The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1890-07-10
THE LOYAL LEGION.
The Annual Session at Indianapolis -ura-
tlon by Hon. George X. Peck, Of Kansts-
A Tribute to the Declaration Of II de-
Dendence.

L
, The Annual Session at indianapolis -''ra-
tIon BY Hon. George n. Peck, Of Kans is
| Tribute to the Declaration Of Ir de-
pendence.
! INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, July s. The
Loyal Legion OF Indiana met here yes
terday in annual session. Prominent
members of the order were present from
all points Of the Union. The Grafton Of
/ the day was.delivered by Hon. George
II. 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 bring you asalutation and greeting.
The day and the occasion are happily mated.
From immemoral times, men who have
borne arms have enjoyed certain distinc-
tion, the tribute that human nature yields
to those who have played the big stakes OF
! life and death. Responsive to, or, perhaps,
created by this sentement is the tendency OF
those who have been In the stress and rigor
I OF the game to look back with a feeling
which Is partly love and partly pride on the
old days and the old cause.
1t matters little that many seasons have
passed since arms were stacked; nor that
we, who where young and gay, have felt the
frost in our joints and on youthful forms the
rust of the implacable years. The soldier
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 a virtue which should never
go out of fashion. Love of country is not,
and should n OF be, sentiment that responds
only to the bugle and the drum. 1t Is indeed
true that the finest impulses lie dormant,
waiting tn, call that shall transmute them
. into vital convictions But yet it is also true
that nation is best endowed when it has the
common every day affection of its people,
in peace as well 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 feeli sometimes call 1.-The
American spirit" surely it is not a selfish
lust of pos session; the vulgar satisfaction
of knowing that we iDhabit an imperial do
main, and that no one must t-espass on
what we call our own. Some better re 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. The tiger will fight to the
dea' h for the greensward On which it has
played, or the spr ng at which it has
quenched its tn r5t. 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 VIII grow under
any sun that yields its compelling rays. The
harvest cares not what sickle snail reap It.
Nature Is calmly indif rent, deal ng 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 a harmonious blending of colors
: Who has not felt the awe and mystery that
dwell in holy mblems? What faith has not
been quickened by signs and symbols that
represent those invisible and eternal things
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 tf human rights ever put upon |
paper. And it is curious fact that neither |
the men who framed it nor their contempo- |
raries were always successful when they |
put their hands to the pen. The articles OF
confederation were, from the first, nope
less failure. Ten amendments to the Consti-
tuition were made almost Immediately aftSr
its adoption two shortly aitcrward, and |
finally as you know too well, three more were
written in blood. Even now there are many
respects in which it doubtless could be i'm
proved. But the Declaration of lndcpend-
feet chrysolite," and is confessedly the ue |
gospel of our free 10 II, the true standard of |
American rights. In that great statement OF
the equality of men found the best medi- |
cine for National dis ease, the best balm for |
the hurts and bruises IF the body polite. |
1t means equality of opportunity; just |
share in the gifts of nature; a fair chance !
in the race of life under laws that |
all have helped to make. The right to these |
hings is inalienable. They can Meth I be |
taken away nor can they voluntarily be |
given up, for the Declaration of Independ- |
ence means that you can not righttully |
m Ike your brother Il slave even by his own
consent In short, this great charter, in the |
ines and between the lines, declares that |
the golden rule of legislation and govern |
ment, like the golden rule of human con- |
.iuct, is the unSeltish recognition OF the |
rights of others 1t is a high ideal; too high |
perhaps for the eighteenth or nineteenth |
century, but not too high for the age that Is |
coming, when the ashes of the dead shall |
blossom in hopes made real, and the blood |
If martyrs shall crimson the flower that |
truth sets in the wreath OF the immortals
Something might say, if it were right to
ay any thing, of a somewhat etfusfve JOY
hat marked a recent tribute to a great SOL
iier, who gave his name and his sword to
cause we believe to be unspcakably wrong.
is not for us to decide how far military
; 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 brokeh
GA h of Robert T.. Lee. Some day, perhaps,
another colossal TO- III will stand by the side |
( his grand, massive I'd heroic, the s, atue |
of one who simply thought that soldiers
pl GIFTED word meant what it said; a man
who spoke little of his honor, but kept IL
stainless as the snow; n sol iier of the an
tique type, the greatest son Virginia gave to
the war-GeOrge Ii. Thomas, the Rock OF
Chickamauga.
Four People Drowned.
PITTSBURGH, Pa, July AT two