The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1888-05-24

I
the institutions of FREQ America Even tn
children and grandchildren of Anarchist
educated in our common schools and breath
Ing the air of this good land will be loyal I,
the American Republic and take their plac
among law abiding citizens,
Neither is conflict with othor nations
probable. Would England attack us' No
France on one side and Ireland on the othe
would prohibit Would Germany attacl
us? mol Russia would be on its flanks il
few days, Would Russia attack us! No
Three or four beligerent nations would for
bid it. No foreign nation could afford TO
assail this country, for there would be toe
much in front and too much in the rear.
But suppose foreign nations, jealous OF Oul
prosperity, should band together because o
real or imaginary affrontl That admit i
barely possibly. During our civil war Their
were two or three nations tint could hardly
keep their hands off of us. II foreign ma
tions should combine against us we want mer
like those of 1872 and like those who Tough
on both sides in 1863. We want them all III
and down the coast, Pulaski and Fort Sum
ter, in the same chorus of thunder as Fort La
| fayette and Fort Hamilton, men who viii
not only know how to fight but how to die
When such time comes, if it ever does come
the generations on the stage of action viii
uay: ''My country will care for my family al
they did in the Soldiers Asylums for orphan!
in the Civil War; and my country will honol
my dust as it honors those who preceded me
In patriotic sacrifice and once year, at any
rate on Decoration day, shall be resurrected
into the remembrance Of those for whom !
died. Here go, for God and my countryI
II foreign foe should ever come, all sectional
animosities would be oblitefated, and eide by
side would 90 into conflict the volunteers ol
New York and Alabama, and Massachusetts,
and Louisiana, and Michigan and Georgia
North, South, East and West, each carrying
its part in the great harmony, the bass, tht
alto, the tenor the soprano, in the Grand
March of the Union.
| But what is the use of regiment in time
of peace. Among other things it teaches the
Importance Of drill, and more Of that we
want in all departments. Learning that there
is no success without it in regimental ranks,
men will learn that there is no success with.
| out it in commercial ranks, in mechanical
ranks, in professional ranks, in religious
ranks In order to accomplish anything for
| God, or the betterment Of the human
race, it must be drill, drill. drill.
| Some, because they cannot be successful as
reformatory or Christian workers at once,
are discouraged. 1t seems so easy to bar.
gain, SO easy to edit, so easy to preach, so
easy to sculpture statue and draught a
house and execute picture and medicate a
wound that they will try it; but, if they find
it is only by continual toll and practice that
they can get to be expert, or to do anything
worth the name of achievement, they sur
render. 1t is through oft-repeated drill or
never at all, that we learn, in all our Chris
tian and worldly work, to keep rank
Another use of regiment in time of peace
IS to back up the law and help in its execu-
ton There is great deal of cheap wit
about citizen soldiery, but again and again in
all our cities the life of the city has been
saved by the home guards, and then the
cheap wit has been turned into grateful adj
miration. 1t is very healthful thing for
the roughs in all our cities to understand
that behind the police and the constabulary
force there are military companies drilled
and ready, if need be, at short notice to de-
fend the safety of our homesteads.
Another use Of regiment in time Of
peace is its demonstration of the use of sure
marlsman. What ought to be done at all
ought to be done we'll What we want in
our reformatory movements and our pulpits
Is to learp how to take good aim. There is
SO much moral ammunition and strength
wasted from the fact that we are not good
marksmen. We are apt to aim too high or
too low, and to hit everything but the centre.
Much of our time at doing good is a circum-
locutlon and hit or miss contest, battle
with blank cartridges, pulling the trig-
ger with our eyes shut.
Another use of a regiment in time of peace
Is to teach the necessity of obedience. A
child that will not mind is on the way to ruin
and man who never learns to bow to au-
thority is an outlaw. So cheerful obedience
to superior authority is an absolute requisite
to good society. What so inpressively illus
trates this-as regiment, the private obedient
to the captain, the ceptain obedient to the
colonel, the colonel obedient to the general,
the general obedient to the governor, the
governor obedient to the President! May
the President always be obedient to God!
Law, whether military or civil, what a
sublime thing There is only one thing
in the universe to which the great God ever
bows, and that is to law. Although made
by Himself, He bows to it, By that the uni
verse is drilled and the consultations are
companies and the galaxies are regiments,
and the blazing midnight heavens are the
parade ground where the stellar armies
march and countermarch, and so complete is
the drill that in thousand years they do not
make a mistake of second in time or an
inch in space.
Another use Of regiment in time Of peace 1,
the impression of good citizenship; for the
welfare of city, State and nation you are en-.
listed. All that many people do for their
country is to growl and have to pay taxes.
If within you is the right spirit, every hour
you pass in military service is a patriotic
offering and will have divine reward
is physical recuperation. Anything thai
takes man bent over the desk of a counting
house and makes him straight, and those wht
are wearing out with the drudgery OF factory
and shop and lifts them into the exhilaratiou
of wel-lighted, well-ventilated, well-gov
erned armory, is something upon which
want to pronounce and do pro
nouce apostolic benediction. The mil
lennum of Christian man is far off or
L,r; =
or bad. What we want in this great battle
for God and the truth is host of giants, and
the armories of the national guard are doing
their share toward producing them. While
yon get your soul right before God, get your
body right, your respiration long and full and
deep, your backbone straight as ramrod,
your face ruddy and beaming and uplifted,
your step elastic, your grip firm, your pulses
regular as a drum-beat. Men of the Thir-
teenth regiment, your soul right and your
body right, then wheel ell into the service OF
God Tonight enlist for time and eternityl
Historians tell us of the great battles of the
world. Salamis and Chalons, Marathon,
Waterloo and Gettysburg, but the greatest
battle is yet to be fought, and that is
printers type cannot prophesy, but when it
does come we want to be of the
right mettle and on the right side.
We want not only to be Christians,
but rugged Christians, not afraid of hard
ship and only exhilarated by attack. Asso-
ciated together for little while, let us re-
member that the time comes when we
must answer for all our opportu-
mites. A day of august inspection
and review approaches We sometimes
talk about earthly military reviews, such as
look place in Paris in the time of Marshal
Ney; in London. in the time of Wellington;
and in our own land. But what tame things
with the final review, when all the
armies of the just shall pass for divine and
ANGELIC insDection-
Hark to the trumpet blast and reveille Of
the resurrection! They come up. All the |
armies of all lands and all centuries on which |
ever side they fought, whether for freedom |
or despotism, for the right or wrong. They
come. They come. Darius and Cyrus and |
Sennacherib and Joshua and David, |
leading forth tine armies of Scriptural times, |
and Hamilcar leading forth the |
armies Of the Carthagenians. Victor EN- /
manuel and Garibaldi leading on the armies |
Of the Italians Tamerlane and Ghengis Khan |
followed by the armies of Asia; Gustavus
Adolphus and Ptoemy Philopater and |
xerxes and Alexander and Semiranies |
md Washington leading host after
lost. The dead American armies
If l776 and 1879, and one million of Northern
md Southern dead in our civil war. They /
'ome up. They pass on in review The six
million fallen in Napoleouic battles the