The Great Falls leader. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1888-1900, 1889-05-31

GREAT FALLS,
still maintained itself against inside disaffection
ana outside pressure, and even in the decline and
1ali OF political grandeur and the decadelce of
morals and manhood 1t occasionally flashed up
with all the splend0r Of its pristine fires. Rome
honored those who died for Rome The temple,
the mausoleum the arch. the statue perpetuated
tneif memory In every shape that brick and mar
Die and bronze could Ike buided or moulded by the
nand OF genius or the Drawn of labor. Even at-
ter example had lost the power to inspire-when
the present had no force and the future no hope,
she was still city Of monuments to the past.
we build Tor use and not for remembrance III
our times; but We know how to honor the mem
cries OF those who died that the nation might
live and to cherish In the hearts Of younger ge,,-
erations the same devotion to the Union and the
constitution which may save them in other kinds
OF peril. Patriotism is the religion of America,
and nearly all our holidays are colsecrated to its
expression. We have made new one since the
close OF the war. This is our monument to the
dead, to our young men, who in the flush of
nope and youth, and fair expectancy of love and
happiness and honor, left all behind and leaped
Into the gulf to save their country.
Out OF the swamps In which their bodies were
trampled: out of the thickets in which their bones
were burned; out Of the ditch and the pit III which
friend or foe had buried them in crowded rows;
from the crtlnsoned grass of stricken fields; and
from the shadowy hooks and solitary places Of
lonely picket lines; from hospital yards and prs-
on dead lines the country gathered its fallen sons
into It's own enclosures and under the shadows
OF the flag for which they died. Here their nil
itary order Is restored in the grim alignments Of
the stones that are set at their heads and their
feet, which mark the serried columns and ranks
OF the dead below. Monuments of stone and
brass are reared only to the few conspicuous
chlefs-in death as in life, the rank and file share
In the common glory and the general honor. To
them all we have given BY law and proclamation
one day III the year, the day which should be
the most perfect day Of the loyeliest season. This
to recall their suferings, to recount their strug
giles, to glory i'll their victories, to do honor to
thelr memories The young spring passing into
the maiden house Of summer, burns the incense
OF nations gratitude over their poor remains
We bring no works Of art-but we offer the love
Hest and sweetest Of all the productions Of nature
who Is the perfection and model Of all art--we
bring the flowers Of the forest and the field
These violets for our SORROW and these roses for
our love and pride, these daisies and pansies for
our s0ace, and these lilies for our hopes Of their
glorious and eternal reward. With muftled drums
and solemn notes and draped banners we invade
the quiet OF these eternal camps, and when chal-
lenged by their sentinels-Fame and Glory-we
answer that We are "friends' who come to hang
these wreaths Of love and honor upon the ridges
fpD>t1 ,pb rtnu
ward swings"
But Of those who laid down the plough and the
hammer and took up the musket--who laid aside
the pen and the book and buckled OH the sword
many lived to return to the comfortable homes
which they had abandoned for the dreary camp
and the unsheltered blvouac They had passed
through cold and hunger-and had withstood the
heat and thirst They came back to life and
health from fever and even debility The dusty
march had not broken them down. nor the strug-
gle through maarial sWamps and muddy lowlands
overcome their energies. Some had Known the
horrible helplessness of the wounded between the
lines: some the despair Of the abandoned and
some the Inconsistencies and the horrors Of the
prison. Some had envied those who met quick
death Ill battle-and had themselves met the al
Tentative of perishng miseraby or surviving ull-
happily with shattered systems and lost vitality
Those who came out best had lost the best years
OF their young manhood The opportunity of
study, the habits Of industry, the chances to lay
the foundations for useful lives True they had
seen the pride and pomp and circumstance OF
learned its now useless arts, and weYt,
perfect In its details. But the arts of peace had
to be learned again-and they had to begin at the
foot in the fierce competition Of life. Those who
began with the beginning and remained until the
end OF the contest had seen more actual warfare
than the gizzled veterans Of foreign armies. But
what was this to their advantage now The
manned and the disabled had pensions-but the
vast mass had to make their way as best they
c0uld-with but little practical sympathy and very
few allowances for the years which they had lost
from the ranks OF industry. That under the cir
cumstances SO many made their way to the front
ranks OF life il most complimentary to the metal
Df the citizen soldier and the general character OF
the volunteer army.
The graves and cemeteries Of the war contain
The dust OF but mOiety Of the soldier dead. Times
deadly v0ileys Of hours and years have swept oil
The survivors. For long time they held their
ranks we'll, but after the passage of Il score of
years, they begin to fall US they did during the
eventful years Of service. The calling of the
names Of the absent and gone at each annual
meeting of the Grand Army sounds like the roll
after BATTLE except that the dead are far NOR.
The response comes back from places
that never knew the wounds OF conflict. From
distant continents, from foreign lands; from the
islands of the sea, from the sea itself, come back
the names of those who can no longer answer for
themselves In the explorations Of the Arctic, In
the tangled thlckets of the African continent. in
many an Indian fight upon the plains, in many Il
dark glen of the Rocky mountains, wherever action
and duty called them, the survivors of the war
have given their lives as freely as did those they
left upon the fields of battle; and in justice to
most Of those be it said, that wherever they met
their final summons they died in the line of duty
Whenever men do that they die on the field of hon
or Wherever our comrades lay they are entitled
to soldiers ObseQu1es, and the memories of this
day. In all the sleepy old villages OF the earth you
cannot find quiet graveyard over which flags
may not be waved and flowers streWn in honor OF
soldiers dust; and III these new graves, dug ont
here in lands unknown at the time OF the War, We
find that there are soldiers graves and comrades
gathered here to mourn them. During all the
war, as for ages before, this great river dashed
over its rocks and falls, its own battle Of waters
.he sound Of its own dashings alone echOng in
the solitudes, unvexed by the roar of battle that
rolled along the Potomac, the Cumberland and
Mississippi. Soon under the walls that you have
newly raised We will find the graves Of comrades,
who fought beside those rivers that you might
found a city and a state which should be part and
parcel of the one great and undivided union Of
American States, over which should float without
one star lost, but many added the flag that waved
above the cradles Of your infancy. So you gath
er beside this beautiful stream that we may say
these feeble words of praise and that your drums
mn add the notes of S0ldior,x FL