Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1891-06-11


upon the grass Of the tomb until they have
first encircled the foreheads Of the living.
/ will let the front Of the wreath come
down over the scar Of scalp wound made
by the sward OF a cavalrynlan at Atlanta,
and droop little over the eye that lost its
luster in the mine explosion at Petersburg.
Huzza for the livingI Gala lilies and ca
mellias and arnaranths and palm branches
for the livingl
THE 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
tratein dreamless slumber, neveroppressed
by summer heats or chilled by winters
cold. Both garlands are fragrant. Both
have in them the sunshine and the shower
OF this springtime. The eolors Of beth
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 whiteness
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" Ahl | 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. The body sleeps, but the
soul lives and Is unhindered. 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 ransomed, and
where they suffered and triumphedS 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
month ago to southern graves, were ac-
companied by two grander though invisi-
BILE professions that walked the air-pro-
cessions of the assembled, professions of the
martyred, professions of the sainted-and
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 mightier throngs of heaven
who mingle in this service which we render
to God and our country while we twist the
two garlands. Hail spirits multitudinousl
Hail spirits blestl Hail martyred ones
come down from the Kings palacesl How
glad are we that you haze come back
againl Take this kiss of welcome and
these garlands of "reminiscences, ye who
languished in hospitals or went down
under the thunders and the lightnings
of fredericksburg and Cold Harbor and
Murfreesboro and Corinth and Yorktown
and above the clouds on Lookout Mount
ain.
A UNIQUE SERVICE.
Among the thousands of gatherings at
the north and at the south for Decoration
Days am conscious that this service is
unique, and that it is the only one in
which there has been twisted two gar
lands, one for the grave of the northern
dead and the other for the grave of the
southern dead. o Lord God of the Amer
lean Union, is it not time that we bury for
ever our old grudgesS Myl Myl Can we
not be at peace on earth when this mo-
ment in heaven dwell, in perfect love,
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, Will
lam 7. Sherman and Stonewall Jackson,
and tens of thousands of northern and
southern men who, though they once
looked askance at each other from the
opposite banks of the Potomac and the
Chickahominy and the James and the Ten
nessee, now are on the same side of the
river, keeping jubilee with some of those
old angels who near nineteen centuries
ago came down one Christmas night to
chant over Bethlehem, "Glory to God in
the highest; on earth peace, good will to
menp
have been waiting for some years for
some one else to twist the two garlands
that today twist, but, no one doing it, in
the love of God and my country put now
my hand to the work, and next spring
about this time, if am living and well,
will twist two more garlands for northern
and southern graves, and every springtime
until some man or woman whom | may
have cheered little in the struggle of this
life shall come out and put pansy, or two
on my own grave. But if the time should
ever come when this land shall be given
over to sectional rancor and demagogism,
and north and south, or east and west
shall forget what the good God built this
nation for, and it shall halt on its high
career of righteousness and liberty and
peace, and become the agent of tyranny
and wrong and oppression, then let some
young man whom have baptized in in
fancy at these altars 60 out to Greenwood
and scoop up my dust and scatter it to the
four winds of heaven, for l do not want to
sleep, and l will not sleep in a land ac-
cursed with sectionalism or oppression.
And now hand over the two garlands,
both of which are wet with many tears
tears of widowhood and orphanage and
childlessness, tears of suffering and tears
of gratitude; and as the ceremony must be
performed in symbol, there not being
enough flowers to cover all the graves, take
the one garland to the tomb of some north
ern soldier who may yesterday have been
omitted in the distribution of the sacra-
ment of flowers, and the other garland to
the tomb of some southern soldier who
may month ago have been omitted in the
distribution of the sacrament of the flow
ers, and put both the wreaths gently down
over the hearts that have ceased to beat.
God bless the Two garlandsl God save the
United States of Americal