St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-05-30
Every Cemetery in the City
to Be Visited by theL
Veterans.
Presentation Ceremonies to
Mark the Day at Lutheran !
Graveyard. )
Archbishop Ireland VIII De1
) liver the Address at
Calvary. 81 ,


begun. 1t is said that its observation
was recommended first by some Grand
Army posts, and the friends of Gen.
Logan claim the credit of its establish
ment as national holiday for that gal
liant soldier. Long before that time.
however, even during the sad dark days
of the civil war. the custom of decorat-
ing the graves of soldiers was we'll
known. While away at the front the
men were whirled along on the waves of
excitement, wrapt in the banner
of battle smoke and upborne
by the cheers of comrades and
an admiring country. fighting for the
flag that symbOlized home, honor and
country for them, women at home hay
ing sent their warriors girded with love
and hope to the field, had little to help
them bear the long days and weeks
and months of suspense that war en-
tails on non. combatantS, and seized
eagerly upon anything that had the
least SAVIOR of helpfulneSs for the boys
i'm blue i'll whom their hearts were
bound up. Scarcely had the war begun
before the appalling lack of provisions
for the care of sick and wounded SOL
diers was discovered, and then Sprang
into life hundreds of
ssSOIdiers' Aid Societies.,
These were composed of all sorts and
conditions of women, and from every
rank in life, who met! to work for the
hospitals. Many incidents of those days
seem as much amusing as pathetic. as
one looks back at them. The weekly
meetings made all the women we'll
known to each other, and little jokes
were exchanged over the gift that each
brought to the society rooms; against
the day when the boxes or barrels
should be filled and sent away. What
wonderful slippers, that would ut no
man of ordinary build. and mittens of
stiff cloth with one finger, for the use
of the sentries, and rolls OF lint, scraped
or rayeled from bits of old linen, that
the scrapers fondly hoped were to be of
immense value to the surgeons were
made, and what CONSERVATION seized us
when surgeon home on furlOugh and
more honest than sentimental, told us
that this carefully prepared lint was not
worth ''ShuckS," and all our laDorWaS
in vain. 1S@
But no surgeon could deny that the
canned fruits, the little glasses Of jelly
and bottles of home made wine, real
wine with no alcohol in ii" as one good
lady averred, and even bottles OF cider
vinegar, the real stuff-was of great
value to the men in hospitals. And in
more sentimental. but no less real way,
the quilts we made, each block bearing
the name of the maker, and little COIN
fort bags, with buttons and needles and
thread, made from a scrap OF some
woman's dress and holding some token
of the love that held the. home heart
strings taught, through those weary
days we're welcomed III the hoSpitalSsat
the 'front.' Sometimes it was picture
of asgirliSh race. OF little note fulNof
| words Of pride and cheer. ,s.fi9e
Many Little Romances -
grew out of these things, and; were
seized upon by story writer's ipmedi-
ately after the war as grist for their
Unsuitable mills. l have heard soldiers,
big bronzed and bearded fellows, tell
of the days in hospital when life seemed
too dreary to be borne on inconsistencies,
| that grew to be recognized ailment
| which had fastened upon them not to be
shaken oil, tell of the pleasure that came
with a little bag made with a bit of
bingham like mothers aprons" and
| scarcely big enough to hold the two
| fingers of the bronzed hand, but repre-
| senting, Oh, so much OF the constant
| thoughtfulness of the women at home.
| These were better medicine for home
| sick boys-and the majority of the sol
ders GU both sides were only boys
than anything the men of science had
| Wrung from natures pharmacop9la.
Many an old soldier has among his
| choicest treasures some OF these little
| things yet, and around the camp fire
stories are told that bring mist to the
| eyes of those WelI-remembered days
| But when our boys came home, as,
! alas, they so often did, crushed by the
storm of battle, to linger little while
on the border land, where all that love
| could do was done to save the brave
Young lives, but all in vain, or more sad
! still, at the close OF some battle that
| lives in history. the wires flashed. the
| names of the sacrificed over the land,
| and an old father or mother OF sister
| went to seek aud bring home their he
| roeS, and at last when nothing but a
| little hillock in the cemetery was left to
| tell that their heroes ever had lived;
| when love that could not die reached
empty hands to heaven praying for COM
| fort, and the spot where the cast-off
garment that had held the soul OF our
| beloved lay seemed the only place on
| began the gentle ministry of flowers
that crystallized into Decoration day.
At first there were only black-robed
women or gray-haired men who came,
bowed with sorrow, to StreW the flowers
that the sleeper had loved above those
ouiet beds. Then, as the list of honor
grew, these were joined 10y others whom
common sympathy had drawn to-
getiler.
The Minor Chord.
Then came peace. We welcomed our
heroes homo with music and laughter,
but, ah, under the. mlrth rang ever a
minor chord, and the dead were not for
gotten. AS soon as the returned sol
diers had adjusted themselves TO civil
life, as no army had ever done before,
they bethouget them Of those VINO had
fallen with faces to the foe, and seeing
| this little ceremony of decoration. with
| its tender meaning and aSs0clatloRlnT
corporated it with their own eHortslto
! keep the memory of so much heroiSm
green, and so we had Decoration day.t /
1t is we'll that we have this one day on
which we can show our children how
patriotism is rewarded, while we tell
them of the heroism on both SideSsOf
the line and cultivate in their hearts a
love for and pride in their native laid.
We know today no North and no South,
but one and the same, under the blue
blouse or the gray jacket, we see and
recognize the man we love. the real
American.
At Lutheran Cemetery.
In addition to the usual exercises Of
decorating soldiers graves, all q. A. r.
comrades, not regularly detailed as
decorating parties by the committee of
arrangements for Memorial day to
decorate various graves in the various
cemeteries, will assemble at the Acker
Post hall, corner OF Seventh and Cedar
streets, at s O'Clock on the morning of
Memorial day to proceed to the Luth-
eran cemetery aud dedicate the plat of