The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-05-30

MEMORIAL NOTES
observations and Reflections by Juniui
Henri Browne.


II It be grateful and honorable, as the
Roman maxim is, to die for ones country,
II is grateful and honorable likewise TO re-
member those who have given their lives
for patriotism, and to decorate on Memo
rial day their graves with flowers.
Memorial day is not so much holiday as
' holy day, In the sense that our grttitude
Ind reverence for the memory of the men
who sacrificed themselves on the altar Of
the republic stir the deepest and most sa-
cred feelings in our nature, and lallow
their dust forevermore.
It seems often as If, I'm the rush ant whirl
and fever Of our everyday pursuis and
struggles, we had no time and litle in
clination to cultivate patriotism. Hseems
often as if the great virtue might die But
It will not While this day is honoril, the
FIRE of patriotism will be kept aliven cur
hearts.
Some persons appear to think tia with
the passage Of years, interest in Decoation
day will diminish until it will ceaseto be
celebrated There is hardly any dan,er Of
this. Gre'tt events need the perspective Of
time and distance to be fully appreciated
The civil war will assume larger pppor
tions in the century to come than Q the
century now passing The Shadows q he
roes lengthen as generations recet,e.
A generation has grown up since the Hivil
war began. When another generation shall
have appeared, scarcely single man ofthe
hundreds of thousands who took pan in
the struggle is likely to be alive Letall
who survive do honor to those who have
gone, on this day which may he regarded as
the anniversary of the cOuntry's preseira.
tion.
Death, which comes TO us all soon or lite,
is generally but commonplace, pro'aic
fact. As everybody dies, death conveys
not the slightest distinction. But the man
who dies in a great cause, as the Union
soldiers did, is ennobled by the cause, Ind
his death is linked with history
In the next century Americans will tbe
proud and happy to trace their lineige
| through some soldier in the civil wbr
And he or she who can say, my greht
grandfather fell at Donelson or Shiloh or
Antietam or Gettysburg" will have the
highest patent of nobility that democ-
racy can confer
Flowers are always considered an appro-
pirate contribution at a wedding, feast or
a funeral at the entrance into the world
never quite so appropriate as when laid on
| the graves of men who died that the ma
tion might live
| The civil war made us for the first time
all Americans. 1t destroyed state sovet-
| eighty and created Union sovereignty in
stead. Appomattox settled sectional diff
ferences for all time. After that we ceased
to hear of loyalty to Virginia, Mississippi,
| Q IL. 8
swallowed up in loyalty to the republic
which is alone consistent with permanent
| government, with liberal and truly enlight-
ened institutions
The observance of Memorial day proves
conclusively that republics are not migrate
full The saying is ascribed to Themis-
tocles, who certainly had reason, from his
| treatment by Greece, to hold such an opin-
| ion. 1t may have been true of the old re
! publics, but it is not of the great republic
of today. She remembers the brave men
who fell in her defense and understands
that to them she owes her present integrity.
Although William Collins has been dead
nearly $50 years, some of his odes might
have been written specially for this conn
try and this ii le What can be flttfr for
/ Memorial day than these familiar lines1
How sleep the brave who sink to rest,
By all their country's wishes bestl
By fairy hands their knell is rung;
BY forms unseen their dirge is sung.
There Honor comes, pilgrim gray,
To bless the turf that wraps their clay
And Freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell n weeping hermit there.
A day like Memorial day is always ex.
cellent, most wholesome, in its influence
/ twas eminently proper to make it a legal
holiday. 1t gives us pause; it impels us to
think of others; it tcounterbalances our tend
ency to selfishness. Reflection on the dis
| interested acts of our fellows arouses our
| sympathy, stimulates our humanity, ele-
Yates our ideas, enlarges and purifes our
thoughts, eXalts our purposes.
JUNIUS HENRI BROWNE.