Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-05-30

| nifty the peoples of all countries and of all ma
tons, civilized or barbarous, have in some form
| or other set apart days and seasons to recall
with solemn ceremonies those who have died in
meaning and lesson to be drawn from the memo
rial offerings Of pagan times, as well as from
these floral tributes
when Spring with dewy FINGERS cold
Returns to deck their hallowed mold"
can but think the custom conveys a subtler
significance OF yaster importance than the out
ward form and symbol Of fragrant flowers.
All days and all acts which keep green the
memories of the departed show the universal
trend OF the ages to preserve intact a belief
the solace OF mankind in every environment Of
life, pagan as well as Christian, learned as well
as unlearned-a belief which Horace. the most
phiiosophic poet of classic Rome. embodied in
the verse, Non omnis moriar"-I do not
wholly die. This belief in Immortality, finding
expression in the literatures and customs of all
nations, is now especially emphasized in the
renaissance of all nature. The cold cerements
OF winters grave are transformed into the mar
velous vesture Of springtide life; the vernal
day. giaddening us with the incense Of newly
awakening energy, is indeed q very bridal of
earth and sky and bears upon its sheen the
signs and tokens Of natures rejoicing in per-
petually successive immortality.
So. my friends of the G. A. R., to whom it is
especially given to keep in perpetual remem-
brance your dead comrades let not the wisdom
OF which these memorial days are SO pregnant
be unread in the traditions of the past or in
the luminous teachings of the present. We are
in truth the heirs Of all that is best and purest
In the ages which have gone. The trend of the
ages In the civic as in the scientific relations
which man holds to man is forever upward and
onward toward the development Of broader
and deeper humanity, development whose
field of vision is more extensive than mere sec
tlonal lines, and whose field of activity knows
no country. no sect, no people. but encom-
passes the world, the brotherhood of man
veiled in the fatherhood of God. As we
are destined by the highest Christian philos-
ophy to be Of kin in an immortality
prefgured by the symbols of every returning
spring, by the symbols of every returning Deco
ration day, SO let US see TO it that we are of
kin here while we wear the robe of flesh in all
that tends to the elevation of our humanity.
Let us see to 1t that We rise superior to
the hate and bitterness engendered by civil
conflict and factional strife, however tenacious
we may be Of political opinions and religious
beliefs. Let us march in unison with the best
spirit of the times, whose ken discerns in the
future for all people. however distant it may
be, that contamination Of the noblest COM
monwealth in which
THE war drum throbs longer, and the battle faas
In the parliament Of man. the federation Of the world
Friends of the G. A. R., say again, it is
your duty, in the remembrance which these
solemn ceremonies awaken, to consecrute anew
your plighted swords to the highest interests
OF an undivided country, to see that fraternal
union is deep and strong enough to include
those who wore the gray as well as those who
wore the blue. A united country presupposes
q united people-united in all endeavors ap-
pertaining to the elevation Of man.
With minds strengthened by soldierly discip-
line and with hearts warmed by the glow Of
camp fire recollections, it is for you alike, fed
eral and confederate, to march toward that
highest development Of humanity which recog-
nizes the brot herhoOd Of man.
Then let US pray that come it may,
- As come II will, for a. that,
That man to man the wor a DER
Shall brother be- and a. that"
Judge Armstrong; Remarks
Ladies and gentlemen and comrades of the G.
A. R., thank you most sincerely for this honor
vou have copfarred ,,po,, mo h,,+ ,h.u..