The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-06-07
MEMORIAL DAY.
The Soldiers Of the Late War Re.
member Their Comrades Who
Have Gone Before.

~ VI SbI0 @oV0 al N0s
member Their Comrades VINO
Have Gone Before.
Once again the annual recurrence Of
Memorial day, has called up to the minds
OF the people the memory OF the brave
nation.
The whole country, in the large cities in
the towns, in the villages and even in the
country church yard, honor was done to
the brave soldiers over whose memory
flowers were strewn. At st. Paul the de-
monstration was like that in other
cities. and an extract from the grafton of
Colo: ID. Kerr will serve as a sample of
the thousands that were delivered else.
where. Col. Kerr said:
II indeed there be anything in past asso-
Citations lit to affect the mind OF man, we
need not strive to subdue the emotions
which press upon US here, for these men.
whom you have met here to honor, pur-
chased our present prosperity and paid for
u with Their blood, illustrating again and
attestlng the truth as old as the world, that
only thus by sacrifice and fiery trial and sor-
row, can either nations or individuals be
purified and made fit to be prosperous and
happy. Every noble crown is, on earth, and
Will forever be a crown of thorns. The man
who has lived in this country for the last
thirty years has attained an experience
and reached a full stature of manhood
compared with which the nine hundred
years OF Methusela's tame pastoral life were
out as the heeting existence of a child. For
beats, not in figures on a dial.
GAINED IN EMPTY PRIZE.
I can remember as though it were but yes-
terday where l was twenty six yeals ago to-
day.. l thtnk it was just about this time of
the day on May 80. 1862, that I marched
with my regiment over the abandoned works
ana INTO the deserted streets of Corinth.
That was; indeed, a gloomy period in the
history OF the war. The campaign in, the
East had proved q total failure. Beanre-
gard, through the imbecility of Hallock, had
escaped from Corlnth unmolested with his
entire army. and with all his material and
a pail upon the hearts of the people, and al
ready the cry was reaching the army that
the war against rebellion had proved q fail
ure. Oh! weak OF faith! Trembling in
doubt and despair when indomitable will
and fearless courage alone could save the
nation. Where would you doubters have
Oeen to-day; on what a tempestuous sea of
anarchy would you and all of us be, drifting
now, II these and such as these, the living
and the dead OF the Grand Army. had shared
In your doubts and partaken Of your fears?
Nothing that I can say or that this nation
can do will ever express a 1.-THE of the graf
itude that should animate every patriotic
neart Tor the men who feught A. ana dsed TO
sessees sne fortunes that seemed then and
for q year thereafter so near the lowest ebb
of their receding tide.
TIL REBELLION A LoNG-CHER1sHED CHE ME-.
For years the rebel leaders had nursed the
project of a separate nation, with slavery as
its corner stone. They may lave brought
themselves to believe that their cause was
just. But my friends, it makes all the diff
ference whether we pursue a certain
course because we believe it to be right,
-. l. 10 >s-lk I--o 81
A pretext was the last thing such men were
likely to want, and the election of Abraham
Lincoln served their purpose. And now at
last tho rebel leader stood upon his sunny
Pisgah, looking back over savage deserts OF
doubt and disappointment and delay and
forward to q Canaan Of promised Joy, which
he had only the Jordan of secession to cross
In order to possess. None but the hand that
rules above could save the nation then. The
government and all it's resources We1e under
The control of Southern s~ympathizers. Wash
ington was full Of rebels openly proclaiming
their treason in the very halls Of congress
and the mansion of the chief executive.
Washington was also full of Northern men,
politicians mostly, who were crying God
save the country. but the cry simply meant
God save my place and my fortune. The
prayer of the South in Washington was let
me live upon the fruit of other mems in
dustry, and the prayer of the Northern poll
tician at the capital was let me fatten upon
the plumber of the public. Fort Sumpter
was attacked and civil war was upon us.
Then n 1 lssPssss that mighty z zhsssH II 1t shF sa assss = /;
Hplunder, but of the honest masses, the main
stay and support Of every republic. To
these masses belong the credit and the
honor of that wars success.
THE VAR NOT A HOLIDAY EXCURSION.
1t was no holiday excursion over summer
seas az you well know. At last we thought
the end drew near. But the South still bA1
corn bread and roasting ears, there was still
lead and g~unpowder, and while these means
it seemed as though the South was de-
termined to prolong the struggle. The same
bipartisan masses who had fought the bat
ties Of the Union, fought again at the polls,
aad in legislative halls the battle of recon
struction. The result is before you to-day.
THE LESSONS TAUGHT
Now, what are the lessons all this teaches
dren on occasions such as this? Primarily,
that this is a union, and not a confederacy
merely. Second, that slavery, in whatso-
ever form it may rise its hydra head, has
been banlshed from this land forevermore.
Third, that liberty, our sacred heritage
from the forefathers. is handed down again
by US to our children, sanctitied anew by our
toll and treasure and blood; but, above all
things, that the liberty thus transmitted is
not laWlessness. It is not the liberty on the
one manu- 10 Ul0 NY 6GdItuUlOu, VI OA UuC
other to run riot with unbridled license, but
is founded on the rock of obedience to !aw
and respect for government That political
liberty is q means, not an end, and a means
valuable chiefly as the great safeguard of
order. of property and morality; Fo9rtn.
country depends in the future, as in the past,
| not upon the professional politician or
| spokesman, but upon the virtuous and intel
| ligent mass of the people, and that
The highest he n honor Se o SnE 9hi'a %isR 9 sne
latter as distinguished from the former.
| Teach your children. my comrades, to
stand up openly for truth and all true men,
| and let this and this only be their creed and
their party. In all human probability these,
| our comrades who died that such principles
| might live, are as much without successors
az the martyrs of the church, but they are
canonized in the hearts Of all generations.
and are yet living to all BY the memory OF
what they did and were. Who dares say TO-
we meet here to strew flowers upon the
graves Of these dead heroes to-day? Not
surely to shadow forth our grief and sorrow
at tneir fate. Nay. not SO. Flowers, from
the day they were stse wn In the triumphant
pathway Of our Savior to the day when
they decorate these graves. have everspoken
the language of love and constancy and
gratitude and Joy. And they appropriately
speak that language here
SOON WILL BE THE LAST AM FIRE.
Why should we mourn these honored
graves? Life at best is 80 short, so heeting
The days and hours of 1t that we count &C
precious are flying over our heads / K clouds
on a windy day. See! While you are fasten.
ing to your breast that honored badge Of the
Grand Army it fades and grows dim. Every
time we say good night at the camp fire, anc
every time we meet and part on Decoration
day, arc but preludes to that eternal sepa-
ration we must shortly make. Shall ] mourn
then the fate Of these, my comrades, VIII
passed over only a little before, with tn
sweet assurance that they had died for thel: