The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1893-06-01
Memorial Day.

tenuef second tnOuHnt OF Stfl1e,
faithful servitor of memory is
Memorial Day, and it's dawning
has again found the graves of n
nation-"Sweet with all the Flowers
of May Not only are the graves of
thousands of soldiers who perished
in the service of the nation object
lessons of loyalty and gratitude as
they are covered with garlands of
flowers but thousands of other
graves are, touched as it were 10y the
magic ofnature have literally become
beds of roses in single night, in
response to the common impulse of
affection that is thus stirred by men,
ories of the dead
The custom of laying flowers upon
the bier is an old ono-born of the
tender desire to gather that which
Is most beautiful and fragrant about
the beloved clay, while yet it is for
a little time ours to honor, and
which but now was the tabernacle
of n life that came no one knows
whence, and has gone no one knows
whittier. Instigated, perhaps, by
the same feeling, further inspired by
patriotism and gratitude to make
public acknowledgment of great
service ut the hands of those who
died that the nation might live, came
the present observances of Memorial
Day. Though first an impulse, the
custom of decorating graves upon
the 30th day of May has become q
growth that each year strikes its
roots deeper in the hearts of the
people. Watered by the springs of
human love, nurtured by memory
in its tenderest mood. Memorial
Day has in less than score of years
become well established among the
customs of the nation, and may al
most be said to take rank among its
institutions. So, from the great
cemeteries wherein the name of the
dead is preserved in enduring mar
BILE, and lordly mausoleums inter
pose their granite walls between the
dust of proud man and the dust of
Mother Earth, to the lonely country
graveyards over which wild birds
sing and nature weaves her softest
carpet of clover and grasses, all are
bright this day with the colors and
fragrant with the subtle perfume of
flowers.
The spirit which prompts this
tribute to the dead it is well for n
people to cherish Not morbidly
and with perpetual mourning, since
the claims of the living are para
mount to those of the dead, and
repining over the common lot of
humanity is Mt once bootless and
foolish-the substance and essence
of folly-but tenderly and thought
fully as n Just tribute to the endeav-
or and affection and loyalty of the
lives that have passed on and out,
beyond the limit of mortal vision.
Memorial Day, with its lessons of
patriotism written in the best blood
of the nation its lessons of graft
tude illustrated in Il united country
its lessons of love and hope and
memory, engraven on thousands OF
human souls, has won n place in the
affections of the people, which will
grow broader and deeper rs the
years go on, and impulse is further
crystalized into custom. The few
hours spent in its peculiar obser-
vances, the busy, bustling multitude
can well affor to spare from the
routine pursuits of life while il
takes its way, hower-laden, to city
cemetery and village graveyard, de,
posits it's fragrant and symbolic of,
fering, and listens reverently to the
eulogies which patriotism pronounc,
es upon the loyal dead.
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