The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-02-18

comrades widow, and fo- q comrades orphans
BEN d. HOUSES POEM.
Ben D. House, Of this city. the well-known
poet. recited the following original poem:
Comrades, not with screen of hiding, do these walls
my vision bound,
But a mighty ~cyllorama rings my searching sight
around.
Comes the growl at storied Sumter, from the can
mons throat released, :,
When the flies took up the singing where the anvil
chorus ceased.
When the markets spoke in whispers, and the spin
dies whirring hum
Died to silence, quickly followed by the ~throbbing OF
the drum.
Oh. I see a bloom Of banners. and the bayonets be-
meath;
Catch the CLEAN of shinining sword blades drawn from
out the hiding sheath.
Hear the firm earth quake and tremble. meath the
marching army's tread,
As we answered call of war-drums, by your love of
country led.
Comes a burst of battle clangor; flashes up its Grim
son fame
Where bright honor's ore was smehed, in the fur
naces OF fame.
Not the dust of Times long marches on your heads I
see tonight,
But the nimbus of your battles aureoling you with
white.
Cite no more old Spartan legends, where in death was
From the shame of conquered serfdom: Chickamauga
matches Greece.
Roland's blast at Roncevalles, as a curlew's whistle
To the challenge of the bugles when at Gettysburg
they rang.
Drop the fables of that knightKood safe within it's
armor latched
overnlatched.
All! the stars eclipsed or hidden by the smoke of bat
tie gloomed,
Still are in the azure shining by those hands of yours
returned.
clans bray,
Saviors of the Nations honor, it is yours for aye and
aye.
Though your deeds seem half forgotten. on the tablet
leaves of fate
1t is cut by ,history's BURN. I'VE were saviors of the
And all generations after, who their ~country's great
ness view,
Can but heir it's growing glory, taking it a gift from
you.
Though your clothes be fresh or tattered. they at best
Of the shining inlaid armor ye shall through all ages
wear.
At the patriots pantheon portals shall your deeds
aloud be cried,
And the heroes of valhalla swing it's gates with well
come wide.
OUR FALLEN %MRA
The sentiment "Cur Fallen Comrades" was
f~eelingly responded to by the Rev. Alexander
Blackburn. of Lafayette. He concluded his ad-
dress with a recital of the beautiful poem COM
memorating the progress Of the remains of the
dead hero from Mount McGregor to their resting
place at Riverside Park.
INDIANA SOLDIERS
George j. Langsdale, editor of the Greencastle
Banner, spoke to the sentiment 1.-THE Indiana
Soldiers Monument" The concluding lines of
his address were as follows:
1.-THE visitor to the capital Of our State would
find nothing to remind him that the soldiers of
Indiana had earned immortal glory on many
hard drought fields; and, if q stranger, he might
conclude that we were ON the wrong side in the
late war. Should he examine the contents of
the cornerstone OF our splendid new State house,
he would find nothing there to
the most glorious epoch in our history. Were
he to read the address made on the occasion of
laying that stone, in the presence of thousands
gathered in honor of the event from every part
of the State, he would find not one word to
show that a Union soldier had ever fought and
suffered and died for his country, or survived to
tell the tale.
"A government that fails to honor the
men who fight its battles cannot long sur
vive. 1t is an ingratitude that brings
cay and national death. Everywhere
and at all times the soldier must stand first
among men. for, if he is r~elegated to the rear in
civil life. he may be content to occupy the same
position in times of public danger.
"In the late war Indiana made o proud record
that &c nvoaoAaA hv fhot pf - n o<hnu Gto%a
but it may not be go in the next, if the accom-
plishments of the Hoosier are ignored and for
gotten. Appreciation is the true soldiers best
recompense.
''These are the considerations that induce mo
to urge the building Of a State monument. To-
Gated at Indianapolis, where it will be equally
accessible to every soldier and citizen of the
commonwealth. grant that the citizens ought
to build it, but if they fail to discharge this plain
duty, then we ought to do it ourselves-not as q
of our dead comrades and to vindicate the cause
for which We fought. We can do this
with as much propriety as we can decorate their
graves on Memorial Day. The conditions are
identical.
ION every battle field of the South lie the
bones of the unknown Union soldier. In every
county in the State are the disconsolate mourn
ing for those who will never return, and whose
fate is unknown.
"Build this monument, and they can make a
pilgrimage to it and gaze upon the personiica-
ton of the loved and the lost. whose remains a
cruel fate prevents them from gathering and
honoring in their own cemeteries. Build this
monument, and annually, when we decorate it
with flowers, we will, by that act, decorate the
grave Of every Indiana soldier who sleeps 10 an
unknown grave. Build this monument.
and it will stand as an emblem
of liberty, and power, and glory,
an enduring witness that it is something to have
suffered and died for ones country-a lesson
that will be an inspiration to noble endeavor
and the best protection of the Republic. Build
this monument, and when we meet here in our
reunions. we will gather in it's shadow, around
its base and, as we clasp our hands as comrades
of one war, swear anew our fealty to the old
flag and the government of our fathers, and
pledge ourselves to march again to the music of
the Union should the necessity arise"
In addition to the speeches there was a report
of the work done by the Auxiliary Relief Corps,