Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-07-10
THE LOYAL LEGION.

The LOYAL LEGION.
ton By Hon. George II. Peck of Kansas-
"A Tribute to the Declaration Of Inde-
pendence.
1NDIANAPoLIs. Ind. July 5.-The
Loyal Legion of Indiana met here yes
terday in annual session Prominent
mem ers of the order were present from
all points of the Union. The Grafton Of
the day was delivered by Hon. George
R Peck, of Kansas Following is an
extract from the speech:
Companions, Ladies and Gentlemen:
From the distant West, the historic fruitful
and now peaceful fields of our first civic
strife. L bring You asaiutation and a greeting.
From immemorial times, men who have
borne arms have enjoyed q certain distinc-
tion, the tribute that human nature Yields
TO those who have played the big stakes OF
lie ana death Responsive to, or, perhaps,
created by thin settlement is the tendency of
those who have been in the stress and rigor
OF the game to look back with a feeling
which Is partly love and partly pride on the
old days and the old cause.
IL matters little that many seasons have
passed since arms were stacked; nor that
we, who " here young and gay. have felt the
frost in our joints and on youthful forms the
| rust of the implacable years. The soldier
| must not question fate. This much is ours:
to know that il eyes beam somewhat less
brightly and heads reveal the gray autumnal
touch, the things that once were dear are
precious yet, and the faith of other days has
not departed.
The Loyal Legion signifies, to us at least,
that loyalty is virtue which should never
| go out of fashion Love of country is not
and should not be, sentiment that responds
| only to the bugle and the drum. 1t Is indeed
| true that the finest impulses lie dormant,
waiting the call that shall transmute them
| into vital convictions But yet it is also true
q ed w haS \,
common every day affection OF its people,
| in peace we'll as in war.
The people of the United States call them
! selves Americans, claiming the name of the
| continent to mark their aspirations
and their destiny. But what is that
IDEAL feeling we sometimes call "the
American spirit?' Surely it is not selfish
lust of possession; the vulgar satisfaction
| of knowing that we inhabit an imperial do.
main, and that no one must trespass on
what we call our own. Some better lie son
| must be in our hearts, some truer feeling
must inspire our lives, before we can know
what patriotism is. Even the brute loves
his own jungle. i he tiger will fight to the
death for the greenSward on which it has
| played, or the sprng at which it has
| quenched its thirst Only men fight for a
| sentiment; only men give up their lives for
| the things they have not seen. Fields of
| cotton and fields of corn will grow under
| any sun that yields its compelling rays. The
| harvest cares not what sickle shall reap it.
Nature is calmly indiffe rent, deal n q out the
rude justice of the seasons, and needing not
the losses nor the gains But men think;
| they alone have 'that large discourse look
| ing before and after which is the real
| basis of moral responsibility. The true
| American loves not simply the United
States, but tn at for which the United States
stands. The American flag is something
more than q harm onious blending of colors
Who has not felt the awe and mystery that
| dwell in holy EN- blems? What faith has not
been quickened by signs and symbols that
| represent those ata al n
| of which human lips can never rightly
speak? The United States is greater in what
| it means than in what it is.
The Declaration of Independence is incom.
parably the greatest wisest and clearest
statement ct human rights ever put upon
paper And it is curious fact that neither
| the men who framed it nor tn cir contempt
raries were always successful when they
put their hands to the pen. The articles of
confederation were, from the first, a hope
| less failure. Ten amendments to the Consti
tuition were made almost Immediately after
| its adoption, two shortly afterward, and
finally you know too w ell three more were
| written in blood. Even now there are many
| respects in which it doubtless could be i'm
| proved. But tae Declaration of Independ-
| ence remains forever lone entire and per-
| feet chrysolite," and is confessedly the tue
gospel of our freedom, the true standard of
| American rights. In that great statement Of
| the equality of men s found the best medi
cine for National dis ease, the best balm for
| the hurts and bruises of the body polite.
| 1t means equality of opportunity; just
| share in the gifts of nature; fair chance
| in the of life under laws that
all have helped to make. The right to these
| things is inalienable. They can neither be
| taken away nor can they voluntarily be
given up, for the Declaration of Independ-
ence means that you can not rightfully
| make your brother a slave even by his own
| consent In short, this great charter, in the
| lines and between the lines, declares that
the golden rule of legislation and govern
| ment, like the golden rule of human con-
| duct, is the unSelfish recogni tion of the
| rights of others. 1t is a high ideal; too high
| perhaps for the eighteenth nineteenth
| century, but not too high for the age that is
coming, when the ashes of the dead shall
| of martyrs shall crimson the flower that
truth sets in the wreath of the immortals.
| Something might say, if it were right to
| say any thing, of somewhat elusive Joy
| that marked a recent tribute to n great SOL
dier, who gave his name and his sword to a
| cause we believe to he unSpeakabiy wrong.
| 1t is not for to decide how far military
SIX ill or personal character can lessen the
| guilt of treason. But of this, oh, loyal
| hearts. be sure, neither bronze nor marble
| can endure long enough to change
| wrong into right nor to cure the broken
| oath of Robert Z. Lee Some day, perhaps,
another colossal form will stand by the side
| of his, grand, massive and heroic, the Statue
| of one who simply thought that soldiers
plighted word meant what it said
| who spoke ifttle of his honor, but kept it
| stainless as the snow; soldier of the
| tique type. the greatest son Virginia gave to
| the war-George H. Thomas, the Rock Of
| Chickamauga.
Four People Drowned.
PITTSBURGH. Pa, July 5.-At two
o'clock yesterday John Thompson and