The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-06-12
BTOadhrim'S New York Letter

Training and Thanksgiving. Foreign
ers and a few church people kept Christ
mas and New Years, but the great body
of the American people knew them not,
though New Years was sacred to the
Dutch of New York, and with the Vir-
ginia Cavaliers Christmas was more
than Roman holiday. am not at all
astonished at the accepted pictures of
Brother Jonathan with his lantern jaws,
his bell crowned hat, his striped pants
and his long-tailed swinger, for he en-
bodied national idea and brought into
bold relief the enOrmity Of the cffense
of all work and no play. All through
New England, particularly, the necessi.
ty of constant work was impressed upon
the boy from the moment he was able to
toddle and gather basket of chips,
with which to prepare the matitutinal
meal, till the day that the undertaken
foreclosed his mortgage and the man
was gathered to his fathers. Work was
virtue, play next to crime; and to
put 1t in its mildest shaFe, 1t was un-
questionably an awful and inexcusable
waste, and as a natural consequence we
were running to brains without muscle,
and the ideal Brother Jonathan was
type of the race begot of such training.
Fifty years ago respectable man of
forty would no more be seen swinging a
a pair of clubs or dumb bells than he
would be caught at faro bank or dog
fight; but that day, thank Providence,
is past. The New England man of to-
day has not only brains, but muscle land
from baseball to bicycles he stands in
the van, satisfied that while brains may
conceive and work out the problem it
requires muscle to move the world.
1t is, therefore, that rejoice in the
addition to our national holiday, which
will make the 30th of May memorable
for all time to come. Never since Decor
alton Day was made a national holiday
has New York or, indeed, any State in
the Union seen such celebration as
that which marked this year. Here
rests the ashes of our mightiest chieftain,
and to New York it seemed as if the
whole nation turned its steps hither to
pay its mourning tribute. 1t is some
thing in this bard, grasping, selfish age
to see an entire people, jew and Gentle,
infidel and christian, confederate and
federal, millionaire and beggar, turn
aside from their daily work and devote
one day to honoring the nations dead.
For several days notable men have been
gathering from all parts of the Republic
Men who had met face to face in the
death grapple at Antietam, Chancellor
vile, Cedar Creek, Stone River and
Gettysburg, clasped each other in fra
ternal embrace and blessed God that
they were once more standing as brothers
beneath the same old starry flag. The
sight of the grand procession would have
moved a heart of stone as it marched
on to the beautiful heights of Riverside,
where rests all that is mortal of the
great commander, Ulysses S. Grant.
We missed from the head of the pro-
cession the magnificent form of the hero
who led the van on that memorable day
when we laid our great soldier away to
rest, but loving hands will not forget to
decorate his grave, who turned the iron
tide of death upon the field of Gettys-
burg and fought like a demi-god till
stricken down amid hurricane of shot
and shell. Yes, we missed the noble
form of General Winfield Scott Han
cock. The contributions, of flowers
defy description. They came from every
State in the Union and from all parts of
the British possessions. All sectional
lines were obliterated and costly tributes
came from the States which went into
the rebellion. In the hour of our grief
they appeared to forget the sting of
defeat, and to remember only the mag
unanimous soldier who refused to humili-
ate General Lee, and who told the
shattered remnant of his cavalry to take
their horses home-they would need
them for spring plowing. In that pro-
cession were some of the men who had
surrendered at Appomattox, and march,
ing beside them were the Union soldiers
with their tattered battle-fags, their
Scared faces, and many with their
empty sleeves. 1t will not be many
years before these grand battalions fade
into ghostly lines, and the army which
passed in review on Monday will be but
a shadowy memory. Ages will roll
away and the names of Democrat and
Republican, Civil Service Reformer and
Political Iconoclast will have been OBJ
liberated, perhaps, from our national
vocabulary ;but when these combinations
are forgotten and have passed from the
memory of men, let us nope that there
will still be enough of patriotism and
gratitude left among those who shall
come after us, to honor with each re-
turning spring the ashes of the men
who saved the nation from, dismeInber-
ment and ruin. The day could not
have been surpassed. Whatever honor
the living can pay the dead was given
with broad lberality and reverential
homage that left nothing to be desired.
The presence of the President Of the
United States with his Cabinet, and the
knowledge that the review was witnessed
by the beautiful young bride who is tc
be the future Queen of the White House
added peculiar interest 10 the occasion
In addition to this we were honored b,
the presence of the General of the
Army, Phil Sheridan, and grand old
Black Jack Logan in the midst of that
splendid assembly was second to none
No serious accident marred the sacred
| - ha Ia,, 4.