The record-union., 1891-11-30


muskets crash, steel meets steel, and
many noble hearts are stilled forever.
Now they waver, now they rally, now
they advance, now they retreat, now they
charge, on, on, on, over the dead, over
the dying, into the face of death. They
are striking for home altars, for wives,
for mothers, for sisters. They are strik-
ing for country, for justice, for God. On,
on, over the trenches and up the blood
bathed battlement. The banner that has
been waving over Yorktown is coming
down and another is climbing up the
flagstaff in its place; the wind catches it's
folds and unfurls them; it is the red,
white and blue, the beautiful red, white
and blue. Praise We the lord, for he hath
redeemed Israel. How they gathered
about 1t! How they cheered How they
laughed How they cried! How they
shook hands! They had followed that
ola flag; they had fought for it and they
loved 1t; they would have died for it, and
now they had planted it in triumph to
wave over the home of the brave and
the land of the free. 1t was a day
Tor thanksgiving, and many heart that
day poured out its oblation of praise be-
fore the altar
How our hearts should swell with
thanksgiving and praise as we look upon
that beautiful emblem of our country'S
triumph. Love it! The American heart
oNFC4Ao With anu UefOilOn as lis
heaVen-born colors are flung out upon
the air. Love it Thousands have sworn
beneath its folds TO maintain its honor
even unto death, and thousands more
have laid down their lives in its defense.
Love it! With joy akin to reverence and
pride akin to devotion the brave boys
looked 10 it in their hours OF hardship,
prlvatlon and danger
Some time ago [ heard one of our own
boys, who wore the blue in the late Re-
beilion, tell this incident of the soldiers
devotion to the flag. 1t was in the heat
OF battle and the company was COM
PEELED to retreat, when one of them
shouted, THE cOlors are down." The
coIor-bearer had been shot, but true to
ms trust he was crawling away, and still
Keeping aloft the dear old 1iag. The COM
pany rallied, charged, rescued the hero
OF devotion. and carried him and the flag
away in triumph. Another soldier was
taken prisoner, but he tore the flag from
the staff, and, hiding it under his cloth
ing, he at last carried it home in safety
Others, when dying, called for the flag 10
be wrapped about them that it might be
their winding sheet.
To-day that glorious ensign floats wild
and 1ree, in thrice blood-bought glory
above our ransomed homes. Sweet peace
has folded her white wings above US, and
from shore to shore, from lakes to gulf
we are zone and inSepalable.n On the
sunset slope of the Allegheny hills sprang
into life and kissed the sun that mighty
stream, which at last through many
wanderlngs, pours its waters into the
gulf On the sunset slope Of the same
Allegheny hills was born that river
whose deathlesS name the Army of the
Potomac bore. So, from the same
mountain nights of loyalty to law,
and loyalty to truth, and loyalty to lib
pPfU 40 Of ho
We're born, and their hands were joined
III holy wedlock by our beautiful red,
white and blue, whose roseate hues are
stolen from the blushing sky Of morn
ing, heavens own blue sleeping amid
heecy clouds, and stars so dear no traitor
hand dares dim their glory.
All honor to the boys in blue, who
stood like Spartan heroes defending
their home altars. Never, no never. can
the nation repay her defenders. Never,
no never, can the nation pay the debt she
owes to those who bore so proudly home
her tattered but untarniShed emblem.
Never, no never, can she, in bronze and
marble, sufficiently honor those who
bivouac in their silent camps awaiting
the reveille of the arch-angel.
But, while we wreath for their brow
garlands Of gratitude, let us not forget to
offer thanksgiving to the Commander-in-
Chief who leads the armies in the de-
Tense of right.
Our Fathers God, to thee,
Author of liberty
To thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright
With freedom 9 holy light;
Prot C. us by thy might,
Great God, our King.
Let US offer Thanksgiving to-day for our
educational system, the bulwork Of virtue
and prosperity. Many of you can open
the book Of the past, and turning its pages
you find picture that carries you back
again to your childhood. 1t is picture
OF the primeval forest; the deer stoops to
drink at the brook, and the SQUIRREL
gathers his winters horde without fear.
The path, marked by blazed trees, leads
to the little log schoolhouse. The window
is made by leaving out log and cover
ing the opening with CREASED paper. The
ample fireplace throws out its cinders to
the sky. The wooden hinges on the
door, the puncheon seats and the
puncheon floor. the masters desk and
the master himself, with quill behind his
ear, and spectacles astride his nose and
ferule in hand, are still bright in mem
ory'S picture.
But these things have passed away, and
neat and comfortable buildings, with
competent instructors, dot the fair face of
our land, like buttercups in the meadows
on spring morning. Our academies
and colleges, with learned faculty and
maps and charts and scientific appar-
tus, stand as monuments to knowledge
Abraham Lincoln's mother, when she
gave her hand to Thomas Lincoln for
veal or woe, was a girl of the rare at
tainments in that part of the country,
being able to both read and write. To-
day 1t is difficult to find one who does
not possess these qualifications Let us
praise the God of learning for our prog
reSS. Our public school system is the
palladium of our liberty. An educated
people will be free people, and knowl-
edge is power.
Thanksgiving should be rendered to-
day for ourinexhaustable natural wealth.
For the gold, the silver, the copper, the
lead, the coal, the petroleum, and the
natural gas. These things by natural
laws, legislated by the Great Law-giver,
have been formed for mans s use and COM
fort. Thanksgiving should be rendered
to-day for the bountiful harvests that
have crowned the labor of the husband
man. Thanksgiving should be rendered
to-day that the dark shadow of war rests
not above our hearthstones, and that in
peace and security we dwell. Thanks
giving should be rendered to-day for the
promises of great moral reforms, given
in the Word Of God. We read there that
His kingdom shall be from sea to sea,
and that Righteousness shall cover
the earth as the waters cover the sea,' and
for the promises given, also, in the signs
of the times.
Great questions of national importance
are being brought before the people and
kept before the people. Never before
have the people been so aroused on the
subject of temperance. We must not
form our judgments from what we see in
our own local affairs. Never before have
such determined blows been aimed at the
hydra monster the drink traffic.
Never before have such appeals been made
TO the people and such fervent PRAYERS
been offered up to the God of Nations for