The Portland daily press., 1886-06-01

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What see you now at Gettysburg9 The brooding
The yiolefs sweetly blossoming the blue and gray
above.
Span mountain unto mountain link vale to vale
1t is the land of Liberty we fashioned years ago.
Oh Nation great, State linked to state, III ponuS
From ocean unto ocean, from gulf to northern
State linked to State fate linked to fate, in mart
In rolling plain of golden grain in tossing plumes
This is the sight that crowns our years and when
on heads are low. -
Float out, float on Union flag of twenty years
ago.
AT the conclusion of the address Chambers
Band played a dirge, the benedlctlon was
pronounced and the home route was taken
for the city.
In the Evening.
City Hall filled rapidly in the evening, and
when shortly before o'clock Bosworth and
Thatcher Posts entered and took the seats
reserved for them in the body of the house,
the large auditorium was crowded, every
seat being occupied, while many stood in the
aisles. Chambers Band occupied the end of
the west gallery next the platform, and on
the left of the platform were seated the
members of the Weber Club, whose selec-
tions, rendered with taste and feeling during
the programme, added much to the I'M
pressiveness of the services.
Mr. E. E. Eastman, chairman of the recep-
ton committee, presided, and near him on
the platform were seated Hon. Z. Il. LlDDy,
Commander Barr of the cutter Dallas, I'll. Z.
ingalls,, Commander Motley of Bosworth
Post, Commander Williams of Thatcher
Post, Alderman Kicker, Dr. S. c. Gordon,
Rev. Messrs. Crosley, Tinker, Bayley, Bash
ford, and others.
After an appropriate selection delightfully."-
rendered by the band, the meeting was
opened by Mr.. Eastman, who spoke as
follows:
MIR. EAsTMAN's REMARKS.
Comrades,-We have again been called to
perform the sad duties of this, to us, most
sacred day. 1t has been day of mourning,
not as we mourn the loss of one friend alone,
but we mourn the loss of mighty host,
great army of friends-friends who have
stood beside us in the deadly strife of battle,
in the tedious line of march, on the lone and
lonely picket guard,-friends whose hearts
love. We mourn their loss; we honor and
revere their memory; we are justly proud OF
their record and we come here tonight COM
rades, together with you, ladies and gentle
men, to supplement day of sorrow, and to
receive from these, our friends, words of
cheer, of comfort and consolation.
Yet while we are sad and SorrOWful, in the
memory of our lost ones, there is a ray OF
joy for every heart when we remember the
glorious result of their laborS and ours.
Comrades, in this way we may rejoice. And
we are sure that this occasion will be another
golden link in the chain, binding us more
and more strongly, more and more lovingly
together as friends and comrades in the
rrIo 4 A IF +ha Pan
The Weber Club sang the beautiful song,
1--WE deck their graves alike today" after
which Rev. Frank T. Bayley offered prayer,
the members of the two Grand Army posts
standing during its continuance. The Weber
Club then rendered flushed DER the sacred
mounds" and DR.. S. c. Gordon was intro
duced as the first speaker
DIR. GoRDoN's ADDRESS.
DIR. Gordon referred to the reluctance felt
by soldiers to talk of their experience in
war, and said it seemed to the soldier almost
like eulogizing himself at his own funeral
The speaker, however, said that he had con-
scented to assist in the evenings programme
The popularity of the American soldier is
seen when he lapses into citizenship, and en-
cages in ordinary avocations, after serving
as a soldier in the ranks. In the capacity
for this action lies the secret of American
success. Our soldiers are not the make of
the soldiers of Europe. In 1861 Won Moltke
said that the army of the United States was
an armed mob, but we showed him that the
American citizen, with an individuality of
his own, and part ruler in this Republic,
can make better soldier than the soldier of
the standing armies of Europe. Llncoln's
praise of the Southern soldiers who made
the daring charge at Little Round Top, only
added testimony to the bravery of the men
whe defended it. The Blue and the Gray
were bone of the same bone and flesh of the
same flesh.
The address closed with a few eloquent
words upon the necessity of keeping alive
among the young men of today the spirit
which actuated their fathers in the great
struggle.
REV. MR.. cRosLEY's ADDRESS.
Rev. Mr.. Crosley followed DR.. Gordon and
delivered an interesting address of which the
following is brief abstract:
On the 18th day of April, 1861, % years ago,
the first gun of the rebellion was fired The
day that the flag was fired upon was one of
general enthusiasm throughout the South
and proved to be day of thorough uprising
in the North. Party lines sank out of sight.
words of Cancellation were forgotten and the
sword was drawn. Hundreds OF thousands
of lives were given for the good of the
country and by the sacrifice the nation was
saved,
Mr.. Crosley spoke of his intimate knowl-
edge of the stern realities of the war and
for what the veterans deserve credit He
spoke of the duty to conscience still required
of them which sometimes needs greater
courage than that which faces the lannon's
mouth. The speaker referred to the stand
ing armies of Europe and said that during
his residence in England he had often
ing army in the United States" by telling of
the Grand Army of Veterans and the army
of citizens which were ready at any time to
respond to their country's call.
After singing by the Weber Club, Hon. c.
f. Libby delivered an address, of which the
following is an abstract
HON. c. F. LIBBY's ADDRESS.
During the four years of the war Portland
furnished nearly five Thousand men as her
quota to the Union armies. OF that number
about five hundred fell on the field of battle
or died from wounds received in the service.
Many more came home crippled and manned.
or with constitutions impaired by exposure
and disease, and year by year we have seen
them dropping by the wayside, until now,
| twenty-one years after the close OF the war,
| not one-half of their number remain to re-
spond to the roll call.
The cemeteries of our city are dotted to-
| day with flags which mark the last resting
| places of more than five hundred soldiers of
| the late war-a whole battalion that has
| passed over the river, leaving us the legacy
| of their heroic deeds and the duty of keep
| ing green their memories. To-day the hands
| of affection have decorated their graves with
| the flowers of spring and as we meet to-
| gether tonight we can honor their memories
| in no better way than in recalling the issues
| for which they staked their lives.
| The lessons of the war have been so often
| told that we are apt to forget their real inn
| port. The supremacy of the Union has be-
| come so firmly established that it is difficult
| to remember that it was once in serious
| peril. The scourge of slavery has so long
disappeared that it is hard to recall the time
when it hung like pail over the land, faint
ing with its whitening blight our institutions
and: our government And yet these were
| the issues for which our brothers fought
| free institutions and a united country. They
fought that we, and those who come after
| us, might live in land whose government is
| founded on the broadest possible basis Of
| freedom, a land Of free speech, of free inter
course and of free institutions. What that
means to us who survive we can
| better realize if we consider the pos
| sibilities that were bound up in that
| great contest, which for four years was
waged with varying success by. the, armed
| forces of the Republic. If the right had not
| triumphed, if the stone which the builders
rejected had not become the head of the
| corner, if the armies of the North had been
defeated and a government had been estab-
| lished in this land whose corner stone was
slavery, can you tell me what the future Of
l -. a4,xr1 hoy