Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1889-05-29
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS.

The following address was delivered
in the M. E. church last Sunday after.
noon at the memorial exercises by Rev
David Wilson, q. s. A., chaplain at Fort
Meade:
Some one has suggested that man
lives three lives, or more properly, that
he lives in the past, in the present and in
the future, a life of experience, of real
ization, of anticipation. Personal con-
sciousness binds us all to the "life which
now is," while memory and imagination
bind us to the past and to the "life which
is to come" Tt is well, probably, that
we can '.forget the past" and that the
future, except as ''faith reveals it lis hid
den from our sight"
All civilized people have had their
memorial days-days consecrated to the
achievements of their ancestors, their
statesmen and warriors, or days commem-
orative of great battles and victories.
These days have been celebrated in a
manner, appropriate and imposing.
England has her anniversary of Magma
Charta and the Gunpowder plot. France
her st. Bartholomew and the fall of the
Bastile. Germany her Sadowa and Sc
dan, and the United States her Inde-
pendence day.
Recently in this country we have had
the Centennial of the Constitution. A
hundred years of our country's history,
closed amid the booming Of cannon and
the pomp and pageantry of such civic
and military display as the country
never saw before.
We are gathered here today in hum
bic and unpretentious way-to commem-
crate the deeds of those who have fallen
in battle, in the "days which tried mems
souls" And it is well so to do, for
surely if anything should be remembered,
it should be the tolls, the trials, the pri-
vations and sacrifices of these brave men,
who when the very life and existence of
this nation was in peril, rushed to the
combat and gave their lives that it might
live.
Peace had happily reigned SO long
that it was feared the military spirit had
died out from among the people and
that, probably, patriotism and courage,
love of country and even the love of
liberty were no longer available in the
impending contest. College students,
and farmers boys and apprentices were
not indeed veterans, but they were never
theless erewhile the heroes of Donelson
and Shiloh-of Gettysburg and Vicks-
burg-of Fair Oaks and Appomattox.
The boys who were laughed at as unable
to ride and to fire a gun became verit-
able centaurs and formed the serried
lines which resisted like rock on many
a well-fought field.
This is emphatically the private sol
diers' memorial day. Whatever the dis
tinctions of rank and service on this day,
all rank, all distinctions are forgotten,
and tits the soldiers grave, not the Off
GERS, that is strewn with flowers. Here,
all are equal in their dreamless sleep.
All are soldiers. Nothing more. Moth
ing greater. Earth's proud distinctions
here are leveled in the dust and the
tears which wet the fragrant flowers, as
we drop them down, are only tears shed
on our heroes graves.
We honor the generals who led our
armies and whose skill as commanders
made victory possible on many hard
fought field. We know their histories
and their fame will be only more i'm
perishable and lustrous as the years
roll on. We have yet to learn more and
more of unknown and undistinguished
deeds of valor of the soldiers in the
ranks. But known or unknown, to
these we owe the results and achieve
ments of the sanguinary conflict.
1t is, especially the privilege of the
Grand Army to keep in memory the
private soldiers deeds and to secure to
those whom he has left behind the JUS
tice and substantial gratitude of re-
deemed republic
This leads us to inquire, what are the
objects of this association and why thus
seek to perpetuate indefinitely the mem
orials of internecine strife?
Nothing, probably, is ever SO strong
bond of attachment as mutual privations
and sufferings. Prosperity may unite
men in the selfish ties of pecuniary adj
vaptage-bu may make men equally
vain and selfish---but those
who in our sunshine liye''
When winter comes are flown"
When it is not longer their interest to
be our friends wo look in vain for them.
But those who have suffered;with us will
not soon forget us. The bonds which
bind MS together are welded together in
the furnace OF affection and they are
our friends while life lasts.
Thus, the members of the q. A. r.
cannot soon or easily forget those who
shared with them the fatigues and hard
ships of war-the march the bivopac
the battle and even though many have
fallen they still cherish their memories
and the living members will be their
staunchest friends while life endures.