Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-05-31

were spent in floral decorations and the
day was almost a carnival of flowers
Most beautiful of all the day was the part
the school children took Each with a
potted plant or bunch of flowers did honor
TO the dead. In every cemetery they heard
retold the deeds of a generation before and
the thin, childish voice chanted the very
songs that had inspired men to battle, that
had made them weep by the winrows of the
dead, that had cheered them in prison. As
the music of their young voices rose one al
most could believe the clouds parted and in
the spirit world the veteran again drew in
spiration from the songs of war.
Visiting the Camps of tn. Dead.
The camps of the dead in every cemetery
were visited The main celebration was
that in Allegheny Cemetery. The veterans
were taken there by the Allegheny Valley
road. The school children ha d gone ahead,
each bearing flowers. There were at least
10000 people in the cemetery. Post g. G.
A. R., band played dirge, and the punches
of blossoms were LETT on the green mounds,
The number of soldiers decorations were
fewer than ever before.
Some moved with steps so unsteady and
slow that showed the next dav of decora
tion would find fewer of the wearers of the
blue and more of the mounds of green. A
thousand voices Joined in the chorus.
America, led by Mrs. j. Sharpe McDon-
aid. This was followed by ''Tenting To-
night Comrade NJ. B. Riddle offered a
PRAYER, and with heads still uncovered the
vast assemblage Joined in singing ssCover
Them Oyer With Flowers" Mayor Gour-
ley then made an eloquent address, and the
services closed with the beautiful chorus
"Sleep, Comrades Sleep" Mayor Gourley
in his address said:
Veterans of a memorable conflict, on this
Memorial Day your thoughts dwell upon a
heroic past. You look backward over an
era that fraught with sacrifice and
death. You recall strange, eventful wears
that were characterized by splendid achieve
ments and illumined with imperishable
glory. This peaceful cemetery, the resting
place of so many honored dead; these i'm
nresSive ceremonies, the thoughts and as
sociatlons OF this hour summon before you
the multiplied memories of great epoch.
fhe Sounds OF Specter Armies.
Hundreds of illustrious characters, hun
dreds OF stately figures, thousands of un-
named heroes who died on fields of glory
crowd upon your vision as you tenderly
strew your flowers on the graves where the
bones of your comrades rest. Legend tells
Us that ever after the immortal victory won
DN the lDerty-lOVlng creeks at Marathon.
the old heroes of Athens nigh marshaled
their hosts in the clouds above that memoir
able plain. That even yet upon that haunted
glorious field are nightly heard the rushing
shadows OF spectral war, the noise OF in.
visible warriors leading brave men to the
onset, the neighings OF chargers the uproar
of cnariots, the shouts of victory and the
cans OF dying spirits
Ave, poetry brought her magic song and
imagination her legends to ma snify. and TO
Iallow the remembrance of Il glorious deed.
For almost 500 years Marathon has been a
magic word, which uttered. to the hearers
eve appear the camp, the host, the fight the
conquerors career" So to you, graz ay-haired
and honored soldiers. Imagination to-day
portrays with awful vividnesS the bloody
scenes which made this beloved land of
ours n spectacle to angels and to men, You
hear your countrys call; you hear the drum
beat and the music to which Won nroudIy
marched in going out to war when life was
Young with you and your future was bright |
with the rainbow of hope aud promise
You sec the Peninsula. You see Nntietam.
FredericN~bu shiloh, Corin'h. Stone
River Chancell lrsv lie Getty~bur,t, ChicLR- ]
ruauga, ChAttan q ~, tue Wilderness SDott-
sylvania. Cold ;-arbor the march ~ iho sea. |
Pictured before you are - hundred dcatn-
irss fields, on which million brave men |
fought, on which hundreds Of Thousands OF |
heroes died.
Brave Men smiling ~ Death.
You 500 rising behind fredericksburg