Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-06-01

victory!
The principles that underlie the existence
OF Memorial day are older than the written
history of the race, and in its present
observances it deals with experiences that are
the property of living men.
1t is not new indeed that humanity honOrs
the grander elements of its nature. Strange
would it be if it were otherwise. and in this
the world has not been idle, but every where
has recognized as leaders and benefactors
according to the methods of its peoples and
the plans of their progress in civilization,
those who have been champions and de-
Tenders of the people and the true glory of
nations.
Our exercises have no novelty to please
the curious, little in speech that is new or
strange, yet so closely are they interviewer
with the national and individual experiences
of the living, that they come to us fresh and
new each succeeding year, with the sane
stirring thoughts and priceless memories to
strengthen and soothe and bless. as the sun
shine which has poured its flood of life and
light and beauty upon the earth through all
the ages, is new and grateful every morning,
as it passes the gates of the east with all the
gorgeous coloring that embellishes the birth
of a new day.
Happily on occasions like this, whether we
study the distant past or review recent
events; examine the records of peaceful
years or turn the crimson pages where war
has place, we cannot fail to note the progress
OF the common people, to see in the reduc-
ing distance the low level of the position
they held in that earlier day rising to better
and loftier place, as they builded better than
they knew in the recognition and honor they
gave to heroic deeds and worthy examples,
to establish individual AMI national honor
and success.
In a field so wide. soil so fresh, and
freedom so limitless as this new world formerly
presented, ii was not strange that among the
wheat of free institutions to be grown perma
nently upon these shores there should spring
up the tares of evil, in an aristocracy selfish
and exacting, that under the warm sunshine
of the South, threatened to overshadow and
choke out the planting made at so great cost.
The winds of public opinion could not remove
them, and even against the low breath of
prayer the thorns of their arrogance stood out
in defiance, and they spread widely assuming
to prosper by divine decree and special ordi-
nation, till nothing but the stern plowshare of
war, the sharp blade of the sword, and the
fiery breath of battle could uproot them and
purify the soil, on which over all this broad
land the blessings of good government for all
the people should grow and spread and pros
per forever.
How like strange dream it seems today;
the wild assumption of property in man, and
the passionate endeavor IN this land and age
to establish government upon it as a chief
element-yet it held the hearts of men, en-
trenched itself in court ard capital, and
hung a cloud over our political sky, dark and
terrible indeed, while the hearts of men beat
heavily with forebodings of the future, till
out of its dark bosom on that April morning,
the lghtnings of war flashed and the spell
was broken. Backward and forward across
the land and the adjoining seas it rolled, and
the pitiless storms spared not the best and
bravest of our people.
These Memorial days become indeed grand
milestones in the journey of life, whore We
may gather strength and confidence, and
brighten the links of that universal chain,
which binds us to the nation and to each 9th
er, and l0oses not this side the grave.
As comrades of a great organization which
recognizes the uses of politics and the bles
sings of religion, yet knows not and can
never know or assist, as such, either party in
one, or sects in the other we do not as
sumo to surpass in our work the philan-
thropic institutions that have labored so long
and will and still grandy work for humanity.
Yet in our special fields we may utilize our
work for one another, and keep warm and
bright the sympathy the nation has so fully
expressed Tor Its defenders, and on each re-
curreice OF inns Memorial DAY rene" our
proud pledges to
"Rc generous to the crippled braves
"Who were the Comrades of the dead,
care for their interest and keep green the
memories of the denorted. remembering that
Garth makes M greater exhibition of love for
friend or country. than that man lay down
b;s 20 in tbeir defence.
~ ,,,, oo,rados those rcd lester days
have special Significance. We recognize
thon, oil as milestones in the worlds progress
and arc not careless observers of memorials
If The M st that teIl the story of heroic effort
or mark the sacred spots where great deeds
u,are do,a for those are ours in part as the
common HERITAGE of humanity. We stand
viii hnsbad voices before the modest monu-
mcnt at Lexington where the ..embattled