The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1891-05-27
THE-DEAD HEROES.
Robert G.. Ingersoirs Famous Speech at
Indianapolis.

Robert G.. IngersoiPs Famous Speech at
Indianapolis.
Fire past, as it were, rises before mo
like dream Again we are in the great
struggle. for national life. We hear tbs
sound of preparation-the music of
boisterous drums-the silver voices Of
heroic bugles. We see thousands OF as.
semblages and hear the appeals of ora
tors; we see the pale cheeks of women
and the flushed faces of men; and in these
assemblages we see all the dead whose
dust we have covered with flowers. We
lose sight Of them no more. We are
with them when they enlist in the
great army Of freedom We see them
part with those they love. Some are
walking for the last time in quiet woody
places with the maidens they adore. We
hear the whisperings and the sweet vows
of eternal love as they lngeringly part
forever. Others are bending over era
dies kissing babes that are asleep Some
are receiving the blessings Of old men.
SOme are parting with mothers who hold
them and press them to their hearts
again and again, and say nothing; and
some are talking with wives and endeav-
oring, with brave words spoken i'm
bold tones, To drive away the awful fear.
We see them part. We see the wife
standing in the door with the babe in
her arms-stauding in the sunlight sob
bing. At the turn of the road a hand
waves. She answers by holding high in
her loving hands the child. He is gone,
and forever
We see them all as they march proudly
away under the Haunting flags, keeping
time to the grand wild music of war;
marching down the streets of the great
cities. through the towns and across the
prairies; down to the fields of glory to
do and to die for the eternal right.
We go with them one and ali; we are
by their side on all the CORY fields, in all
the hospitals of pain. in all the weary
marches. We stand guard with them in
the wild storm and under the quiet stars.
We are W tn them i'm the ravincs running
with blood-in the burrows Of old fields.
We are with them between contending
hosts, unable TO move, wild with thirst.
the life cbbing slowly away among the
withered leaves. We see them pierced
by balls and torn with shells in the
trenches of the fsrts, and in the whrl-
wind of the charge, where men became
iron with nerves Of steel
We are with them in the prisons of
hatred and famine, but human speech
can never tell what they endured.
We are at home when the news comes
that they are dead. We see the maiden
in the shadow of her sorrow. We see
the silver head of the old man bowed
with grief.
The past rises before us and we see
1000, 900 human beings governed by the
lash-we see them bound hand and foot
we hear the strokes Of the cruel whip
we see the hounds tracking women
through tangled swamps-we see the
babes sod from the breasts of mothers.
Cruelty unspcakable; outrage infinite!
-Four million bodies in chains, 900, 900
souls in fetters-aH the sa"rcd rea-
tions Of wife, mother, father, and child
trampled beneath the brutal feet Of
might-and all this done under our own
beautiful banner of the free.
The past rises before us. We hear
the roar and shrek of the bursting shell.
The broken letters fall. Their heroes
died. We look, and instead of slaves we
see men, women, and children. The
wand of progress touches the auction
block, the slave pen, and the whipping
post, and we see homes and iiresldes,
schoolhouses and books, and where all
was want and crime and cruelty and
fear, we see the faces of the free.
Those heroes are dead. They died for
liberty; they died for us. They are at
rest. They sleep in the land they made
free, usder the flag they rendered stain
less, under the solemn pines. the sad
hemlock, the fearful willows, the en-
bracing vines. They sleep beneath the
shadows of the clouds, careless alike OF
sunshine or storm, each i'm the window
less palace of rest. Earth may run red
with other wars-thcy are at peace. In
the midst of battle, in the roar of con-
-flict they found tho serenity of death. I
have one sentiment for tho soldiers'liv-
ing and dead-chcors for the living.
tears for the dead.