The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-03-08
TIIE PENSION oRFIcE.

Whnt I'TlHlLD IhIEeIl IJllnRB OF lHe ITos
posaI to Hold u Sunday Concert In It.
10 The Editor Of he I%pkLtgaecr.
SIR:-It vas proposed to violate the
Sabbath and prolane thepensiop office by
holding a concert in it, until General
Noble issued an order forbidding it
Thanks to General Noble, the building
was not to be disgraced by drunken
revelry and dancing! Thanks to no
ono el'eD II General Noble had per-
mitted this outrage, it would have made
a bad beginning Tor Mr.. CleVeland's adj
ministration, because not only the SOL
diers, but their friends throughout the
country would have interpreted this
wanton dissertation OF the sacred day
and place as q significant expression OF
hostility to all that the soldiers and all
Christian people regard with reverence
and love.
But what will be thought OF the men
who conceived such u project? What
care had they for the feelings OF the
feelings OF the old soldiers and tho
widows and orphans Of departed
heroes? Are they, indeed, tho same
men as those who for four weeks past
have been slandering and abusing the
veterans OF the union and threatening
to take away their ~pensions2 What
would such men care for tho pension
oticoP They could not think it possi-
Bile to degrade or pollute q building ded.
icated specially to the honor and relief
OF people whom they denominate rob.
bers, "''pension beggars" and thieves"
Indeed they might be anxious to pol
Lutte the place they hate.
Since Congress opened in December,
no question mas received tho attention
and tho amount Of discussion that have
been bestowed upon the pension quos-
ton. It was up for discussion in the
house almost every day during the en-
tire month OF February, and no one
who has not read the reports printed in
the Congressional Record every day can
have any idea how violently and how
bitterly the pensions and pensioners
were assailed in the long and angry de-
bate. No word in tho language that
can describe fraud, perjury or robbery
was lett unemployed by our enemies,
when they came to describe the bone.
tlciaries Of the pension syatem. 1t was
the most monstrous, outrageous and
vicious assault ever hurled at the SOL
diers OF the union. l have read the en-.
tire discussion, every word of it, in
nineteen copies Of tho Congressional Rec
ord, each u good sized little book in it.
self. Malignant, false, t%reacherous,
does not describe 1t all. It's the worst
thing that ever came from rebel lips,
They tried every way in their power to
defamo the dead soldiers, disgrace and
rob the living, and break down the
pension system, and only failed in their
diabolical purpose because they were
met by tho Spartan Republican minori-
ty, and forced to give up the fight.
1t was fitting that when they saw that
they could not repeal the pension laws
aud rob tho old soldiers yet by act OF
Congress, that they should signOlize
their modification and discontinue by
deseCrating the pension Office, built in
honor OF the men whom they hato, by
turning II into q dance house, and that
on the Lords dayi No thanks to them
that they failed to degrade and rob us
in the house. where they we're fairly out
%generalied and forced to retreat in dis
order like whipped spNniels. No thanks
to them that their scheme to humiliate
tho soldiers by turning their house into
a concert hall on Sunday miscarried,
because but for General Noble, himself
a gallant soldier, tho %bachanalian rev.
elry would have held high carnival there
tomorrow!
What a place for debauchery and
rcvelry. A palace Of skulls, OH pillars
OF skeleton, whose walls are shattered
human beings, and whose foundations
are laid in blood and tears. 1t roso in
the smoke of thousand battles. 1t is
the immaculate flower Of the peoples
patriotic love and gratitude TO their
brave defenders. 1t Is a holy %place-let
no n desecrate ita sacred precincts,
but may II long remain ConseCrated to
the one single pious use ior which
alone the people designed 1t. We have
read Of tho Bridge OF Sighs-hore we
have u temple whose arches are broken,
bleeding hearts, and tho only music be-
coming 10 this palace OF sorrows Is the
moan OF the suffering and dying heroes
Of country, and q nations requiem
for their departure. l hear in every re-
cess and corridor the wall OF the widow
and the cry Of tho orphan-tho discon.
ISOLATE appealing for sympathy and tho
famishing Tor broad. No place, / say,
for levlty, but n whore tears or tho
natural expression Of sorrow and com.
miscration, and where dancing would
be dcsocrNtion aud ruvelry n crime.
1t ia n very Gofgothn-its flies and
records are pyramids Of the slain.
II Is Gethsomane-for through It's
courts what millions have gono weep.
ing, trcading the wine press alone.
What a place for dancing and drunk.
ennesa. l should as liof dance on tho
rcd floor OF battle or on Il soldiers grave,
wouldn't your
l cannot understand how any man
would have the heart to doseGrnto q
place 50 holy. Turn this place OF sor.
row into u concert hall? Mock the
widows moan and the Orphans cry with
blast Of bachanalian buglesl Protnno
the holy Of HOLES, stain It's snowy affairs
with tho vino OF drunkenness, and
polluto It's sacred floor with dancing
feet, and then may fro from heaven con
sumo alike the building thus disgracod
and those who mako II 30.
PmyArE DALzEtL,
CrlitheU OLio Mrtcltl