Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-09-07

morning, what shall preach to your
people, Father Woodward? "Preach
the Gospel" replied the old veteran,
and shan't forget that lesson while
/ live. And now | reckon, comrades,
all things considered, you'll say with
me, God bless tie chaplain.
And just here, somehow, my mind
and my heart recall a few of the
forerunners, the John the Baptists of
our war, and | must just mention .
few of them. for | am persuaded
they are not all among Uncle Sans
preferred creditors. The people of
these states, and especially our col
ored people will not altogether for.
get VIM. Lloyd Garrison and Gerritt
Smith and John Brown, and yet !
am sadly confident that they are not
remembered as they ought to be.
The prosperity of our country, and
especially Of the South, is what it is
to-day, very largely because of the
abolition movement, inaugurated by
Garrison, and by that intrepid leader
put upon the path to success. His
radical measures startled the world,
and men hated him for his fanati-
cism, but the years have ripened our
thought, and our calm retrospect
whispers softly, the grand old man
was right after all
Of his co-worker and helper, Ger.
rift Smith, let me read you what I
wrote when the old man died in 1874.
The man who dared to do the right,
The man who dared be true;
Who led the van in freedoms fight,
When freedom friends were few.
The man who dared befriend the slave,
At his own proper cost;
And grew more confident and brave,
When others whispered lost
The man who never yielded ground
To any Wanting foe,
And who. to save anOther's wound,
Himself received the blow.
The man who lent a list ming ear
To every human moan:
He held the stricken dOubly dear,
And made their cause his own.
This is the man who died to-day,
And died, crown TO win ;
Wide open swung the gates of Day,
To let the hero in.
But he had faults" 90, cynic, 90
To Him who can atone:
And who is sinless here below,
BE Inst TO cast stone.
Upward, along the shining street
To where the angels wait,
His noble spirit hied to greet
Saint Peter, at the gate.
But scarce delaying there his way,
Fen to receive crown;
The old man whispers, tell me, pray,
Where | may find John Brown"
And this carries us back to Har-
per's Ferry and 1859, to find another
who was not a preferred creditor.
Do you remember how our hearts
burned within us in those years?
and how, under the fiery eloquence
of Wendell Phillips and Charles
Sumner and Joshua Giddings and a
score of others among the Boanerges
of that time, our blood leaped through
our veins. The mad excitement Of
the time must find vent in the sacri-
flee of some victim, and John Brown
came to the front. He said of him
self, II am worth more to hang than
anything else" and they hung him
on that 2nd of December, 1859, and
from that day slavery was doomed.
John Brown was not without faults
but he will ever be counted among
the stars of first magnitude, in the
constellation of American heroes. l
can say no more of him just now but
some day, perhaps in the near future,
shall be glad to say of John Brown,
i'll yoW presence, what ! think and
feel You may not agree with me.
You may call him by some other
, name than hero, but we won't quar-
rel about that to-day.
And now, comrades, ! suppose you
have some preferred creditors in
Gratiot county, and perhaps few,
/. who are not among that favored
class If there be any among you
here to-day who have shared largely
in the favors dispensed by our gov
eminent, let me say, no one re-
joiceS more in your good fortune
than your fellow citizens who have
not been 50 fortunate.
We old soldiers are one, and if one
: among us be honored We are all
sharers in that honor, and on the 9TH
er hand, if one be neglected, we all
share in the regret and disappoint-
ment. We must stand by each other,
not with the mistaken zeal of those
! who led by unwise counsels, are
| blocking the wheels of business, and
bringing unhappiness and want to
| their own homes and the homes Of
, others, not as political organization,
for such an organization could only
defeat its own wishes and hopes, but
we can and must stand together, as a
loyal band of brothers, whose first
care is for our common country, and
second to this is our care one for an