Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-05-31


whose names are there recorded will
have gone to their eternal resting place
i New generations will arise to whom our
civil war will be but name, and his
tory, to whom these services will not be
so much loving personal tribute,as the
observance of an established custom.
No heart will recall tho face Of the dead,
no voice will murmur the name of the
loved one, gazing at the simple stone
1t seems but fitting that the generations
that still remember should infuse into
these services all the grateful love they
feel, that there be no suspicion that it
is perfunctory service, carelessly per
formed. We commemorate the tri-
umph of principle, the memory of the
dead heroes who should receive the
benedictions of our country and man
kind. These exercises, too, have a
practical value in their lessons of pat
riotism to the young. They have their
influence in raising up a generation
of patriotic citizens who will value the
inheritance Of united and free country.
We go to press too early to report
the exercises in detail.
The following order of exercises was
observed
Music by the Band
| Decoration of the Monument.
| g. A. X. Post exercises.
Song by the Children.
Music by the Band.
| Music by the Choir.
Address by Hon c. s. Fuller.
| Music by the Choir
| Benediction by Rev. s. S. Grinnell.
Music by he Band.
ADDRESS BY HON. C. 2. FULLER, OF
PRAIRIE DU CHEN.
! When | received the invitation to Join
your people in this sacred memorial
service, was busily engaged in pre-
pairing for lengthy term of cour-
about to be held. and it seemed almost
impossible that could comply with the
request; but the occasion is one so dear
to every citizen of this great land; to
every lover of liberty. and the blessings
of this free government; to every adj
mirer of heroic deeds, and unselfsh
patriotic devotion 10 principle, add to
a noble nations life, that felt. could
not refuse to be with you, and mingle
my tears with yours at the graves of
your heroic dead; and to call to mind
once again, that sacrifice of lives and
blood, which adds one more jewel to
the luster and glory of the crown of
| liberty.
Neither could I be unmindful of the
compliment bestowed by an invitation
to address cultured and refined audi
ence, in this your beautiful city of Lam
caster.
This is Memorial Day. A day set
apart for the special purpose of COM
merating and holding in reverential
remembrance those brave heroes, sons
and brothers and fathers, who volunta-
rily gave their lives sacrifice upon the
altar of cur country to maintain and
perpetuate the union. 1t is National
Day and it seems most fitting and
proper that we should have such a day
to commemorate and keep fresh in our
minds and hearts the heroic deeds of
our silent dead who offered up their
| lives upon a thousand battlefields, that
we might enjoy the blessings of free
and undivided nation; and keep in
eternal remembrance the grand legacy
| they have bequethed to us, and gene
erations yet to be; the legacy of duty
well done; of brave fight and
Drawer death; united country under
one flag and and one constitution
Neary two and one half decades of
years have passed since the conclusion
of that terrible period of our country's
woe the greatest struggle the world
ever saw. Since Gettysburg and Ap-
pomattox children have grown to man
hood and womanhood; Infants of that
4 Il
tion is now taking the place of those
who are fast passing away. To them
the history of that great struggle and
perilous crisis in our country's life is
but story. lacking all the reality that
is so vivid in the minds and recolec-
tons of those who witnessed and par
ticipated in that great event.
That the younger generation may
fully realize the sacrifices of those times.
may appreciate the price which their
fathers paid for the grand legacies
bequethed them; that they may know
that nations life has been purchased
by blood and death; that those who
have been bereaved, whose fathers,
husbands, brothers. sons sleep beneath
the silent sod, may know that a nation
shares their grief, and with eternal
gratitude hallows the remembrance of
the sacrifice of their near and dear
ones; that an eternal monument NAV
be reared in the hearts and minds of
all, sacred to the remembrance of the
nations heroic dead, this public man.
Hesitation of peoples gratitude and
nations sorrow is made.
The stormy events of 1860 and 1861
are as fresh and vivid in the minds of
most of my hearers as though they were
events of yesterday; and yet so pro-
found is the peace now enjoyed, the
quiet, the calm after the storm, that
the past seems almost a dream; 1t
seems like some hideous nightmare
which has disturbed peaceful sIumber
with fantastic horrors, but in this case
the terrible reality existed.
You remember the election of pres
ident in 1860. At that time was but a
boy IL years of age, but took a keen
interest in the events of the hour; was
old enough to Hurrah for Lincoln the
choice of the people. our martyred
President, whose death to-day we
mourn. but whose noble life and deeds,
and services for his country win remain
green and be remembered and cherish
ed in the hearts of the American people
forever and aye. You remember the
low mutterings Of discomfort from GER
tain sections of the land when the bal
lot, that bulwork of American liberty,
declared the peoples choice. You re-
member how loath the people of the
North were to believe that any serious
blow would be struck at the life of the
nation.
Il could not be that love for sec
tional institution could outweigh love
for this glorious nation. Yet the MUIR
murings of discomfort grew louder;
threats of disunion were heard; and the