The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1893-06-02
THE WEEKLY TRIBUNE,
UNITED by BLOOD.
d JUNE 2. 1898.

sermon preached to the veterans on Sun
day by the Rev. Mr.. Coombe:
We read in old, familiar story that one
day in the Roman forum the earth
opened and a great gulf yawned in the
midst thereof. Vain was every effort to
stay its increasing horror. Dreading the
offended deities the magnates of the city
consulted the eoothsayers, who informed
them that the chasm could never be
filled and its growth never staid until
what Rome held most valuable should
be cast into it. There was doubt as to
what the precious thing might be, but
on an appointed day multitudes gath
cred around the quaking edge of the
gulf, bearing gold, and pearls, and gems,
and fruits of the earth as offerings. Sud
denly there appeared among them a
young knight clad in full armor. "These,
oh, Romans he cried, ''are not your fitting
gifts, Youth and valor are your strength,
your hope, your priceless possessions
He leaps to his saddle and plunges into
the abyss, declaring that there is moth
ing so precious as life given for ones
country. Its frightful jaws closed over
him. Its rayages were staid and no
trace is left upon the Towering sward.
One day, many years ago, in our own
land, stretching from side to side, from
ocean to desert, a great gulf yawned. di-
viding asunder families, communities,
states-yes, the very nation itself-and
into this chasm we have cast our most
priceless possessions. The arteries of
men were opened by the lance of trea-
son, and into it flowed a river Of blood.
The hearts of women and children were
touched by the bloody hand Of war and
there gushed forth into it an ocean of
tears. The youth, the strength, the tai
ent. the virtue, and the patriotism, not
of one soldier, but of a million OF the
noblest sons that ever shouldered the
musket was thrown into it.
But we are not here to mourn the loss
of men like these. Fire no minute gun
over their graves; toll no funeral bell.
Rejoice, rather, that the nation has given
birth to such sons. Deck their tombs
with the crowns and garlands and lau-
rels of victory. Bid their children and
ours to mark we'll their example, and, for
ourselves, let us draw fresh inspiration
of love for our land and for liberty, and
seek from them lessons of deliverance
from the narrow party spirit. greed of
gain, and lust of power.
All, there it is! Some OF us have to
learn; for we know only in theory what
you know in reality, and as on this beau
tiful holy Sabbath morning / speak to
you of your dead comrades as well as the
living, my advantage as | try to do it
rests in the infinite eloquence Of your
presence, but he hat cometh after me
is greater than /, and will tell you from
experience what | cannot do. | fall back
on your reserves-mine in the descrip-
ton. yours in the demonstration. / can
only tell Of things that you and yours
have done. But beside the soldier today
stands the citizen, and I have thought
that if | could speak from the soldier to
the citizen, | shall do all that may be-
come a man in my ~position-If l can do
that | shall be content. | want to catch
The spirit if | can of that great time in
which the soldier took the first place: to
feel through its iurid and terrible I'M
foldings for the divine soul that was in
it from first to last.
The rumbling of the coming storm had
been a lolg time heard in the land, but
all expected it would pass harmlessly
away, so that the first news from Sumter
came like a blow from a brothers hand,
and in a moment grim war with all its
horrors stalked into the forum of the ma
ton and demanded a bloody sacrifice.
The cheeks of brave men paled, and
women were filed with anguish. That
which took only a moment TO inaugurate
took years to conclude, and in it was
found brother against brother, Anglo
Saxon against Anglo-Saxon, men against
men, each reading the same Bible, pray
ing to the same God, honest in his con
viction5, believing in the integrity and
honor of the cause espoused, and ready
to lay down their life for it. This norm
ing calmly reviewing the past when much
of the old bitterness has gone out Of our
hearts and the old wounds have been
healed and we arc one nation, not one
here desires to utter a word Of discord,
though loyalty to the nation forces US
to say that we believe the men Of the
South to be much mistaken, that they
were wrong though honestly wrong, yet
we are proud Of the heroic qualities dis
played by so many on the other side, and
feel that this heroism is the common
possession Of the men o. our stock. The
men from the north met foe men who
were worthy of their steel, and for this
raocop tho luctar ~ tho met lie anhappnd