The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-06-08

can0nized In the hearts OF All generations,
and are yet living TO oil bv the memory or
what they did and were. Who dares say to-
DAY that they died in vain? Why, then, DO
we meet here to strew flowers upon the
graves OF these dead heroes today Not
surely TO shadow forth our grief and sorrow
al UneIr fats Nay, not SO. Flowers, from
the day they were streWn in the triumphant
pathway of our Savior to the day when
they decorate these graves, have everspoken
the language of love and consistency and
gratitude and Joy. AID they appropriately
speak that language here.
SOON VIII BE THE LAST CAMP FIRE.
Why should we mourn these honored
graVesY Llfe at best is so short, so fieeting.
The days and hours of 10 that we count so
precious are living over our heads like clouds
on q windy day, Seel While you are fasten-
ing TO your breast that hopored badge Of the
Grand Army IL fades and grows dim. Every
time we say good night at che camp FIRE, n
every time we meet and part on Decoration
day, arc bat preludes to that eternal Repa~
ration we must shortly make. Snail / mourn
then the fate of these, my comrades. who
passed over only a little before, with the
sweet assurance that they had died for their
country and woald be remembered with
grateful hearts and with floral offerings OF
praise and love by generations vet unborn
Nay, yerilyl Ii the spirits OF these patriotic
men are looking Town upon us to-day, as /
believe they are, iti with no tinge of regret
that they made the sacrifice they did to Sc
cure a ~nation's safety and enjoy these endur-
ing tokens OF q nation's gratitude. And SO
when you drop the forget-me-not and the
rose and the violet on the honored
graves OF your comrades, you say TO
the dead who lie there, Sleep on
brave souls and not a murmur shall escape
our lips thatyou rest so nobly in the dust
You redeemed from rebellion. Certainly we
should come here to-day with malice
toward lone and charity for all. Yet / will
confess that when / recall the tolls and trials
OF those four years of war, and see how they
dotted this land all over with the graves Of
promising young men, aud filed it with
shattered constitutions and with MANNED.
and crippled bodies, / cannot repress u feel
ing OF bitterness toward the men who caused
It all. So far as the civil leaders of the
South at that time are concerned the feeling
is there to stay. 1 cannot help it It is my
human nature-the clay as it came from the
hands of the potter.
H BAN AND FILE WE'RE GuMTLEss
But with respect to the rank and nile OF the
Southern army l know that the feeling is an
unworthy one, and even as Ii recurs, MEM
ory brings before me a scene in my own
army experience. We had just repulsed a
spP ate charge Of the enemy, and were re-
turning to our rude breastworks, bearing
with as the wounded of both sides who
strewed the ground in ouf font Among
those dressed in Confederate gray was a boy,
scarce fifteen years old it seemed, with a
smooth and delicate cheek, n q clear, blue
eye, as free from guile as that of any child
before me now. We had little time TO care
for such as him, and he was laid at the root
of q tree just in the rear of our line. After
a little 1 went TO him, and offering him a
drink Of water, asked him how be felt In a
difficult whisper, the only answer he made
was: nIwant my mother They were his
last words, and as 1 gazed on his beautiful,
girltsh face, with as deep a pity as / ever
felt, his spirit passed away. And shall l. in
duige a feeling OF bitterness and hatred
against the memory of this poor, misguided
boy, and thousands more like him who filled
the rank and file of the Southern army. Goo
Forbid Nay, If / stood by his forgotten
grave to-day 1 would drop a fiower on it.
too, in pity for him and for the mother
whose name was the last word upoE his
lips
CHERISH THEIR MEMORY FOREVER
My friends, amid the tolls ana turmoils of
life 1t is a pleasant thing to know that so
many thousands yearly observe this day.
let 10 be ever thus observed. Let IL become
one Of the institutions of our country.
Teach its celebration to your children as
YOU do the Observance of Fourth OF July.
IL Is a very small return you will thus make
for the heritage of freedom bequeathed 20
you by the men you homo. l know
you viii Join me in a sentiment from an
author. whose name l have forgotten, in
honor of our soldier dead:
True men 70 fell: and faithfnl to the lasti
Though o-gerpowered by death, vet still in death
Unconquered. Holy be your memoriesl
Blessed and glorious. now aud evermore
Be your heroic namesl