, 1886-06-03
The Soldier Dead

The following, from the OreJoniaR
breathes the true patriotic spirit It
is in fine constrast with the blatant
mouthings OF ''ex-President" JEFF.
Davis, who was SO loudly applauded
all over the south:
OF the sul Ter dead we honor today,
the last to fall in baltic are full
twentv-one years in their graves.
Some of them still sleep on the fam
Gus fields where the fell, buried by
hostile hands; some OF them were
sent h3me teDderly to their families
and their precious dust is mingled
aith the soil of the various states,
of whose patriotic manhood they
were il the stout example and in
death the blessed memory. What
manner OF meu were these Union
soldiers. in pious reverence for whom
we annually COntrive these elaborate
honors Of speech and ceremony? Per
hals we cannot better tell our grow
ing boys what sort OF soul and stock
the dead soldiers Of the Union stood
for than by telling how the surviving
soldiers of the Union behaved when
after four years Of battle they sudden
" broke ranks and became citizens.
An English historian, Green says:
Quietly and without a struggle, as
men who bowed to Q inscrutable
will OF Gcd, the farmers and traders
who had dashed to pieces Ruperts
chivalry on Naseby field, who had
scattered at Worcester the army OF
the aliens" and driven into helpless
flight the sovereign that now came to
enjoy his own again, who had ronew
ed beyond the see the glorics of
Cressy and Agincourt, had mastered
the parliament, had brought king
to justice and the block, had given
laws to England and even held
Cromwell in awe, became traders and
farHne ers again and iCere E7lO,U!l among
their felIoCmen by no other sign
than their greater s0bcrReSs and IN
dTstry.
1t was an army Of farmers and
traders that fought for the enlarge
ment of civil and religious liberty
under Cromwell; it was an army of
farmers and traders that fought
against taxation without representa-
ton under WashiL gton; it was an
army of farmers and traders that
from ocean to ocean in the armies OF
the Union deep bolted with their
swords the republic which Washing
ton founded, to the bedrock of ma
tionality. 1t was the Puritan in
Cromwell's time, and it has always
been the Puritan stock ever since,
that, whether he exchanges the wea
ponS of war for the arts and garb OF
peace. or pulls off his farmers frock
for fighting gear, is in war OF peace,
above all things the champion of the
largest liberty for the greatest mum
Der. For the safety of free institu-
tions the peaceful Puritan viii go
to war, but the moment that human
rights have been rescued from dam
ger, the terrible Puritan soldier has
tens tosresume his work as Il citizen
| for while he Is a formidable fighter,
the victories of peace are his pleasure
rather than the stern necessities of
war; because the only excuse he az
cepts for the brutalities of war is
when they are endured to secure the
blessings OF peace. He will fight
for right rather than buy out of q
war by negotiating a cowardly peace
with wrong.
or those who fell in battle, the
same writer says:
They never lived to swell the jubi-
lee of the restored Union; they died
without knowing whether we were
vlctors or vanquished; they novel
shared in the wild applause and elo-
quent enthusiasm which welcomed
home their surviving comrades; they
died for me and you" ere thick fog
of rebellion had fairly lifted before
the dissipating sunlight OF courage
Gus and patriotic nation, reused to
the full exercise OF its vast resources
of light and heat. Let us hope that
these who died without knowI. dge of
the ultimate issue OF the conflict, in
which they lost all that is lovely in
llfe's rosy morning, do at least know
today that they did not die in vain;
that the Mississippi flows nnvexed to
the sea; that the flag of the Union
floats more proudly than ever from
ocean to ocean, from Maine to Mex
leo, from the great lakes to the Gulf,
and their graves are tho Mecca to
which the state they saved annually
makes afectionate pilgrimage.