The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-06-07

or the conscience; they appeal to and
excite inbcrn and ineradicabie Genti-
ments of the human heart-eeEtiment
that have grown up with us and become
part of our very existence; sentiments
that have become fixed beyond the
reach of any power We possess 20
change them. Our likes and diaikes
exist in spite of US. We cannot change
them five would, and many Of US would
not If we could! Men who, for four
long years, through snow and rain,
through sunshine and STORM, through
sickness and health, seek the lives OF
each other, cannot be expected to love
one another. They may exchange mu-
tual promises of forgiveness, and at
forwards act toward each other with
all the outward appearances Of friend
ship and nighbOrlY kindness, but when
it comes to placing each other In the
affections and feelings upon an equality
with an old comrade or a personal
friend of years standing, it cannot be
done. The immutable laws Of human
nature forbid it.
The old soldier Is not wanting in
either ordinary generosity, magnanim-
ity or patriotism, but he cannot change
the inherent laws of his human nature.
He is quite willing, for the sake OF q
generous and patriotic public example,
that this feature of Decoration Day
shall be perpetuated. but at the same
time there is something in his heart
that rebels against it. He does not,
and he cannot, have the same warm
feeling for the ceremony that decorateS
the grave of a confederate soldier,
however brave and gallant he may have
been. that he does when it relates to
the grave of his own comrades. To
pretend TO do SO would be to act the
hypocrite. Perhaps he ought to feel
the same, but he don't. Reason may
admonish him that it is q patriotic duty
to do so. but his feelings viii not al
footsteps of reason. If others wish to
decorate the Gray ne has no objec-
tions thereto, but, on the contrary, as
question of patriotic propriety and pub
lie policy, commendS the act. at the
same time the average old soldier pre-
fers to be excused from any
personal active participation in
cermony the full and COM
plete performance of which re-
quires a spirit of forgiveness. and
magnanimity so far beyond the reach
old soldier assemblies together as we
have to-day and stands in the
presence of his dead comrades, or
binary generosity and magnanimity
which upon other and cooler occasions
he might possess, is to large extent
overcome by conflicting emotions up
on such occasions, There comes q
voice that awakes our souls, it is the
voice of years that are gone; they
Memories that have long slept in cur
minds as our comrades have slept in
their silent graves, now rise up fresh
before US. Scenes of twenty-five years
ago seem as vivid as the incidents of
yesterday. We remember how our
comrades suffered, what they endured
and sacrificed. Again we see them in
all their perilouS experiences, in the
dreadful deadly shock of the charge,
vance and on the retreat, 1--WE see
them in prison pens where they en-
dured more than human tongue can
tell - we see them inspired by victory
and Respondent with defeat, we see
them in horrible heaps Of mangled
dead, we see them sick, wounded
dying and dead, in hospitals and in
camp, we see their cesolated
homes and scattered families.
their arms in bivouac at night, in eXpec-
tation of to-morrow's battle, and as
thus they lie under the solemn subdued
silence of the midnight skies, we see
the sweet visions of home, that fit
like heavenly shadows across their
dreaming minds, and in those sacred
visions, we see in their far off homes,
our comrades mothers. sisters, and
maiden sWeetheaftS, on their Bonded
knees with clasped hands and upturned
streaming eyes implOring the blessings
of heaven upon the sanguinary issues
involved, in the great struggle we see
our comrades young wives in their dis
tant humble homes teaching the infant
lips of their patriot husbands only
child to lisp a prayer to heaven to
shield and protect their ideal hero from
harm, the ideal hero of her, whose
heart still thrills with the sacred
memory of the farewell clasp of his
protecting arms, and upon whose lips
sweetened all the weary months of his
long absence; again we see those wives
in the awful gloom and shadow of early
WidOWhood, their hearts and homes
made desOlate, we see all these and all
the other unspeakable sacrifices and
experiences which constitute soldier
life.
While the world at large may engage
in these floral rites, in furtherance of q
broad, perhaps ideal, Spirit of patrio'
ism, our thoughts are engaged in q
SOIucNudD 6u0 GtCS OK
/ listing between us and our comrades,
living and dead, are such as others may
not know; we deposit our Yotive gifts,
not only in Precipitation of a universal
spirit of patriotism, but also to attest
with OVERLOOKING hearts that we cher
| ish in grateful memory their patriotic
sacrifices. A grateful benediction goes
out from our hearts to the memory OF
those of our comrades who, full of hope
and life, went out with us and never
returned. Those who now sleep in
unknown and unmarked graves, where
| they fell by the WaySide, under the
waving grass and grain, under the dead
leaves in the trackless woods, in the
swamps, on the mountain sides, and
under the rolling, restless waves OF
the deep. They sleep in the LAND
they made free, under the flag they
rendered stainless.
| 'sThey Sleep but rebellion is ended,
And race of slaves are free;
Floats proudly Ger land and sea;
| They sleep, with Gods heaven above them,
| With no marble to mark out the spot;
But the brave who die for their country.
BY their comrades can ne'er be forgot.
The choir then sang ''Sleep, SacreC
Dust of Noble Dead, - in an effectiv,
manner, which was followed by bene
diction by Rev. Shuey, and the con
course took vehicles to the head O
Commercial, where the two posts one
more fell into ranks, and, preceded b.
the EmpOria band, marched to thei
halls and broke ranks.
The exercises at the grand stan
were cut somewhat short, owing to
slight shower which later in the ever
ing was followed by heavy fall of rair
NOTES.
Commercial street was lined on bot
sides with spectators.
Over 500 bouquets were presented b
the Normal students.
Col. Feighan made the Memorial az
dress at Lawrence yesterday.
Judge Buck talked to the old yete
: ans at NeOsho Rapids Memorial Da,
Union lodge No. 2. uniformed ran
? A. D. u. w. made a splendid appea