The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-12-18

through what states n straight line
would run IL drawn from New York To
New Orleans; but he can map out the
line of march of Sherman's victorious
battalions from Atlanta To the sea, and
the route of Grants invincible legions
from the Wilderness To Appomattox.
He might he unable to say il there is or
not an active volcano in the United
States; but he knows there was crater
and Fort He'll in front of Petersburg.
Ii might puzzle him little % give, Off
hand the exact boundaries of the United
States of America; but he has good rea-
son for knowing they are not bounded
on the south by the Confederate States
of America, and that when the war was
ended the union of these states, formed
by the wisdom and patriotism and ce-
mented by the blood of our ancestors
was not broken or dismembered; that
not star in our national armament
was blotted out or ObScured. Ii would,
no doubt, be a poser 20 most of them il
asked when and where the first cargo
of slaves was landed i'm this country;
but they can one and all tell you with
manly pride that when they laid down
their arms the last fetter and chain had
been struck from the bondman; that the
foul blot of human slavery was forever
erased from our national escutcheOn,
and not IA slave breathed heavens pure
air beneath our starry banner.
Surely, men who can tell all these
things from actual knowledge and per-
sonal observation, and not from the
lore of books and teachings of the
schools, are entitled to more than ordi-
nary consideration
A.. fnts | no 1a1 n
every one of them who is capable hold
ing some position of honor and profit
under this government during the re-
mainder of their lives, if they wish it.
To those who remained passive specta-
tors during this fearful struggle for ma
tional existence, this may seem putting
it pretty strong, and that am too par
tial. To such | have this to say: When
you reflect on all these men did for you
and the land in which you live; when
you remember that these men made
their bodies a barrier-a living wall of
iire-between you, your homes and
loved ones and wars wild desolation;
when you think of their weary marches
by day and by night, over muddy roads,
through trackless forests and malarial
swamps, across deep and swift-running
streams, in the raging heat, through
clouds of dust through the wintry cold
and furious storms and tempests; when
you recall the dreadful horrors of the
battle field where death-shotS fell thick
and fast; where the whizzing bullets
battered around them like rain-drops
in summer shower; where the screech-
ing shot and shell tore through the
ranks i'm tiendiSh glee, leaving in their
fiery paths CHASTITY rows of dead with
their faces upturned to heaven, as if for
help in their last extremity, for there
was present no soft and tender hand of
mother, wife or maiden, to close their
pleading eyes and wipe the death damp
from their browS When YOU remem-
Der the fortitude and heroism of these
men in camp and field i'm hospital and
fetid, loathsome prison, where they en-
dured untold SutferingS without muir
muir or complaint, and waited patiently
for the day To come that should open
wide the iron door and set them free
To sum up all, when YOU know that but
for these sacrifices, hardshipS and Suf-
ferings this fair land would have been
the prey of the despoilcr, and your
homes wrecked and desOlated; that the
ark of the covenant set up by the found
ers OF this great republic would have
been torn from the temple of liberty
and freedom and i'm its place an altar
set up-an altar where the deyOtees of
human bondage might meet and wOr-
ship their idol; ! believe yOu must agree
with me that debt is due these heroic
men which can never be overpaid.