Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-06-12
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SIM
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 1.-Two GarIands.,

ana 10 DtS SOULt, heeO NOT QcE."-lSalah
xiii, q.
and south [ cannot say, but in the United
States the two words are so point blank in
their meaning that no one can doubt. They
mean more than east and west, for although
between those last two there have been riv-
Aries and disturbing ambitions and infelic;-
ties and silver bills and Worlds fair contro-
versies there have been between them no
batteries unlimbered. 10 intrenchments dug,
no long lines Of sepulchral mounds thrown
up. It has never been massachusetts, Four
tenth Regiment against Wisconsin
Zouaves: it has never been Virginia artil-
lery against Mississippi rifles.
East and west are distinct words, and
sometimes may mean diversity Of interest
but there is no blood on them. They can be
pronounced without any information of wall
ing and death groan. But the north and the
south are words that have been surcharged
with tragedies. They are words which suz-
gest that for forty years the clouds had been
gathering tor a four years tempest which
thirty years ago burst in a fury that shook
this planet as it has never been shaken since
it swung out at the first world building l
thank God that the words have lost some of
the intensity which they possessed three de-
cades ago: that vast multitude of northern
people have moved south, and a vast multi
tude of southern people have moved north,
and there have been intermarriages by the
ten thOuSanC and northern colonies have
married the daughters OF southern captains.
and Texas rangers have united for life with
the daughters of New York abolitionsts, and
their children are half northern and half
southern and altogether patriotic
But north and south are words that need
to be brought into still closer characterization.
thought that now, when we are
half way between presidential cleo
lions, and sectional animosities are at
the lowest ebb; and now, Just after
a presidential journey. when our chief mag
lstrates, wno was chiefly elected by the north,
has been cordially received at the SOUTH and
now. just after two Memorial DAYS, one of
them a month ago strewing flowers on south
ern graves, and the other yesterday strewing
flowers on northern graves it might be APP
propriate and useful tor me to preach a ser.
mon which would twist two garlands-one
for the northern dead and the other for the
southern dead-and have the two interlocked
in chain of flowers that shall bind forever
the two sections into one; and who knows
but that this may be the day when the
prophecy OF the text made in regard to the
ancients may DC fulfilled in regard to this
country, ana the north give up its prejudices
and the south keep not back it's confidence?
Il will say to the north, Give up, and to the
south, Keep not back"
But before l put these garlands the
graves | mean to put them this morning a
little while on the brows of the living men
and women of the north and south who lost
husbands and sons and brothers during the
civil strife There is nothing more soothing
two garlands are cool from the night dew.
What morning that was on the banks OF
the Hudson and the Savannah when the son
to start for the war! What fatherly
and motherly counsel! What tears! What
heartbreaks! What charges to write home
often. What little keepSakes put away IN
the knapsac4- OF the bundle that was to be
exchanged for the knapsack! The crowd
around the depot or the steamboat landing
shouted, but father and mother and sister
cried.
And how lonely the house seemed after
they went home, and what an awfully va
cant chair there was at the Christmas and
Thanksgiving tablet And after the battle,
what waiting for news! What suspense till
the long lists of the killed and wounded were
made out All along the Penobscot, and the
Connecticut, and the st. Lawrence, and the
Ohio, and the Oregon, and the James. ana
the AlbemarIe. and the Alabama, and the
Mississippi, and the Sacramento there were
lamentatiOu and mourning and great woe,
Rachel weeping for her children. and refus-
inc to be comforted because they were not.
The world has forgotten 1t, but fatner ana
mother have not forgotten it. They may be
now in the eighties or ninetles, but 1t is a
fresh wound. and will always remain fresh
wOunC .
nave YOU realized the fact that our civil
war pitched out upon the farmieids OF the
north ana the plantations OF the south
multitude that no man can numOer, chill
dren without tatherly help and prot ect'on?
Under ali the advantages which we had OIL
fatherly guidance, what struggle lie mas
been to the most OF us! But what OF the
Children TWO ana five and ten years OF age,
who stood at their mothers lap With great,
round wondering eyes, nearing her read o.
those who persisted in the Battle OF the
Wilderness, their fathers gone down among
the dead host? Come, young men ana
women VINO by such disaster nave had 10
make YOUR own way in l1te and VIII put
the garland on your young and unWrlnhled
brow Yes: YOU nave had your own Malvern
Hill and your own South Mountain, ano
your own Gettysburg all along these twenty
wears Gomez And, II L cannot spare
whole garland for your brow, L VIII t"lsC III
YOUR locks at least two MOWERS, one crIlA-
son and one white, the crimson for the strug-
rIe of von, life. which has almost amounted
to carnage anu the white for the victory
YOU have gained.
Before put the two gariands am twist
inc upon the northern and southern tomOs,
detain the garands little while that
NAV put them upon the brow OF the Twin
soldiers and sailors of the north aud south,
who though at variance for long while
ara now at peace and in hearty loyalty tx
the United States government, and ready.
/ if need be- to march shoulder to shoulder
against any foreign foe. The tw enty-SlS
winters that have passed since the War,
think have sufficiently cooled the hatTe l.
that once burned nor6nwari and south
ward to allow the remark that they WI
fought in that conflict were hon Isl on both
sides. The chaplains both az MES were
honest in their prayers. The faces that
went into battle, whether they marched tow
ard the Gulf of Mexico or marched toward
the north star, were honest faces.