The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1891-06-03
against stonewall Jackson. It was

the departed and in recognition OF hon
esty and prcwess put the coronals upon
these living federals and confederates.
North and South, we will make great
fuss about them when they are dead.
There will not be room on their tomb
stones to tell how much we appreciate
them. We shall call out the military
and explode three volleys over their
graves, making all the cemetery ring
under our command Of "Firem We will
have long obituary in newspapers
telling in what battles they fought,
what sacrifices they endured, what flags
they captured, in what prisons they suf-
fered, but all that will come too late.
One word in the living ear Of praise for
their honesty and courage will be
worth to them more than military fu-
neral two miles long or pile Of flowers
half mile high and ten bands of music
playing over the grave "Star Spangled
Banner" or SWAY Down South In
Dixie" Now, while they are in their de-
clining years, and their right knee re-
fuses to work because of the rheuma-
tism they got on the wet ground on the
banks of the Chicxamauga, or their di-
gestive organs are off on furlough be-
cause Of the six months Of prison life in
which their rations were big slices of
nothing, and their ears have never been
alert since the cannonade in which they
heard so much they have been able to
hear but little since, in these cases I
call upon the people Of the north and
south to substitute little ante-mortem
praise for the good deal of post-mortem
eulogium. These two garlands that
twisted for northern and southern
graves shall not be put upon the grass
of the tomb until they have first encir-
cled the forehead Of the living. 1t will
let the front of the wreath come down
over the scar Of scalp wound made by
the sword of cavalryman at Atlanta
and droop little over the eye that lost
its luster in the mine explosion at
Petersburg. Huzza for the livingl
Gala lilies and camelias and amaranths
and palm branches for the living!
But we must not detain the two gar
lands any longer from the pillows of
those who for a quarter Of a century
have been PROSTATE in dreamless slum-
ber, never oppressed by summer heats
or chilled by winters cold. Both gar
lands are fragrant. Both have in them
the sunshine and the shower of this
springtime. 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 white
ness 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 use? None Of them will know it;
your Decoration days both sides Mason
and Dixon's line are great waste Of
flowers" All! | 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 flowers? 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 terrestrial. With
what interest we visit the place of our
birth and Of our boyhood or girlhood
daysl And have the departed no inter
est 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 departed do know, and the
hammered procession that marched the
earth yesterday TO northern graves and
the hammered procession that marched
a month ago to southern graves were
accompanied by two grander though
invisible professions that walked the
air, professions OF the assembled, pro
cessions of the martyred, procession;
OF the sainted; and they heard the
anthems OF the churches and the salvc
Of the batteries, and they stopped dowr
TO breathe the incense OF the flowers
These august throngs gathered thi,
morning in these pews and aisles and
corridors and galleries are insignificant
compared with the mightier throngs Of
heaven, who mingle in this service
which we render God and our country
while we twist the two garlanda Hail
spirits multitudinous! Hail spiriti
blestl Hail martyred ones come down
from the Kings palacesl How glad we
are that you have come back again
Take the kiss Of welcome and these
garlands Of "reminiscences, We who Ian.
guished in hospitals or went down
under the thunders and the lightuing,
Of Fredericksburg and Cold Harbor and
Murfrcesboro and Corinth and York.
town and above the clouds on Lookout
Mountain.
Among the thousands Of gatherings
at the north and at the south for Deco
ration days, / am conscious that this
service is unique and that II is the only
one In which there has been twisted
two garlands, one for the grnye of the
northern dead and the other for tho
grave Of the southern dead. o, Lord
God Of the American Union, is IL not
time that we bury forever our. old
grudges2 My! My Can we not be at
peace on earth when this moment in
heaven dwell, in perfect love, Ulysses
s. Grant and Robert =. Lee, William T.
Sherman and Stonewall jackson, and
tens Of thousands Of northern and south
ern men who, though they once looked
aslsance at each other from the opposite
hanlss Of the Potonnc and tha Chicka.