The times., 1889-06-07

| zens, with essentially the same characters
ties and powers-exceptional advantages on
our side, are counterbalanced by exceptional
advantages ON the other--we must make up
our minds that man for man, the soldier
| from the South will be match for the sol
dier from the North and vice versa.
| A war was inevitable the die was cast
the Rubican was passed, ana there was no
middle ground; to compromise was treason.
to surrender was cOwardice; to fight, to be
victorious or die, was chvaerous, was hero
ic.
FOR FOUR LONG YEARS
this great sacrifice went on; the
fair haired boy stood shoulder to
shoulder with the man of middle age,
youth and mature years sprang into the gap
ing breach of battle, fighting over the bodies
of their fellow comrades until they too were
piled on piles of dead and their places to be
filed by others.
Still pressing forward to the fight they broke
Through flames of sulphur. and night of smoke,
Till slaughtered legions filed the trench below
And bore their fierce avenger to the Toe.
High on the works the mingling hosts engage,
The battle kindled into tenfold rage,
With showers Of bullets and with storms Of
Bombs in full fury, heaps on heaps expire.
Here and there all over the great loyal
! north scores of the bravest and best went
| forth never to return, and all that came
back was the assurance that in the fore front
| OF the battle where shot and shell rained
| down like hal, doing their full duty, they fell
and Oh! 1t seemed that the gore stained jaws
of the fierce conflict, all dripping with the
| precious blood of our fathers and brothers
who had marched in there to death, would
never be satiated, as though black piniontd
| death, who spread such dreadful gloom
all over the land, would never fold his
wings and give place to peace, which lib
erty and uncompromising freedom to all
| men demanded.
But by and by, in response to the dread
full sacrifice, in response to brave and will
| ing hearts, and strong arms, battling for
| freedom and the right, in response to the
| earnest prayers of the nation, that had taken
the place of vain false boasting, going up
| from one end of this land to the other, it
came, and with it came
FREEDOM TO ALL ALIKE,
| for when the clouds cleared away and the
bright sunlight of freedom and liberty, of
righteousness and justice shown in we de-
| cerned the clear horizon of peace and the
sky that domed America canopied not serf,
| a servent or slave.
And now rs we reflect with sadness and
remember the terrible loss of life when we
| think of the thousands of vacant places, of
the five hundred thousand brave boys that
were sacrificed, as we stand here in the
awful silence of our Grand Army of the
dead, while we mourn their loss, we cannot
call them back again but are constrained to
| cry out with old Horatius, the keeper of the
gate:
| ITO every man upon the earth
| Death cometh soon or late,
But how could men die better
Than by facing fearful odd,
For the ashes OF their fathers,
For the temple, Of their God"
Peace came, and with her soft and downy
wings gently hovered over us. The boys in
blue, all that were left of them battle
scared and covered with victories wen,
CAME MARCHING HOME
again, and million of the brave
defenders of our country, who for
four long years had stood shoulder t.
shoulder stemming the storm of fury, and
| the rage of battle, the soldier citizens of this
great nation, quietly, and without the least
commOtiOn, stacked their muskets, laid
aside the munitions of war, and the insignia
of the soldier, and returned to their several
places in civil life.
The great manufacturing interests of the
country, the several professions, the per.
suit of agriculture, and the hundreds of
welcomed them back.
The years have rolled by, prosperity has
crowned the industrious and loyal citizen,
who was once the boy in blue, with her
most precious fruits and the nation blessed
by the possession of such noble citizens,
has been exceedingly prospered.
Almost q quarter of a century of peace
and prosperity have been ours to enjoy, and
the days when we wore the blue seem to us
| now almost like dream.
Here and there we find, however, some
sad and lasting scars of the great conflict,
crippled men, widowed wives, orphaned
children, fathers and mothers that still weep
and cannot be comfOrted.
And now today upon the graves that
contain the last of the earthly remains OF
our dead comrades, let natures most beauti-
flowers be tenderly strewn and with them
woven as it were, into garlands of love, the
atfectionate recOllectiOns of their noble deeds.
Keep their memory ever green for theirs
were noble lives, and their death the grand
| est sacrifice free men can make for freedom.
And as we remember their sacrifice we can
not but remember the beautiful language of
Moore which he gives us as coming from the
Peri at the gates of paradise:
"If there is on this earthly sphere
A boon and offering Heaven holds dear
IT'S the last libation liberty draws
| From the heart that breaks and bleads in her
cause"
The war for the Union is over; our duty
| was done; q glorious record was made, and
| today other duties present themselves;
THE DUTIES OF CITIZENSHIP.
We cannot live i'm the past, the present is
here, and 1t is real. it is earnest, and every
one of us must meet it. We are no longer
soldiers but citizens of this grand Republic;
and as we did our duty i'm the past so let US
be sure to do our duty in this the present
and in the future.
And now in the presence of these cere-
monies, that fill our hearts alike with sad
ness and gratitude, sadness because of the
sacrifice, and gratitude as we look upon the
progress of our great nation and feel the
certainty of her preservation, let us thank
God anew that our lives have witnessed the
| glOries of these days, and that our lot is cast
in this great land of ours where all are free,
where none are slaves, where justice and
rightness prevails, and where the glorious
sunlight of freedom shines upon all alike.
So from the alters here TODAY we NAV presept