The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1889-05-31
A NATIONS DEAD.
H1noring the Memory of Those Who
Gave Up Their Lives For Their
Country.
Interesting Exercises at Great Falls
and Brilliant Grafton by Hon.
Martin Maginnis.
The President and Secretary Tracy Observe
the Day at Brooklyn The Day at
other Points.

other Points
| GREAT FALLS. May SO-[Specisl to the
independent l-Great Falls has observed
Decoration day with patriotic enthusiasm.
Last evening, Maj. Maginnis. the orator OF
the day, received public serenade. He
thanked the people for the compliment and
said when he received call from the
Grand Army post named after his dear
friend and commander, Gen. Sheridan. he
felt oJund to accept it in preference to all
| other invitations.
To-day a grand procession was formed.
composed of war veterans, fremen, civic
officers, bands of music and Leading citi-
zens in carriages and on horseback. Mai.
Maginnis was in a carriage at the head in
com pany with Mayor Fairfield, ex- Mayor
Paris Gibson, and Delegate T. Collins. All
proceeded TO pavilion IN the woods beside
the Missouri, where in the presence of a
large assemblage the exercises were carried
out. Judge Race presided. Maj. Msgin-
ni.. who was received with enthusiasm.
delivered a mastery Grafton. which was
warmly applauded. lie said:
| Comrades: In the legendary days of
| Rome. the angry gods Tor an outrage of
/ their lands, shook the world with al earth
/ quake. They caused the ground 10 open
/ that the offending city might be lowered
i into the abyss The yawning chasm
/ opened wider and wider below the threat
| eDed capitol; palaces aud temples, hCmes
| and altars tOtlered on the brink, and the
| jaws of the earth seemed 70 become instinct
| with ravenous appetite to devour the city
| which han repOsed with pride upon its
breast Out of the awful depths the voice
Of mystic Augury was heard Ii warned
fhslu ur1 only
6ce OF Its choicest spirits, of its noblest man
hood could save the city of DOOM O0ed
lent TO the dreadful summons, Curtius, the
eitiz IN soldier and patriot, leaped into the
gulf Re felt that there could be no more
acceptable sacrifice than that of
the patriot for his country: than
that of the man for his fellow men-that ne
could die no nobler death than To die for
his city, his kindred and bis home. The
earth closed over him and assumed its an
cient and immOvable solIdity. Above him
rose the glory of the city that he had re-
deemed with his life. Her arms brought
the spoil of all the world with which 10
decorate the grandest of graves, the grave
of the self buried citizen The gifted hands
of art erected the most gorgeous palaces
and the lOftiest temples above his bones.
Soul pture and painting adorned them with
ali the ornaments they could beStOw, and
elcQuence ana poetry awakened their
echoes with the praise oi the great city
which his sacrifice had saved TO be the
Some years ago the fair city of human
freedom which had been founded by the
statesmen and soldiers of the war of the
American colonies OF Great Britain for
their independence OF that power was in
danger similar to that which threatened
old Rome. A bloody chasn opened be- |
tWee the sections of the city and threat |
ened to engulf the structure which had |
been founded by Washington and his as
sOcistes. The cause was 10 the very con |
ditiOns of that foundation. The genera |
tion that was TO suffer for the |
original sin was only responsible /
OF outraged Justice rent the earth and into |
the chasm hst only one but hundreds of 4
thousands hi ave and patriotic hearts threw /
themSeives u-til eternal justice was sat |
istied. The ulVOdy chasm was closed; the /
ground under the foundations of the city of /
liberty became solid and forever fixed The /
work of building up the city goes on, and /
Will go on until its walls OF refuge and /
sanctuary embrace an empire wider than \
that over which the Roman eagles flew, /
and richer with the triumphs of peaceful i
industry, achieved under Just and equal /
conditions, than all the wealth borne by /
the chariots of cOnquering cOnSuls through |
the clamorOus streets of the imperial city.
The name and act OF Curtius through all
the history OF Rome was an Inspiration
and an example The example of the hero
was emulated in hundred ways which. If
not attended by such supernatural acces-
sories. we're Ia The individuals as fatal in
their consequences. Through all the sim
Pile and sublime years OF the republic this
devotion to the state was a primal faculty
of the citizen Under the emperOrs il still
maintained itself against inside disaffectiOn
and outside pressure, AMI even In the
decline and fall of political grandeur and
the decadence of morals and manhood 1t
occasionally flashed up with all the splen-
dor of Its pristine fires. Rome hOnored
those who died for Rome. The temple, the
mausoleum, the arch, the statue per
petuated their memory in every shape
that brick and marble aud bronze could be
builded OF moulded by the brains of genius
or the Drawn of labor. Even after exam
pie had lost the power 10 inspire-when
the present had no force and the future no
hope-she was still a city of monuments to
the past.
We build for use and not for r-merl-
brance in our times, but we know how 10
honor the memory OF those who dl that
the nation IN ght live, and TO cherish IN the
hearts of younger generations the same de-
VOtiOn to the union and the constitution
which may save them in other kinds of
peril. Patriotism Is IN the religion OF
America, and nearly all our holidays are
to liz expression. We have
made a new one since the close of the war.
This is our monument to the dead; to
our young men who in the hush of hope
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 in which friend and foe had
hurr edly buried them in crowded rows
from the crimson grass OF stricken fields
and from the shadowy hooks and solitary
places OF lonely picket lines; from hOspi-
tai yards and prison dead Lines. the c0un-
try gathered Its fallen sons into its own
and under the shadows of the
flag for which they died Here their mill
taTy order Is restored in the grim align
~ . h.4 cfs Hof ss4f ar fafr I
heads and their feet, which mark the ser
ned columns and ranks of the dead below.
Monuments of stone and brass are reared
only 10 the few conspicuous chiefs-in
death as in life lhe rank and file share in
the common glory and the general honor.
To them all we have given by law and
proclamation one DAY in the year-the day
which should be the most perfect day of the
loveIiest Sc eason-to recall their sufferings,
20 recount their struggles. TO glory in their
victories and to do honor TO their memo
ries- The young spring passing into the
maidenhOOd OF summer, burns the incense
OF q nations gratitude over these poor re-
mains We bring no works of art, but we
offer the lOvliest aGd sweetest of all the
productions OF nature, who Is the inspira-
ton 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 daiSes and pansies
for our solace and the lilies for our hopes
of their glorious and eternal reward. With
Tnu III 20 drums ana solemn notes ana draIle0
banners We invade the quiet OF these eter-
nal camps and when challenged 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
of .sthe low green tents, whose curtain new
er outward 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 on the sword, many lived to re-
turn 20 the comfortable homes which they
hsd abandoned for the dreary camp and
the unsheltered bivouac. They had
passed through cold and hunger and with
stood the heat and thirst They came
back 10 life and health from fever. The
dusty march mad not broken them down
nor the struggle through malarial swamps
and muddy lOwIands overcome their ener-
gies- Some had known tue horrible help
lessness of the wounded between the lines:
some the despair of the abandoned and
some the homesickness and the horrors of
the prison Some had met the alternative
of perishing miserably or surviving un-
happily with shattered systems and lost
vitality. Those who came out
best had lost the best years
OF their young manhood. The
opportunities OF study, the habits of in