Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-05-18

1
the institutions Of free America. Even the
| children and grandchildren of Anarchists
| educated in our common schools and breath.
ing the air of this good land will be loyal to
the American Republic and take their place
among law-abiding citizens.
Neither is conflict with other nations
probable. Would England attack usl mol
France on one side and Ireland on the other
would prohibit. Would Germany attack
usl MOI Russia would be on its TANKS in
few days, Would Russia attack u.s. MOI
| Three or four belligerent nations would for.
| bid it. No foreign nation could afford to
assail this country, for there would be too
much in front and too much in the rear
But suppose foreign nations. jealous OF our
prosperity, should band together because of
real or imaginary affronti That | admit is
| barely possibly. During our civil war there
were two or three nations that could hardly
| keep their hands Off of us. If foreign ma.
tions should combine against us we want men
like those of 1912, and like those who fought
on both sides in 1863 We want them all up
| and down the coast, Pulaski and Fort Sum.
ter, in the same chorus of thunder as Fort La.
fayette and Fort Hamilton, men who will
not only know how to fight but how to die.
When such time comes if it ever does come,
the generations on the stage of action will
say: my country will care for my family as
they did in the Soldiers Asylums for orphans
IN Une ClVll war, ana my country VIII nOnOT
my dust as it honors those who preceded me
in patriotic sacrifice and once year, at any
rate on Decoration day, ] shall be resurrected
INTO the remembrance OF those for whom L
died. Here go, for God and my countrym
If foreign foe should ever come all sectional
nnimosities would be obliterated, and side by
side would go into conflict the volunteers of
New York and Alabama, and Massachusetts
and Louisiana, and Michigan and Georgia,
North, South, East and West each carrying
its part in the great harmony, the bass, the
alto, the tenor, the Soprano in the Grand
March of the Union.
But what is the use of q regiment in time
of peace. Among other things it teaches the
Importance of drill, and more of that we
want in all departments. Learning that there
is no success without it in regimental ranks,
men will learn that there is no success with
out it in commercial ranks, in mechanical
ranks, in professional ranks, in religious
ranks. In order to accomplish anything for
God, or the betterment of the human
race, it must be drill, drill, drill.
Some, because they cannot be successful as
reformatory or Christian workers at once,
are discouraged. 1t seems so easy to bar
gain, so easy to edit, so easy to preach, so
easy to sculpture a statue and draught
house and execute q picture and medlcate
wound that they will try it; but, if they find
it is only by continual toll and practice that
they can get to be expert, or to do anything
worth the name of achievement, they sur
render. 1t is through oft-repeated drill or
never at all, that we learn, in all our Chris
tian and worldly work, to keep rank.
Another use of regiment in time of peace
is to back up the law and help in its execu-
tion. There is a great deal of cheap wit
about citizen soldiery, but again and again in
all our cities the life of the city has been
saved by the home guards, and then the
cheap wit has been turned into grateful adj
miration. 1t is a very healthful thing for
the roughs in all our cities to understand
that behind the police and the constabulary
force there are military companies drilled
and ready, if need be- at short notice to de-
fend the safety of our homesteads.
Another use of a regiment in time OF
peace is its demonstration of the use of a sure
marksman. What ought to be done at all
ought to be done well. What we want in
our reformatory movements and our pulpits
is to learn how to take good aim. There is
SO much moral ammunition and strength
wasted from the fact that we are not good
marksmen. We are apt to aim too high or
too low, and to hit everything but the centre.
Much of our time at doing good is circum-
locution and hit or miss contest, q battle
with blank cartridges, pulling the trlg-
ger with our eyes shut.
Another use of regiment in time of peace
is to teach the necessity of obedience. A
child that will not mind is on the way to ruin
and q man who never learns to bow to au-
thority is an outlaw. So cheerful obedience
to superior authority is an absolute requisite
to good society. What so impressively illus
trates this as regiment, the private obedient
to the captain, the ceptain obedient to the
colonel, the colonel obedient to the general
the general obedient to the governor, the
governor obedient to the President! May
the President always be obedient to Godl
Tou Tybnthar military ~ civil what n
sublime thingl There is only one thing
in the universe to which the great God ever
bows, and that is to law. Although made
by Himself, He bows to it. By that the uni
verse is drilled and the consultations are
companies, and the galaxies are regiments,
and the blazing midnight heavens are the
parade ground where the stellar armies
march and countermarch, and so complete is
the drill that in thousand years they do not
| make a mistake of second in time or an
/ inch in space.
! Another use of regiment in time of peace is
the impression of good citizenship; for the
welfare of city, State and nation you are en-
listed. All that many people do for their
country is to growl and have to pay taxes.
If within you is the right spirit, every hour
| you pass in military service is patriotic
offering and will have divine reward
Another use of regiment in time of peace
is physical recuperation. Anything thai
| takes a man bent over the desk of a counting
| house and makes him straight, and those wht
are wearing out with the drudgery of factory
and shop and lifts them into u. exhilaratior
of a wel-lighted, well-ventilated, well-goy
erned armory, is something upon which
want to pronounce and do pro
nouce apostolic benediction. The mil
| lennium of Christian man is far Off oil
near by in proportion as his digestion is gooc
or bad. What we want in this great battle
for God and the truth is a host of giants, anc
the armories of the national guard are doing
their share toward producing them. While
you get your soul right before God, get YOU
body right, your respiration long and full anC
deep, your backbone straight as a ramrod
your face ruddy and beaming and uplltted
your step elastic, your grip firm, your pulses
regular as drum-beat. Men of the Thir
teenth regiment, your soul right and your
body right, then wheel all into the service of
God Tonight enlist for time and eternity
Historians tell us of the great battles of the
world, Salamis and Chalons, Marathon,
Waterloo and Gettysburg, but the greatest
battle is yet to be fought, and that is
Armageddon. Whether with bullet or
printers type cannot prophesy, but when it
right mettle and on the right side.
We want not only to be Christians,
but rugged Christians, not afraid of hard
ship and only exhilarated by attack Asso-
ciated together for little while, let us re-
member that the time comes when we
must answer for all our opportu-
mites. A day of august inspection
and review approaches. We sometimes
talk about earthly military reviews, such as
ftook place in Paris in the time of Marshal
Ney; in London, in the time of Wellington
and in our own land. But what tame things
compared with the final review, when all the
armies of the just shall pass for divine and
angelic inspection.
Hank to the trumpet blast and reveille o.
the resurrection They come up All th,
armies of all lands and all centuries on which
ever side they fought, whether for freedom
or despotism, for the right or wrong. They
come. They come. Darius and Cyrus anc