The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1888-06-07
MEMO RIAL DAY.
The Soldiers of the Late War Re-
member Their Comrades Who
Have Gone Before.

Have Gone Before.
| Once again the annual recurrence OF
Memorial day has called up to the minds
| oil the people the memory OF the brave
| men who gave their lives to Hrserve the
| nation.
| The whole country, in the large cities in
the towns, in the villages and even in the
| country church yard, honor was done to
the brave soldiers over whose memory
| flowers were strewn. At St. Paul the de-
monstration was like that in other
cite, cities, =: ana N an extract from the GRAFTON OF
| Col. Z. H. Kerr will serve as n sample of
the thousands that were delivered else.
| where. Col. Kerr said
| Ii indeed there be anything in past asso.
Citations lit to affect the mind OF man, we
need not strive to subdue the emotions
which press upon us here, for these men,
| whom you have met here to honor, pur-
| chased our present prosperity and paid for
| it with Their blood, illustrating again and
| attestlng the truth as old as the world that
| only thus by sacrifice and fiery trial and sor-
| row, can either nations or individuals be
purined and made fit to be prosperous and
| happy. Every noble crown is. on earth, and
| will forever be u crown OF thorns The man
who has lived in this country for the last
thirty years has attained an experience
| and-reacaed full stature of mani hood
| compared with which the nine hundred
y
but as the teeting existence OF Il child. For
we live in thoughts, not years; in heart
| beats, not In figures on a dial.
GAINED AN EMPTY PRIZE
can remember as though it wer hnt yes-
teruay where was twenty-six We 90 to-
| day 1 think it was just about iii me of
the day on May 30. 1862, that L marched
with my regiment over the abandoned works
aud into the deserted streets of Corinuh.
That was. indeed, gloomy period in the
history of the war. The campaign in the
East had proved total failure. Beaure-
gard, through the imbecility of Hallock, had
| escaped from Cornth unmo,ssted with his
entire army. and with all his material and
munitions of war. Gloom had settled like
| pail upon the hearts of the people, and al
ready the cry was reaching the army that
the war against rebellion had proved i fail
ure. On! weak OF faith! Trembling in
doubt and despair when indomitabe will!
and fearless courage alone ccu.d save the
nation. Where would you uoubters have
Daen to-day; ON what tempestuOus sea of
anarchy would you and all of us be. drifting
now, ii these and such as these, the living
and the dead of the Grand Army, had shared
in your doubts and partaken Of your fears!
Nothing that l can say or that this nation
can do will ever express tithe OF the graf
itude that should animate every patriotic
heart for the men who fought and died TO
retrieve the fortunes that seemed then and
y
of their receding tide.
THE REBELLION LoNG-CHERIsHED CHE ME-
For years the rebel leaders had nursed the
project of separate nation, with slavery as
its corner stone They may have brought
themselves to believe that their cause was
just. But my friends, it makes all the diff
ference whether we pursue certain
course because we believe it to be right,
or Judge it right because we pursue it.
pretext was the last thing such men were
likely to want, and the election of Abraham
Lincoln served their purpose. And now at
last the rebel leader stood upon his sunny
Pisgah, looking back over savage deserts OF
doubt and disappointment and delay and
forward to Canaan OF promised Joy, which
he had only the Jordan OF secession TO cross
in order to possess None but the hand that
rules above could save the nation then. The
government and all its resources we've under
the control OF Southern SympathiZers. Wash
ington was full OF rebels openly proclaiming
their treason in the very halls OF congress
and the mansion of the CHIEF executive
Washington was also full OF Northern men.
politicians mostly, who were crying God
save the country. but the Cry simply meant
God save my place and my fortune The
prayer of the South in Washington was let
me live upon the fruit of other mems in
dustry, and the prayer OF the Northern poll
tician at the capital was let me fatten upon
the plumber of the public. Fort Sumpter
was attacked and civil war was upon U.S.
Then uprose that mighty host in the North,
not OF politicians. not of seekers for place or
plunder, but of the honest masses, the MAIN
stay and support Of every republic To
these masses belong the credit and the
honor of that wars success.
THE WAR NOT HOLIDAY EXCURSION
1t was no holiday excursion over summer
seas as you well know. At last we thought
the end drew near But the South still hal
corn bread and roasting ears, there was still
lead and gunpowder, and while these means
of sustaining and destroying life remained
iI seemed as though the South was de-
termined to prolOng the struggle. The same
bipartisan masses who had fought the bat
ties OF the Union fought again ut the polls
aad in legislative halls the battle of recon
struction. The result is before you to-day.
THE LESSONS TAUGHT.
Now, what are the lessons all this teaches
to US, TO be taught in turn by US to our chill
dren on occasions such as this? Primarily,
that this is q union, and not a confederacv
merely Second, that slavery, in whatso-
ever form it may rise it's hydra head, has
been banlshed from this land fOrevermore
Third, that liberty, our sacred heritage
from the forefathers. is handed down again
by us to our children, sancttied anew by our
toll and treasure and blood; but, above all
things, that the liberty thus transmitted is
not lawlessness. 1t is not the liberty on the
one hand TO die by starvation, or on the
other to run riot with unbridled license, but
is founded on the rock of obedience to law
and respect for government. That political
liberty is means, not an end, and q means
valuable chiefly as the great safeguard of
order, OF property and morality. Fourth,
it teaches the lesson that the safety of the
country depends in the future as in the past,
not upon the professional politician or
spokesman, but upon the virtuous and intel
ligent mass of the people, and that
the highest honor our children can
attain is to be Gassed with the
latter as distinguished from the former.
stand up openly for truth and all true men.
and let this and this only be their creed and
their party. In all human probability these,
our comrades who died that such principles
might live, are as much without successors
az the martyrs of the church. but they are
canonzed in the hearts of ali generations,
and are yet living to all bv the memory of
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 to-day? Not
surely to shadow forth our grief and sorrow
at tueir fate 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 ever spoken
the language OF love and constancy and
gratitude and Joy And they appropriately
speak that language here.
SOON WILL BE THE LAST CAMP FIRE
Why should we mourn these honored
graves? Life at best is SO short, SO fieeting!
The days and hours of it that we count 80
precious are flying over our heads like clouds
on windy day. See! While you are fasten-
ing to your breast that honored badge of the
Grand Army it fades and grows dim. Every
time we say good night at the camp fire, and
every time we meet and part on Decoration
day, arc bat preludes to that eternal sepa-
ration we must shortly make Shall mourn
then the fate of these, my comrades, who
passed over only q little before, with the
sweet assurance that they had died for their
country and would be remembered with
grateful hearts and with floral offerings of
praise and love by generations yet unborny
Nay, verify! II the spirits OF these patriotic
men are looking down upon US to-day. as
believe they are, it is with no tinge OF regret |
that they made the sacrifice they did to ae-
cure nations safety and enjoy these endur- |
ing tokens of nations 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
hroVy In nd not hall