Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1889-06-05
HONOR TO THE NOBLE DEAD
The Memorial Address of Hon.
Lafayette French at the Opera
House Sunday Afternoon.
An Eloquent Address Interspersed
With Cheers for the Living
and Tears for the Dead.


ternoon, May 26, at the Opera House,
was very interesting, and will he long re-
membered by those in attendance. Hon.
Lafayette French gave an able and elo-
quent address. full of grateful sentiment.
Mr.. French, after urgent solicitation on
the part of citizens, and especially the G.
A. R. men, has consented to have the
address published. and we are sure you
will enjoy readingit.
Upon our prairies, hillsides, and in our val
leys, are scattered the graves Of more than
two hundred thousand heroes. who bravely
fought and nobly died that our nation might
live. Wherever these.graves may be found
flowers will be scattered upon them. The soft
and balmy breath of the coming summer
breathes its blessings over them; and as the
summer comes to deck these graves with its
beauties, it meets a welcome from thousands
of hearts, and is aided in its work Of beauty
by thousands of hands decorating these
graves which, under the touch of the advanc
ing season, will ere long gleamtwith blossoms
all their own.
This beautiful custom ands this memorial
service would lose much of its significance
oAu "ouAO SOOu PuSS away WCAC ~ OouAuCO
merely to an expression of our personal at
fection for those whose graves we annually
decorate. The custom would soon, and ought
soon to pass away, were any portion of it's
purpose the rekindling Of those passions to
which the war of the Rebellion gave rise, or to
the perpetuation of those hatreds and ami
mosities which it naturally excited. Because
we deck with floral offerings the graves of
IIuj0 <ho
graves Of those who died in the Confederate
cause Nay, more; our affection for the Un-
ion soldier and his memory does not devolve
upon us the necessity of hating the slain Con-
federate soldier. Onl:many a blood-stalned
battlefield they lie, side by side. their battles
all fought, their enmities all washed away in
their blood.
Now that they who fought 50 valiantly
and brayely against each other, are at peace,
it IS no part of our purpose to renew their
warfare. And yet, let us ever bear in mind
that the cause for which our brother. father,
husband laid down his life, was righteous
one that of the presevatian of the Union,
and that those who fought for the Confederate
cause were fighting for, and to uphold, the
wrong.
The Rebellion which our armies crushed
directly at war with the principles upon
| which our nation rested. This war had ragged
long before it famed out into actual battle
! 1t ragged for years in the forum, upon the
stump. through the press an6 in the legisla.
| tive halls. Meeting with no final success in
either of these fields of warfare, the enemies
| of the nation transferred it to the field. The
wager Of battle is the final test. When the
DOH
the eternal night of utter defeat, not only
| we're its armies beaten, but the political
hereses that once threatened the destruction
| of our Union, were beaten as we'll. The
Rebellion was a protest against the commo n
| fatherhood of God and the universal brother
hood Of man. War, in it's stern results, has
| silenced that protest. The Rebellion assert
ed the rghtfulness of slavery and it's con-
tinued existence as political power. The
victory of Grant at Appomatox silenced that
assertion. The Rebellion denied the uni
versal dignity of labor, but this denial went
| down with the down fall of its armies. and in
the overthrow of its military power. 1t is
| the duty Of us living, to see that there be no
| step take n backwards; that the standard
| which our conquering legion held and car
ried unscathed through the wickedest rebel
| lion which the world has ever seen, be
| never lowered.
| True to this extent to ourselves we will
thus most highly honor the departed dead,
whose loss we this day mourn. Thus, true to
| our duty, The mother whose boy died in this
great cause may look upon his grave and take
comfort from it; the widow whose husband
died that the nation might live, may point her
orphan boy to his fathers name, and he will
draw fresh supplies of patriotic inspiration
from it. Old age and lisping childhood, in fu
| ture years, may visit the graves of the heroic
| dead and become inspired by their solemn
| teaching.
| Our duty remains unperformed when con-
| fined merely to expressions of personal love
| and affection. The great cause for which
| they died is honored, and our tealty to it re-
newed in every annual observance Of this
character. Our demonstrations of affection
for the dead soldier would be but a hollow
mockery, an unmeaning observance-nay,
worse than that-a sham, were we to forget
the cause in which he perished or barter away
the principles for which he died.
Theirs was no mercenary service, Prompt
ed by patriotism alone, they went forth to do
and to die that the Republic might live.
Other soldiers, in other days, and on other
battle-fields, have fought as bravely and died
as heroically, but none fought or fell in no.
bier cause. The Roman soldier, in the days
of Caesar, clad in mail, with his imagination
maddened with visions of the boundless
wealth of Syria, leaped upon his foe as an
armed robber. The old guards of Napoleon
we're actuated in combat BY the love which
they bore the emperor, and tor the contribu.
tions which he levied on bis vanquished foes
But the Union soldier asserted, and backed
| the assertion with his life, the indissOlubility
I of the Union-declared it to be perpetual. He
fought, not that one state might triumph over
another, nor that many states might triumph
over one; but for q patriotism bounded by no
state lines-broad enough to comprehend and
embrace the entire Union. For the vtndioa-
tion of this principle, the Union soldier
fought and fell amid the awful din and car.
mage Of battle. +.
Il our gratitude to the soldier Of the Union
= ! e = 3 20 s.