The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1888-06-07

If the great Judge, who we have been
taught Will some DAY Judge the ssquick
/ and the dead.D possesses the character
sometimes associated with his name
the old soldier viii on that great day,
reeeive q speedy and triumphant hear.
ing.
Our generous, magnanimous and re
Vered president, Father Abraham, viii
be there; he viii volunteer to defend
every one of his old soldier boys. II
may be that in many instances his on
IL defense will be the defendants rec
ord as a soldier, but such l am per-
suaded, viii be the strength and effica-
cy of unseifish patriotism, that the man
who on that trial can produce an hon
orabIe discharge properly authenticat-
| ed, and with it presents TO the equita-
1 BILE discretion Of the All-Merciful
Judge, as only Abraham Lincoln can
present, the patriotic story of his en-
istment, service, suffering and sacri-
fees In the cause Of .sGod and home
| and native land, - his record otherwise
| will be VilIaInous indeed If he does not
escape incarceration in that sulphurous
| guard-house over which that prince of
rebels, his Satanic Majesty, presides as
officer of the day.
/ have been led to believe that dec
Grafton day, in its true and rational
sense, Is merely q public tribute to that
alI-pervadinR spirit of patriotism
which Is universally recognized and adj
mired the world over. Every soldier,
from his own standpoint, is a patriot.
Patriotism IS not confined 70 any race
or people. Whether shown by the en-
lightened Anglo-Saxon race, the untu-
tored savage, soldier clad in blue, or
soldier clad in gray, it is still the
same grand and glorious sentiment.
| It is In this broad and general sense,
1t seems to me, that the exercises
OF this day appeals to the popular
mind, and especially to the young and
growing generations about US. These
beautiful ceremonies impress them
with the idea that it is honorable to
be a patriotic citizen, honorable to do
so, to dare. and if necessary to die, for
ones country. Our daughters catch
the patriotic thought, that to
be brave soldier is to be noble man,
to die in heroic defense of home and
country, the grandest act of patriotic
manhood. These impressions grow
with their growth, and become an in
separable part of their lives, and if in
their way II shall ever be necessary, we
may confidently expect, that they,
like their heroic mothers, will inspire
their husbands and sons with such
strength of patriotism, that valiant
men win ever be at hand to defend and
perpetuate all that we and our COM
rades fought to secure.
A few years more and among all who
meet on Decoration Day not one
living comrade can be found, if per-
chance one and only one is found,
that one will be sought after, will be
hOnored as the last of a race of heroes,
as the remaining link between the
living and the dead, fair hands amid
strains Of patriotic music will crown
his venerable head with rosy garlandS,
while he recounts to them the valorOuS
deeds of his dead comrades, their dead
ancestors. Tales of heroism thus told
will be so impressed upon the mind
and memory of those who listen, that
upon the perpetual stream of ira
dition, they Will decend from
generation to generation, and hand
in hand with them will go the quick
ened seeds of patriotism. The general
tendency of the influence of this day is
to broaden and intensity the patriotism
of the country, not a patriotism that is
measured by the color of uniform or
modified by anything growing out of
| or belonging to thesWar of the rebellion,
but patriotism that is limited only by
the EXTREMIST boundaries of this mag
nificent country-a patriotism that is
represented by one country, one flag
and one united people.
For the sake of the influence which
this practice may have toward the per-
manent unification of the people of our
country 1, speaking for myself, say let
the ''Blue and the Gray be decorated
alike wherever they are buried to-
gether.
am aware that many members of
the Grand Army of the Republic hest
tate and even refuse to assent to this
feature of decoration day. This feel
| ing of opposition is a very natural one.
To large degree it possesses the most
of us. We cannot help it. We are but
human at best. We can concede that
the boys in gray brayely and CALAMITY
| defended that which they believed to be
best for themselves, their immediate
homes and their states, To them the
state was their country. They recog-
niZed no other allegiance. Their patri-
| Otism was confined within the bOunda-
| ries of their state. In this idea of pa
triotism we differed with them. Gould
we, however, forget our own personal
convictions as to right or wrong OF
the rebellion, we could as readily con-
cede that they were actuated in al
they did by the same general sentiment
of the heart which we are proud to call
patriotism when applied to ourselves
or comrades. We have no disposition
to exult over anything that has passed
or to do them any injustice in any re-
spect. We appreciate to the fullest ex
tent that the war is over, and If it has
brought grief to us, if our wives WERE
made widows and our children orphans
we were not the only sufferers; those
who sent these disasters upon us have
good reason to remember the occasion
when it was done; they have their sor
rows also. These considerations arr
mutual, and part of the inevitable
consequences of war. This idea il
beautifully expressed in the following
extract from an anonymous poem de
scribing battle scene:
Two soldiers, lying as they fell
Upon the Redeemed clay
In day time foes; at night in peace
Breathing their lives away:
: Brave hearts had stirred each manly breast
Fate only, made them foes;
And lying, dying. side by side,
softened feeling rose.
sour time Is short" one faint voice said;
To-day we've done our best
On different sides: what matters now?
Tomorrow we shall rest;
Life lies behind. might not care
, For only my own sake;
I That this days work will break"
among New Hampshire's snowy hills
There pray for me tonight,
. a
? With hair like golden light;
! And at the thought broke forth, at last
The cry of anguish wild,
That could no longer be repressed,
so God! my wife and childP'
D ''Apd, :" said the other dying man,
8 ACROSS the Georgia plain
4 There watch and wait for me loved ones
j neer shall see again:
: A little girl, with dark, bright eyes,
: Each day waftE at the door;
| Her fathers step, her fathers kiss,
viii never greet her more.
e To-day we sought each others lives;
Death levels all that now;
! | For soon before Gods mercy seat
Together we shall bow.
s Forgive each other while we may;
o Lies but weary game,
And, right or wrong, the morning sun
W1n ind US dead, the same.
4 The dying lips the pardon breatbes,
= The dying hands entWine;
The last ray fades, and over all
q The stars from heaven shine;
And the little girl with golden hair,
And the one with dark eyes bright,
II On Hampshire's hills, and Georgia's plain,