Connecticut western news., 1888-06-13
MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
DELIVERED AT SALISBURY, CONN.,, MAY
 30, 1888, BY REV DAVID PHILLIPS,

DELIVERED AT SALISBURY, CONN.,, MAY
 30, 1888, BY REV DAVID PHILLIPS,
 OF LAKEvILLE. CONN.
 Friends and Fello,o Citizens:
 It has been the custom in all ages and in all lands, in some suitable way to memorialize the heroic deeds of those who sacrificed their lives for the welfare of others. It was this which inspired the muse of Collins in his beautiful ode, "The Sleep of the Brave" It lnfamed the enthusiasm of Chatham, whose favorite theme was the greatness of his country, and the glory of her defenders. It evoked the majes- tic eloquence of Webster, and on Bun ker Hill he marshaled the sturdy heroes of seventy six in glittering array.
 But we are here to-day with flowers and garlands, because these who died so nobly for their country, and who sleep in these honored graves, were our fathers, sons, or brothers. Their heroic deeds bring honor to us all. The storied pages of the past, the voice of oratory, nor poets moving strain cannot reveal brighter glory than that stream ing from their faithful lives and heroic deaths Demosthenes may talk of those who rushed upon destruction at Mara thon, stood unfinchingly at Plataza, and slept in the tombs at Artimisium. Chatham may stir the English heart with valorous deeds wrought by their armies. Webster, calm, grand, sub- lime, from "Olympus loftiest peak" with thunderOus eloquence may laud the heroes of Bunker Hill but we may speak to-day of those who, in the purity of their lives, the dauntlessness of their valor and the costliness of their sacri fee, stand shoulder to shoulder with the greatest warriors who have ever carried musket or yielded gleaming blade What they by their valor pre- served to us and ours should stir every soul with deepest gratitude.
 We look out over our fair heritage to-day, extending" says the lamented bow of peace glorifies Niagara's cliff to our Southern sea-girt line. where divine blessing makes 1t seem an Eden of beauty and perfection from Ply mouth Rock, where the Eastern song of the sea begins it's morning music, to the far off Pacific, where the tides murmur an evening benediction upon our below ed land as they roll out heath the sett- ing sun, @ vast territory twenty six hundred miles in length, and twenty four hundred miles iLs width, possessing every variety of climate from polar snows to tropic heats, and in it all we glory" We look upon our grand Republic, founded by men like Washing ton and Jefferson, developed and pre- served by those like Clay, with his electric fire and impassioned eloquence; the clear, terse, logical Calhoun, who, Ten-like, always cleft the apple with the darts of his well-filled quiver and honest Lincoln, who while securing the interests of our race redeemed another all greater statesmen than Greece or Rome could boast of, even in their palmiest days; and of this grand, united government we are proud. We may we'll tune our voices while we slng:
 My country 'tis of thee,
 Sweet land of liberty
 Of thee sing;
 Land where our fathers died,
 Land of the Pilgrims pride,
 From every mountain side
 Let freedom ring.
 Time, the tireless weaver, has been taking into his great loom, the hours, and days, the weeks and months o1 storied past, and from them throwing off the product in all the years which mark our history, all of them eventful and yet, "as one star differeth from another star in glory" so the years ot our history have differed" Some stand out with sublime distinctness, like lofty mountain peaks, and from their sum mits we behold landscape drought with interest to all of us. Such was the struggle of the Colonies in '76 for free dom from the tyranny of the mother country. We honor and revere the valol and heroic deeds of our forefathers il that great struggle.
 But the event which interests us mos of all just now, occurred in s1S61. Fol eighty years America had famed uI along the path of national greatness a! no other country ever had. But clouc was looming up in her skies.> At frs it was no bigger than a mans hand; i kept increasing, and the mutterins thunder of it's fury was often heard Through compromise it would decreas' for little time, yet only to enlarg' again, assuming each time greater pro portions than before. It was tn gathering storm of rebellion, generated by human bondage At last it came The first shot fired on Sumpter sent tn thrill of war through every heart Battle fires were lighted over all ou plains and along our rivers cannon mouthed their notes of death muske answered musket; steel clashed wit steel; and patriot and rebel fell togethe in 8 common grave. Four years tn contest ragged, until at length the stai upon our otherwise fair history wa washed away with blood and up fror the conflict this Republic marched bearing aloft the same banner that ha waved in triumph at Yorktown year before, with not a stripe erased, no star eclipsed, while from the bendin pine-tops of our northern boundary where the orange and the magnolia c Florida are blooming :; from stern Ne' England's to broad Columbia's flower slopes naught there was heard, nor there now, but one grand shout ( universal liberty. From whence thi heritage, in extent so vast, in gover1 ment so benign, in resource so rict and In population so happy We poir to these soldiers graves, and answer out of tribulations great these blessing came. Our blessed heritage has com to us washed in the blood of our father sons and brothers,
 I wish had the time and more abil ty to present picture of these peacef, homes and God-llke blessings, so thu all might more fully appreciate the
 worth. Mark Antony, when cal el upo to recite the tale of Ceaser's wrong
 and tragic fate, felt himself alone ul equal to the task and so he held u