The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-06-06
Memorial Day.

Memorial Day.
Gen. A. E. Shiras Post, &c, G. A. R., es-
corted by Co. F, went to Vlncentown on
Tuesday morning and assisted in decorat-
ing the graves there. In the afternoon
they visited the cemeteries in Mount
Holly. At o'clock there was good au-
dience in the Opera House to hear the
address by Rev. DIR. S. Gifard Nelson,
pastor of the Baptist Church. Following
in synopsis of his remarks:
Officers and soldiers, ladies and gentlemen:
From earliest manhood, until now, it
has been my good fortune to take part,
almost every year, in some way, with the
brave 'sold boys" in their sublime and APP
propriate commemorative exercises And
the ''old boys are brethren, thank God,
wherever found. And So for the sake of
your comrades elsewhere, and for our
countrys sake. regard you as brethren,
too. and feel myself no stranger among
you at this hour. In these later days, it
is no light privilege and honor to be your
speaker and stand with you by the graves
of our hallowed dead. For, alas, we may
we'll say with the passing Arthur:
''The old order changeth and giveth
place to new"
In the past two decades, how many are
the changes we all have known. The
heads of those who wore the blue now
wear the gray. Some of the boys" of
the old days are patriarchs now, and. like
Jacob, bless us leaning upon the staff.
Others are not here. We look around for
them in vain. Their familiar forms have
vanished. Many of them were lovely and
pleasant In their lives and hope will cher
ish the thought that even in death they
are not divided. Year by year the great
war Itself recedes in contemplation, albeit
not from memory. Each year the red
clouds of battle roll further and further
off into the expanse of history. A gener-
alton has come to manhood that was
Graded amid the thunder of the guns and
yet heard not their booming. The grand
old captains, one by one, have surrender
ed their swords to the only foe that could |
TAX Q them-the invincible enemy, death
Grant, the grandest and noblest of the
immortal line, after many weary months
of sickness, preceded by many sorrows, |
bravely met the common foe. a soldier to
the last. His great brain was tired, his |
mighty heart stood still, and he who
quailed not at the rebel yell, yielded with |
sublime heroism to the summons of the
last conqueror. Mcclellan and Hancock,
IN turn, passed within the vail; and, then
Sheridan, bravest of the brave. on deaths
pale charger, went forth on his last ride.
So passed they, and are passing, comrades
and commanders of that great army that
swarmed over the Savannahs OF the South, |
and before them swept the cohorts of Sc
cesslon as the withered leaves are driven |
before the autumnal gale.
On fame's eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round
The hfV0uae of the dead.
But the work that they and you accom-
plished remains and shall remain, in re-
stored, reconstructed, and, henceforth, let
us trust, indestructible Union. The prin- |
ciples for which they died and you fought |
are as imperishable as truth, itself From
the fires of war they have come forth with |
new radiance and quite inextinguishable |
lustre. Memory of your struggle, as one
of the great struggles of the ages, shall re-
main heritage of humanity, and, to the
latest day, shall compel the interest of
mankind. Troy, Marathon, Thermopha- !
ly@ these may pale before the military |
achievements and heroisms of coming |
times. But the sacredness of your cause, |
and the rights you yindicated-more even
than the magnitude of your victory-shall
preserve your laurels green in the worlds
memory, forever.
The speaker then recounted the circum-
stances that led to the outbreak of the re- |
bellion and the firing upon the flag, and !
continued
In the terrible four years that follow ed |
that eventful April day, 2,750, 600 of the |
flower of our own and other lands gave
themselves to the cause of our common
country. OF that vast army, 100000 re-
turned no more. They fell amid binding |
fires of musketry, or at the bursting of the |
mortar, gashed and mutilated by shot and |
shell. Mown by the sabre or down-rid |
den in the ruthless charge of cavalry, they |
died, many of them in the chill of night, |
amid the carnage of the battle field, their |
wan, upturned faces CHASTITY in the moon
light. They lay in morass and swamp, |
while the demons of delirium Knocked |
their last hours. They persisted in the |
rI1e-pits, or rotted in the prison-pens of
Andersonyille and the stockades of Rich
mond. The prey of famine, pestilence
and the sword, they
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking
Morn of toll or night of waking.
For what, l ask, did these brave men |
die Were they mere pawns in military |
game of politicians = spilling their life |
blood in q miserable conflict for sectional |
supremacy He who thinks so has but /
limited knowledge of human motives. |
Let the immediate, the efficient causes
that lead men to offer up their lives, be
what they may, the inspiring, the final |
cause is ever the vindication of some great |
principle that has its seat in the heart. |
The principles for which your comrades |
died and you fought, were popular sover-
eighty, and the equality before the law of |
every man, irrespective of condition and |
color. Your cause was the integrity of
the Union and the freedom of the slave. |
With charity for all, with malice toward |
none, it is fitting we should recall how
these issues were projected on the coun-
try. To do this will oblige me to subject
your patience to the strain of RETROSPECT
tive inquiry.
Very different influences, from the out
set, had share in moulding the charac-
ter of the American people, North and I
South. While the people of both sec
tions take pride in the same ancestry
and cherish the same traditions, their
ancestors differed, markedly, in their
tendencies and pretensions. Many of
the Southern colOnlsts of two centuries I
ago had their notions of rank and ar /
istocracy. which they we're careful to
transmit to their children. 1t will be |
remembered that the colony that set |
tied the Carolinas under Charles II. |
began their experiment of government |
with a constitution drawn up by the phil |
| losopher Locke and the Earl of Skates |
bury 1t held, fundamentally, that the |
right to rule belonged only to those of
noble blood, and pronounced this pnn-
clple immortal. 1t hence made provi- |
sion for earls, barons, squires, &C., in
whose hands should be the admlnistra-
ton of affairs, while the common people
were to be attached as tenants to the soil.
| need not say that the experiment did