St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-06-03

purpose that seems TO me almost OIL
vine. AS we strew these flowers upon
the graves of our comrades let us learn
anew the lessons of life. Let us drink
in as the perfume rises a new patriot
ism that shall make US stronger and
better citizens and give us a greater
love of liberty. AS we think how these
dead heroes stood on the picket-line,
ever watchful and ever alert, let us
learn to keep we'll on guard against all
temptation and evil, knowing full well
if the Ontposts are captured by evil
habits the surrender of the citadel is
only question of time. Let us know
that the courage they exhibited on the
field of battle is none the less needed
by us. Peace hath her victories none
the less renowned than war. If these
comrades who sleep, guarded as they
are by our own majestic mountains,
could speak they would counsel us to
be as true to the principles of right, as
they were brave to follow the path of
duty. 1 would say to citizens, for we
are all citizens now, that upright, man
ly lives, lives full of noble thoughts
and deeds, would solve the problem of
free government, government by the
people, of the people, for the people
and teach the old world that the sail
ing of the MayflOwer was the birth of
freedom, the war of the revolution a
christening of that birth, the war of
1872 its baptism, the war of the rebel
lion its salvation. Freedom and justice,
are now so happily blended that the
old flag truly waves "o'er the land of
the free and the home of the brave"
After noting the marvellous changes
that have taken place since the war,
the speaker said we are here to do
honor to the men whose lives were
sacrificed, but it is not alone to them
but rather of the living and to the liv
ing that 1 would speak. He then re-
ferred to the spectacle of Jefferson
| Davis, who was the head of the seces-
sion movement, coming to the front
and being greeted with the glad ac-
claim of thousands of misguided peO
pie as he re-asserts the righteousness
of the doctrine of secession. While
not fearing in the least the resurrec-
ton of secession, in the face of Davis
reiteration it seems fitting and proper
that over the graves of these our dead
heroes, the young men of to-day should
hear something of the cause for which
these men died.
Col. Hooker then reviewed the cir
cumstances attending the rise and pro-
gress of slavery, the efforts made to
extend it and the fallaciOus reasOnings
of those who defended it. Then came
the rOusing of the country; the cleo
ton of Lincoln the first shot on Sum-
ter; the call to arms the great sacri-
fees made; the great victory won. Re-
ferring to this mighty uprising of
great nation Col. Hooker said that
while other states with their larger
area and population sent greater quotas
Of men to the support of the national
government, none did better in pro-
portion to its size and the number of
its inhabitants than the Green Noun
tain state, and among all the men who
wore the proud title Of war governor
none merited it more, none earned it
by greater devotion or greater service,
when compared with the resources at
his command, than your fellow towns
man, the late lamented Erastus Fair
banks-a sentiment that was received
with hearty applause. From impress
ing upon the minds of the younger
generation the facts of history cock
istent with secession and the fatal
struggle which it invoked, the speaker
turned to the newer topic that what
these dead heroes saved, the young
men of to-day must hold fast for them
selves and for posterity. There was a
time when the cry was for young men
to go West, but there is now no longer
any necessity for such migration. With
the changed condition of things, the
lesson that the youth of to-day must
learn is that energy, industry, perse-
verance and honesty will win him ed
ucatiOn, home, a freside, competence
and all the wants of physical nature,
as easily here as elsewhere. 1t is the
man not the field that reaps the final
reward of industrious toll. Vermont
has soil, a climate, fertility of re-
a need of enterprise, abundant |
for all her young men, and none
should leave it. Returning again to
the soldier heroes the speaker was
again applauded as he said Nor should |
it be forgotten that we owe to the sur
vivors of the late war debt of graft
tude which cannot be repaid in words
alone and which it is their meet and |
their due should be paid from the COM
mon treasury, so that no man who
served his country in it's hour of peril
shall want for the necessities of life or
a helping hand to smooth his pathway
in his old age. The government can
not de too much for them though it
should take every dollar from the
treasury.
The memory of our comrades dear
Wen ever hold and ere revere,
Till we shall in the graves be laid
And the great debt of nature paid
IT'S firmly round our hearts sntwined
And in our bosoms deep enshrined.
Their mighty deeds shall live in song
When days and years have passed along,
And coming ages tribute make