St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-05-31
It's Observance in st. Iohnsbury.

SOD, pastor OF tue Free DdptIsI church
from Chron. 1875,
And in those times there was ne
peace to him that went out, nor to hin
that came in, but great vexatiOns were
upon all the Inhabitants of the cOun-
tries.
After an exposition of the text and
its application to the times of % years
ago in this country, and reference tC
the increasing observance of Memorial
Sunday as we'll as of Memorial day
Mr.. Dawson said =
In the fitting stiffness of this hallOw-
ed place, and in these memorial servi-
ces for those soldiers of the Union who
have been "mustered out" it is we'll to
ask, and try to answer, some questions
concerning the departed "bOys in
blue"
And first: Who were these men
whose memory we revere tOday7 AS
we ask the question instantly there
comes the response, "he was my faith
er, my husband, my son, my brother,
my betrothed, and my friend" There
are widows and orphans in this assem-
bly, who were made such by the war.
There is hardly family represented
here today into whose home circle the
destroying angel of war has not come.
AS | speak your thoughts fly back
through all the weary years, and You
stand once more amid the scenes of
by gone days. You had happy home,
and leaning on the strong arm of your
companion you went lovingly and
trustingly onward. But the black
cloud of rebellion rolled up the south
ern sky, and the mutterings of distant
thunder disturbed your quiet. By and
by the storm burst. Your husband
said little about it but you knew by
the way he looked at you sometimes
where his thoughts were, and you
braced yourself for the inevitable.
You remember that hour, when, gently
as he could, he told you what was in
his heart. You cried out at first,
trembled, and swOOned perhaps, but
you knew that somebody must go, and
though it cost mighty struggle, you
gave him up. Quickly the days flew
by, and all too soon you stood at the
car window, and held his hand mo-
ment, and then he was swiftly whirled
away to the seat of war. The weeks
dragged along now, battle after battle
was fought. The tornado of woe swept
over the nation again and again, many
were slain with whom yOu were ac-
quainted, but after every battle mis-
sive came through the next mail that
your companion was safe. But alas
there came fatal day. News came
that great battle was about to be
fought, the next day it had begun the
next day it was still going on; the
next it was ended, and there were
twenty thousand slain. With trembl-
ing hands you opened the paper, ran
your eye quickly down the long list of
the killed, caught sight of name that
thrilled you, and then-you knew no
more, until returning consciousness re-
vealed the room full of sympathizing
neighbOrs, many of whom had passed
through the same experience. That is
the history of thousands of widows all
over the land. Oh, what drama that
was Four years of heart break Four
years of gravedigging Four years of
funeralsi Four years of hell let loose
And what an army that was. Six
months before the shot was fired on
Sumter, the vast majority of the men
were busily engaged in the peaceful
avOcatiOns of business life, and were as
ignorant of military science as child
rem. Some nations glory in their mill
tary powers, and train their citizens to
the arts of war. They dedicate their
children from their cradles to the hard
ships and fatigues of soldiers life !;
they are trained to war, and forbidden
manual labor. They are butchers by
profession, and think no more of as
sassinatiOn by wholesale than of
Strengthening sheep for the market. But
it was not so with the men who fought
our battle. Thousands of men enlist
ed who had never shot any larger game
than the gray squirrels of their native
woods; who had to be taught the
simplest rudiments of the manual of
arms who could not strike a tent, nor
fix bayonet, nor tear cartridge. In
the expressive language of the times
they were indeed "raw recruits In
New England the lumberman laid
aside his axe, the fisherman his net,
the artisan his hammer, the scholar his
book, and put on the Union blue. In
the middle states, the merchant and
the miner, the teacher and the pupil,
the lawyer and the clergyman, for
sock their avOcations, and "shOuldered
arms" In the West, the farmer and
trapper, the herdsman and banker,
gave up their temporal prospects, and
strapped the knapsack upon their
shoulders. In the South. the redeem
ed black man, responded to the call of
"Father Abraham" and with loyalty
and self-sacrifice, and courage as great
as any displayed by his northern al
lies, flung himself into the breach for
liberty and the Union.
But secondly: What was the motive
that inspired the soldiers of the I'm
ion Was it hate 7 Oh, not If you
want to find soldiers actuated by that
motive you must find troops who
marched under Il different banner, and
wore a uniform of different color
South Carolina might speak in taunt-
ing language of northern men as
"mudsiIls :" and Georgia might put up
on her statutes standing offer of
$1,000 for the body of William Lloyd
Garrison, dead or alive. But Massa-
chusetts and California, disregarding
all that, sent back the calm, but steady
answer, "The Union, it must and shall
be preserved" The dead Union sol
der had heart that could not be cir
cumscribed by Mason and Dixon's
line, his love of country overleaped all
barriers, and took in New Orleans as
well as Boston, Atlanta and Charles
ton, and Vicksburg and Richmond, as
we'll as Chicago and San Francisco and
New York. He loved a national gov
eminent and national flag Our
martyr president Lincoln put it all in
to single sentence when he said to
the surging crowd who had determined
to prevent his Inauguration, "My dis
satisfied ACKNOWLEDGING, you can
have no conflict without being your