
Four stalwart men in gray uniforms were
Captain Arthur A. Spetzer. Geo. c, Mont,
castle, Captain T. J. Bowles, and Colone
John Murphy, of Robert Z. Lee Camp, OF
Richmond, Va.
1t was 8 o'clock when Major Corwin, chair
man of the committee, opened the exercises
General Logan was then introducedby Major
Corwin as 'FOur Comrade." Mr.. Logan said
GENERAL LoGAN's GRAFTON.
Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen:
A great poet and marvellous delineator OF
human character and impulses, a dramatlsl
to whom posterity has conceded the first
rank, has placed in the mouth of one of his
characters the words:
''Blow blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
AS mans ingratitude."
For three hundred years this verdict of the
bard of Avon has been silently accepted by
the readers of his enchanting works, until
the structure it represents has come to be con-
sidered in the light of a truism.
The sentiment it expresses has found fire.
quent and varied repetition by pessimistlc
writer's weeping declaimers, superficial OBJ
servers and turgid orators bewalling the i'm
perfections of human nature.
Standing at the commencing end of three
hundred years, Shakespeare has passed a
sentiment down the line of the centuries,
which has been amplifed by a sorrowing
mentor of our own time, into the broad dec.
laration that Republics are ungrateful." I"
And thus, upon the one hand, we are con-
fronted by the allegation of the inspired
poet. and upon the other, we are met by its
corollary; the full proposition being reduced
to the statement, men and republics are
alike ungrateful.
Friends, upon this closing day of the bud
ding spring, when ''hoary frosts have fallen
in the fresh lap of the crimson rose, our
smiling land presents scene that should
forever blot from the record the slander OF
the poet and the silly carping OF the poll
tician.
Millions of people have gathered to-day to
sing peanS of gratitude to their sleeping
benefactors, and with one loud voice to chant
anthems of sweet appreciation, that may
rise from earth to heaven like
"Saebean odors from the spicy shore
Of Araby the blest,''
We have come to claim our share in this
beautiful and grateful service, and to per-
form our parts in an act that possesses no
quality of task. To be an American citi-
zen officiating in a service of gratitude to the
fallen defenders of his country is but second
to being numbered among those to whom
this homage is rendered. No more lofty acts
are to be found in the records of authentic
history than the noble sacrifices of the Amer
ican soldier upon the field of battle and the
votiye offerings of his countrymen upon the
holy altar of his memory.
You have devolved upon me the duty OF
voicing your sentiments of fellowship, of
gratitude, and Of affection upon day that
has been conSecrated to the American sold
ier-one that will continue to be observed py
our countrymen as long as the Republic shall
last or patriotism shed its beams across our
happy homes.
Kind indulgence alone has prompted you
to thus honor one that had the good fortune
to closely follow leader who, since your
last tribute to our departed comrade, has
taken his place beside the pale sleeperS-he
that now here rests by the murmuring wat
ers of the historic Hudson, and about whose
tomb requiems are sung by gentle voices
swelling from the tree tops and mountain
sides of the mystic Catskills.
A realization of my inability to measure up
to the full requirements of such an occasion
stares me in the face, but one owing every
thing to the indulgence of his countrymen
must ever feel reliant under their support.
Assembled countrymen! A quarter of
century has fallen into the abyss OF eternity
since the vernal air of an April morning rang
out the announcement that war, horrid
war, was full upon our people. Men and
women are now before me in the full growth
and estate of maturity, who have come upon
the stage of life and action since that appall-
ing event occurred.
But they know, as well as the actors in it,
the sad story of that blighting conflict, when
men of the same nationality met in opposing
ranks upon the field of battle. Their hearts
swell with the same pride of country and pal
pitate with the same beat OF gratitude as do
those of the men and women who llVed
through the crucial test, whereby the strength
of the Republic was tried in the fire of steel
Two million three hundred and thirty-fiye
thousand nine hundred and ffty-nine patriots
voluntarily left their homes, their families,
and their peaceful pursuits, to defend upon
battle-plain and over the swelling wave the
principle then submitted to decision under
The dread arbitrament Of war. Of this vast
number, as we learn from a report OF the
Adjutant General, three hundred and sixty
thousand graves in the National cemeteries
mark the number of those killed in battle,
and dying in hospitals, upon roadsides in
prisons, as the result of wounds, of disease,
of hardships, of exposure, or of maltreat-
ment.
We are not here to talk of causes that de-
manded the sacrifices represented by these
figures, nor yet to narrate thrilling incidents
of battle with fascinating stories OF gallant
patriotism. But, my friends, nearly one half
million young, brave, useful lives have suf-
fered untlmely eXtlngulShmen6 through tne
cruel circumstances of war, and within the
close circle of that excruciating fact is to be
found the moving causes of the remarkable
scene this day enacted in our country.
1t is no new custom to offer oblations in
memory of the dead. In every age of intelli-
tanned by a belief in and longing after
Immortality" There is no existing record
of the human race that does not attest this
interesting fact. Monuments, mounds and
sepulchres that have survived the names OF
individuals and outlaSted their more perish
able bodies, alike bear witness of it. Homer
declares that ''all folk yearn after the gods; =
and this observation is no less true OF those
who worshipped the monstrous creations OF
the Nile, the Orontes the Ganges, the Pagan
deities of Greece and Rome, and the varied
inventions of all rude theologies down to the
annunciation of the Christian Saviour.
The pyramids of Egypt, some seventy in
number, were built as tombs for fearful
monarchS yearnlng after the gods, ana long
ing for immortality. These piles represent
an amazing effort of construction. The
mighty Cheops, standing upon level base
within the Libgan chain, still rears its lofty
peak five hundred and forty-three feet, thus
towering within few feet of the pinnacle OF
the beautiful shaft erected upon the banks OF
the Potomac to the Father" of mighty
nation.
One hundred thousand men tolled beneath
the sun of Egypt for half century to erect
that tomb in order that the pigmy who was
to occupy it might, under the Egyptian the
ology, be saved to the longed-for immortal
ity. For four thousand years it has waged
battle with the elements. Within that
period men have come and gone, empires
risen and fallen, nations have been born and
have decayed, the world has emerged from
darkness to light, and the uncertain scratch
ing upon the massive pile recording the
name of Khufa (Kufu), the probable builder,
voices the only sound familiar to the ears OF
the faithful Sphinx, whose gaze for the mas
ters coming has been fixed across the shit
ing sands for forty wishful centuries.
Far back in the uncertain light. OF an al
most vanished age, when human bodies were
carefully preserved to await their expected
reunion with the spirit, evidence OF the COM
mon belief meets us in unequlvocal forms
The mummes of Egypt were provided with
means of subsistence during the waiting
period, and grains of wheat taken from
tomb, sealed from the gaze of man for three
thousand years, after planting in our day
have grown like the ordinary cereal. Inc
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