The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-06-17
and explode three vol, eys over th.i,

have long obituaries in newspapers tell.
ing in what battles they fought, what
sacrifices they endured, what flags they
captured, in what prisons they suffered,
but all that will come too late. One
word il the living ear of praise for
their honesty and &C urage will he worth
to them more than military funeral
two miles long or pile of flowers half
mile high and ten bands of music
playing over the grave Star Spangled
Banner ar Way Down South in
Dixie. Now, while they are
in Their lecling years and their
right knee refuses to work because Of
rheumatism they got sleeping on the
wet ground on the banks of the
! Chickamauga, Or digestive organs
are off on furlougt because of the six
months Of prison lie in which their IA.
tons were big slices of nothing, and
their ears have never been alert since
the cannonade in which they heard so
much they have never been able ohear
but little since, in these cases | call
upon the people of the nor,h and south
|
for the good deal of port-mortem eulo-
GUM.
These two garlands that twisted for
northern and southern graves shall not
be put upon the grass of the tomb until
they have first encircled the foreheads
of the living. VIII let the front of the
wreath come down over the scar of a
scalp wound made by the sword of
cavalryman at Atlanta and drop little
over the eye that lost it's luster IL the
mine explosion at Peters burg. hItEs
for the liyingl Gala lilies and camelias
and amaranths and palm branches for
the living!
I But we must not detain the two
garlands any longer from the pillows
OF those who for a quarter of a century
have been PROSTATE in the dreamless'
slumber. Never oppressed by summer
heats or chilled by winters cold. Both
garlands are fragrant. Both have in
them the sunshine and the shower Of
this spring time. 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 whiteness of the snow crystal. And
do not care which you put over the
Northern grave and which you put over
the Southern grave.
Does any one say, "What is the use?
None of them will know it. Your Dec
Grafton days both sides Mason and Dix
on's line are great waste of flowers"
All, 1 see you have carried too far my
idea that praise for the living is better
than praise for the departed. Who says
that the dead do not know of the flow
ers? l think they do. The dead are
not dead. The body sleeps, but the
soul lives, and is unhindered No two
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 ter
restrial. With what interest we visit the
place of our birth and of our boyhood
or girlhood days! And have the de-
! ,parted NO interest in this world where
they were born and ransomed and
where they suffered and triumphed?
My Bible does not positively say so,
nor does my catechism teach it, but my
common sense declares it. The de-
parted do know, and the hammered pro.
cession that marched the earth yester.
day to northern graves and the ban.
nered procession that marched month
ago to southern graves, were accom-
panied by two grander, though invis'
ible, professions, that walked the air,
professions of the assembled professions
of the martyred, professions of the saint
ed; and they heard the anthems of the
churches and the salvo of batteries, anC
they stopped down to breathe the in
cense of the flowers These august
throngs gathered this morning in these
pews and aisles and corridors and gal
leries are insignificant compared with
the mightier throngs of Heaven who
mingle in this service which we render
to God and our country while we twis
the two garlands. Hail, spirits multi
tudinous! Hail spirits blest! Hal
martyred ones come down from the
Kings palaces! How glad we are thai
you have come back again. Take this
kiss of welcome and these garlands o
"reminiscences, We who languished il
hospitals or went down under the thun
ders and the lightnings of Fredercks
burg and Cold Harbor and Murfreesbort
and Corinth and Yorktown and above
the clouds on Lookout mountain.
Among the thousands of gathering:
at the North and at the South for Deco
! ration Days, | am conscious that THU
| service is unique, and that it is the only
I one in which there has been twisted
l two garlands, one for the grave o
9 the Northern dead and the other TO
I the grave of the Southern dead. Oh
9 Lord God of the American Union
D is it time that we bury forever on
t old grudges? My! My! Can we no
t be at peace on earth when this momen
q in Heaven dwell, in perfect love
Ulysses S. Grant and Robert Z. Lee
+ VIM. T. Sherman and Stonewall Jack
i son, and tens of thousands of northern
d and southern men who, though the,
e once looked askance at each other from
: the opposite banks of the Potomac an
It the Ghickahominy and the James an
S the tennessee, now are on the sam
d side of the River, keeping jubilee wit
y some of those old angels who near nine
t teen centuries ago came down on
n Christmas night to chant over Bethle
IS hem: ''Glory to God in the highest; o
1t earth peace, good will to menu
Is Whatever you are from nature
IS keep to it. Never desert your own lin