Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-06-05
THE BURLINGTON FREE PRESS: FRIDAY, JUNE s, 1891

ern and southern graves shall not be put
upon the grass Of the tomb until they have
first encirced the foreheads Of the living
] win let the front Of the wreath come
down over the scar of scalp wound made
by the sward OF a cavalryman at Atlanta,
and droop a little over the eye that lost its
luster in the mine explosion Mt Petersburg.
Huzza for the livingl Gala lilies and ca
mellias and amarauths and palm branches
for the livingl
TIE DEAD KNOW.
But we must not detain the two garlands
any longer from the pillows of those who
for quarter of a century have been pros
trate I'm dreamless slu1nber, never oppressed
by summer heats or chilled by winters
cold. Both garlauds are fragrant. Both
have in them the sunshine and the shower
of this springtme. The colors OF both
were mixed by him who mixed the blue OF
the sky, and the gold Of the sunset and
the green of the grass, and the wilderness
of the snow crystal. And | do not care
which you put over the northern grave and
which over the southern grave Does any
one say, What is the user None of them
will know it. Your Decoration Days both
sides Mason and Dixon's line are great
waste of flowers" All! | see you have
carried too far my idea that praise for the
living is better than praise for the de-
parted.
Who says that the dead do not know of
the flowers? | think they do The dead
are not dead. Tho body sleeps, but the
soul lives and is unhiudcred. Notwo cities
on earth are in such rapid and constant
communication as earth and heaven, and
the two great Decoration Days of north
and south are better known in realms
celestial than terrestrial. With what in
terest we visit the place of our birth and
Of our boyhood or girlhood daysl And
have the departed no interest in this world
where they were born and r;Lnsomed, and
where they suffered and triumphed2 My
Bible does not positively say SO, nor does
my catechism teach it, but my common
sense declares it. The departed do know,
and the hammered procession that marched
the earth yesterday to northern graves,
and the hammered procession that marched
a month ago to southern graves, were ac
companied by two grander though invisi
bic PROFESSIONS that walked the air-pro-
cessions of the assembled, professions of the
martyred, professions of the Sutherland
/ they heard the anthems of the churches,
! and the salvo OF the batteries, and they
stopped down to breathe the incense Of the
flowers,
These august throngs gathered this
morning in these peWs and aisles and cor
ridors and galleries are insignificant com
pared with the III ghtier tLrongs OF heaven
who miuge in this service which we render
to God and our country while we twist the
two Garlands. Hail spirits multitudinousl
Hail spirits blcsJ! Hail martyred ones
come down from the Kings palaces! How
glad are we that you have come back
aGainl Take this kiss of welcome and
these earlauds of "reminiscences yo who
langusued in hospitals or went down
under the thuuders and the li9htnings
of fredericksburg and Cold HarDor and
Murfreesboro and Corinth and Yorktown
and above the clouds on Lookout Mount
ain.