The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-05-29
THE OLD SOLDIERS.

THE OLD SOLDIERS
The editor of this paper was not a
soldier. But his father was. And
some man of his blood and name has
been a soldier in every honorable war
i'm which this country has engaged
from the Revolution down.
And so the REGISTER has never
made an ugly thrust at old soldiers.
There has been a good deal of talk
during the past winter about 1.-The
old soldier racket" and some of it
has come from sources whence it
should have been least expected.
The men who uttered it will probably
be ashamed of themselves tomorrow.
They ought to be at least.
For it is not rhetoric, or eXtrava-
gance, but the plain indisputable
truth TO say that in all the civilized
world there is not another body of
men so worthy of public respect and
honor, praise and gratitude, as the
one which will "fall inn tomorrow
and follow the muffled drums and
the wailing bugles to the silent cities
to strew flowers on the graves where
sleep the comrades who have gone
before. There is but one Grand Army
of the Republic; and in its ranks, as
in no other organization under the
sun, is to be found an order of heroes
doubly celebrated as the saviors of
their country and the emancipators of
a race. Other men have fought as
bravely and endured as much from
time to time in the history of civiliza-
tioD, perhaps; but in point of courage
based upon correct faith, and services
leading to sound and beneficient re-
suits, they are beyond precedent or
comparison. TO take off our hats to
them as they pass by, with their
scars and mutilations and their rent
and precious banners, is to perform
an easy courtesy considering the
great debt we owe them. If we were
to 60 down upon our knees III their
presence it would not be more than
they deserve. But for their daring
and their fortitude in that awful
stress of passion and sorrow when the
fate of the Union was hidden by thick
doubt, our Government would now
be a mere mockery: and instead of so
many good reasons for thankfulness,
the American citizen would have
cause for nothing but regret and
humiliation.
1t seems to US sometimes that peo-
pie forget the nature of the service
asked for and obtained from these
soldiers. Suppose for a moment that
you who are quietly reading this pa
per should find in it suddenly sum-
mons that would allow you no alter
native but to drop your business Who'll
ly; to say goodbye to wife and chill
dred knowing the grave risks that you
should never see them again on earth;
to give up your pleasures and home
comforts; to don private's uniform,
submit to rigorous discipline, march
when the orders came by day or by
night, in rain or snow as well as in
pleasant weather; to live on the
coarsest fare always, and often to lack
even that; to stand picket in pestilen-
tial swamps by day and night; to
risk the imminent peril of losing
health and accepting the tender mer-
cies of the field hospital; to enter upon
campaign, skirmish and battle; day
after day to see comrades fall one by
one; TO take the chances of wounds
by bayonet and bullet, of starvation
and insanity in the prison pen, and of
death by any of these;-suppose, we
say, that you who are quietly reading
this paper in the peaceful seclusion
of your own home, should find in ii
summons that would call you to make
these sacrifices and run these risks,
and imagine if you can what your
feelings would be. Yet this possible
experience is what hundreds of thous-
ands of men actually endured. Was
the eternal debt of gratitude" pledg-
ed by their country fully discharged
when they were paid the princely
sum of SIS month for their seryicer?
And are they to be reviled now be-
cause they are little clannish and
inclined to stand by one another, or
because they made bold to petition
their representatives. to elect one of
their friends to high Office?
The "old boys" need feel no bitter
ness because an occasional thought |
less or disappointed politician may |
speak slightiDgly of their services or !
of their comradeship.
The great body of their countrymen
give them honor and reverence and
will ever hold them in loving and