Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-05-30

internal strifes.
Who can determine what means should
be applied to remedy the evil? Appeals
have been made to the colored man, urg-
ing him to arm for defense. Appeals
have been made for protection by the
General Government. The armed resist
ance of the negro in the South would be
nothing less than a most terrible lnsur-
rection, followed by a war of eStermina-
ten. The armed inte1position of Federal
authority would be u menace to the
Southern people, restricting all the
buried animosltics of the late civil war.
Conflict would be invitable, and what
ever the result, it would not solve the
problem, but, on the contrary, intensity
hatred and strife between the races.
How are these two antagonistic forces
to be ,econciled? This is a question for
to-day; it is a question to be thought out,
patiently and soberly.
1t is not a matter to be discussed over
the braves of our departed heroes, or in
tro Iuced by the orators whose special
duty on Memorial Day it is to eulogiZe
the soldiers of the Union, dead or living.
But it is fitting that on a day set aside
and held sacred to the memories of the
past, to recalling the time of trial in
which such terrible sacrifice was made to
preserve a common country for dwelling
within its limits. it is proper that the
vital questions of the hour should occupy
the minds of men even though their
thoughts find no public utterance. and
that each veteran of the war for the
Union," and every descendant of such,
should over the dust of those they honor
for laying down of life through patriotism,
resolve to increasingly, unselfishly labor
to restore harmony, suggest means, and
work to accomplish eHds that will result
in actually and entirely bringing about q
union of States, a union of hearts, and
a union of hands" that no social, politi-
cal, race. creed, business or sectional
questions can ever sever.
There is work-great work, for heroes
and patriots to-day-work as grand and
noble for the young men of the present
to perform, as was ever comprised in the
bloody tasks set before the men who now
lie under flower and flag decorated sods.
The sentimental side is we'll enough; it
is e%minently proper that one day in each
year should be devoted to the honoring
of those who died that the nation might
live; no pages of history, though they
grow into millions, can do more than
justice to their noble deeds. But realities
OF the present must not be forgotten or
neglected in contemplation of the ro-
nance of the past. The duty of every
man to his country is as actual to-day as
it VS. twenty-five years ago, and that du-
ty is to preserve the peace won by the
hood and wounds of the men of '6l-'G5.
Too practical in one way are vein
blind devotion TO business, in continual
seeking, all-else-forgetting, striving af-
ter wealth. We give twenty-four hours
each year to the sentimentality of Memo
rial Day, and the remaining three hun
dred and sixty-four we live for self. AS
the men we honor by speeches and flags
and flowers died for others, it is the duty
of those who survive them to live for
others.
The formula used by Cain-type, as
ne was, of s%eltshness and cruelty-"Am
l my brothers keeper?"-has been pro-
pounded by mortal men from his day to
our own. He voiced the universal in
quiry. The answer to this question has
the same force now it had then, and an
added force which has come with added
knowledge. Precepts have not the force
of example, We know, but He who was
the perfect result of all the good which
the hearts and lives of mon ever con-
tanned, and our captain, who uttered the
words. Let us have peace"-they are per-
petual examples for all people. They
thought aud worked, unselfishly and con-
tinually, for the good of all.
1t is such musings that prompt these
lines from Il who through all the civil
strife did what he could to aid his COM
rades honored IN Memorial Day, and
who can still see that, while peace is not
yet secured to the land for which SO n,any
died, for which such hosts still bear the
agony of wounds, also recognizes the fact
that our young men are cold or dead to
the Influences that again threaten to dis
r1nf O11r por1rfr, Tbo,o 1. |
ing in this age but knows his duty. How
many are there who do it? To know what
duty demands is a great stride forward.
And the responsibility attaching to such
a condition makes condemnation far
greater when there is a failure to
live up to that knowledge. In all
human relations, includ ng domes-
TIC and social unity, and thence
widening out into broader relations of
political, patriotic interests, the idea Of
duty to country, with the light of God
SHINING through it., brings to bear on
every transaction of life an imperative
obligation of loyalty to our land and onr
fellow men. AS we do our duty toward
our country and our fellow men. we do il
toward our God and ourselves. No DO
lltlcal party or leader should receive
bind obedience; if q man would be free
he must think and act for himself and
o hers-for all. If the men of TODAY
would not wear faces of shame when
they meet-if ever they do-the heroes
they glorify on Memorial Day, they must
study the questions Of the ~hour-must
without passion and all forgctful of
self to harmonic the distructiug ele-
ments now disturbing the land. They
must insist upon Justice to all, firmly;
but with reason aud kindness thes must
insist upon this, they must awaken to the
fact that they are their brothers Keen
and that if they would truly honor
nose Ill memory of whom Nav 30 is
as a new "All Saints Day." they
must tght as bravely and long, and suffer
patiently and severely, as those who
TOR the Union bled or died.