Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-06-05

free government among men. he crusned
out the barbarism oflslavery and transformed
three millions of chattels into freemen and
citizens. And as one has beautifully said;
When the great nation for which they died
shall finally have achieved its full mission.
and there shall be no spot upon the face of
the globe where the equality OF man Is not
recognized, the names OF these mon inscribed
shall challenge the admiration OF all the ages
That this may be So we devoutly pray. That
it shall be so, we pledge our sacred homer.
My friends, Is it strange that one day In
each year has been set apart to enable US to
testify our devotion to those who surrendered
their lives for results so magnificent? But
the heroes who accomplished these results
were not strangers; they were our fathers
our husbands, brothers and sons Thousands
of them sleep to-day in the graveyard at the
old home. The same sky hangs over their
graves to-day, into whose blue depths they
looked when they were boys. The same hearts
beat in tenderness for them now that warmed
toward them in the happy days at home. The
sharp papgs of grief have passed away.
but mother, wife and sister visit the graves of
tn cir lost ones as they were wont to do. The
widow to-day strews flowers upon her hus'
bands grave, and he heeds it not. The or
phan hangs upon the slab which marks the
last resting place of his father, garlands of
| tilial gratitude and affection-he heeds it not
The father and:mother repair to the hill-side'
and with sorrowing hearts, robe his last rest
ing place with the flowers of spring, and the
| boy heeds it not. hut the widow, the orphan
| and the parent all know that the cause in
which the husband, father ard son perished
| is as sacred as thememory Of the loved ones.
In a late visit to the South, sought the
| spot where more than twelve thousand of
our heroic dead were buried. The place
| of interment was fittingly chosen. The
ground Is elevated, fronting and looking
upon the dark waters of the Tennessee river
symbol of the River of Death which they
! had crossed. Ascending behind, and above
them. on the spur of the mountain, rises a
ledge of rock-symbol of the Rock of Ages on
which the dying had rested in that final hour
Near by is the point of Lookout mountain
overlooking and guarding their sacred dust.
Many are thea recollections that crown the
| mountain and render sacred for all time the
patriotic memories of the dead. Amid seem
! cry variegated and magnificent, with skies
| soft and clear as those which bend above the
faded splendors Of Italy within sight of the
ie Ids of Missionary Ridge and Chicamauga,
once Redeemed with their blood, sleepeth some
| OF our loved ones. Who would wish to recall
them back to earth?
| He who lives only in the present is but a
brute, and has not attained to human dignity.
| We look toward the future, but little of it is
known-clouds and darkness rest upon it. We
yearn to become acquainted with it's hidden
secrets; we stretch out our arms toward It's
| shadOwy inhabitants; we invoke our poster
ity, but they answer us not. We wander INTO
| the dim precincts until reason becomes con-
fused, and at last start back in fear, like mar
iners who have entered an unknown sea, of
| whose winds, tides, currents and Quick-sands
we are wholly ignorant. Then it is we turn
for relief to the past, that mighty reservoir OF
men and things.
| With thoughts like these in reverent soil
tude, we walked amcn9 the twelve thousand
graves, and into the vast confines of the past
we wandered in its precincts. We went forth
to the battlefield and saw the glitterine
squadrons, and listened with a pleasing fear
| to the bugle and the drum, or the still more
terrible music of the booming cannon, the
screaming shell and the clashing arms. We
saw the hospital full of the sick and dead; we
saw the newly-made grave. We approached
the beloved dead. and they refused not oul
invocation. We will speak to them anC they
shall answer U.S. With one voice they say un
TO US: I'VE cannot do with less than the whole
Union; to US it admits OF no division. In our
veins flow Northern and Southern blood; how
the best affections Of the heart, the noblest
instincts of our nature2 Accursed, then, be
the hand put forth to loosen the golden cord
Of Union-thrice accursed the traiterous lips
! which shall propose its severance. The I'm
ion cannot be dissolved. Its fortunes are toe
brilliant to be marred; its destinies too pow
erful to be resisted"
But why should we weep for the heroic
dead? We envy their calm rest. ''Deatt
makes no conquest of these, 'for now they
live in fame though not in life." Gloriously
did they die, those who rendered up their
lives in battle. They fulfilled the highest
duty mankind owes to this world. They died
for their country. They fell upon stricken
fields which their valor had already half won
The voice of victory was in their ears. and
their dying gaze was turned proudly upon
the triumphant stars and stripes. Honor
eternal honor, to the brave who baptized
their patriotism in their blood. Our tears
fall fast and free, but they flow rather for
the living than the dead, for the Nations loss
for the desolate tireside, for father, mother
wife, and sister bereaved of their cherished
and loved ones. For them we weep but not
| Tor Cle QeaQ.
1t is fitting upon this occasion to remember
the surviving soldiers, our living heroes. II
is a noble sight worthy the genius of this
great Republic to behold, at the call of their
country, whole armies leap forth in battle
array and then, when their services are nc
longer needed. fall quickly back and com,
mingle again with the communities from
whence they came. Great and happy country
where:every citizen can be at once converted
into an effective soldier; every soldier forth
with into peaceful citizn. We now know
the mighty nerve and muscle of the Republic,
We evoke armies as If by magic, rapidly as
they came forth from the sowing of the
dragons teeth, at a nod they disappear, as
though the earth had opened and swallowed
them up. But they are not gone; you will
find them in the field, in the workshop, in the
mines, in the chambers of the sick, at the
bar, in the pulpit, and IN the councils Of the
country and as Maoaulay said of Crom.
wells old soldiers, wherever one of them
has engaged in trade or profession, he is a
man of mark for faithfullness and diligence.
Said Napoleon. "Were I to name all those
| who have been distinguished by acts OF