The National tribune., 1894-05-17

The following letters are worthy Of careful
study. In recent letter from the Chaplain
| in-Chief is this:
| we have adopted a uniform blank for
Chaplains' reports for Memorial Day, and hope
by this to get more general and uniform re-
port from each Chaplain"
| IOWA LETTER.
| somehow feel that Memorial Day ou1ht Ia
De an unusually sacred one to this Nation. and
l am impressed with the thought that mapv
OF the people who observe it forget the exact
! purpose OF the day. 1t should not be holiday
In the popular sense of that word It should
| be OF such sacred character that pouuIsr
| games of baseball, shooting -matches horse rae
ing, regattas,ietc., ad libtum, should not be en-.
couraged. That which inspired Gen. Logan and
others to suggest the day, namely the sacrifices
and the death of the hundreds of thousands of
patriots that our country might be perpetuated
. happy and prosperous Nation, should Be
Kept saeredly in mind in making out all the
programs for the day. No more appropriate
DAY IN all the year for profuse display of Old
glory.
L think that GAR should propose and d.
rect but let Sons of Veterans and citizens be
very active, 80 that when the " old boys" are
In line on the other shore there NAV be left a
spirit and habit in the people that will sacredly
perpetuste the customs that teach love TO God
and men.-GEoRGE <. HOOVER, Department.
Chaplain.
PENNSYLVANIA LETTER
think we ought to ask all newspapers to
help US to make Memorial Day a sacred dsy
and not day of games This is not doing us
any good in this section The youno peopla
are not taught to respect the day as they ought.
Baseball and all such things take our young
men. i have sometimes wondered whether It
was the best thing to have made it a National
holiday.
believe my Post ought to go to some church
on the Sabbath preceding Memorial Day. In this
department. believe this is generally done. We
also have special Memorial services either in
the Post-room or some church for comrades
who have died during the year. This is one of
the most solemn services in our Department.
The Grafton on the Goth of May ought to be in
public place under roof 1t ought to be a
Memorial GRAFTON, not Fourth of July ora.
ton. Again and again / have heard addresses
That had very little of what ought to have been
SAID at such time. / think whoever the
speaker or preacher is he ought to be selected
because he is known to DO in thorough SYM
pathy with US, and not because he is simply a
good talker.-J. Il. SAVERS, Department Chap
lain.
SUGGESTIONS.
Last year Rev. Henry Croker, Chaplain of
the Vermont Department, sent a request before
Memorial Day to ali the papers in the State to
send him the issue of the paper containing ac-
count of Memorial exercises. Nearly all cheer
fully did SO. He then arranged their extracts
and presented them to the Department En-
campment with his report, and all were pub
lished III the Proceedings of the Annual En-
campment. Thus they are kept as permanent
record, and will be very valuable in the future.
This method preserves the religious and Me-
mortal side of the GAR. in a very pleasing
way. Would it not be well for all Department
Chsplains to follow out the same or similar
plan?
Chaplains should begin at once, if not already
begun, to agitate for an enthusiastic observance
OF the Memorial Days, not only in his own
town, city or village, but also in every adjacent
community. The question of how to meet the
expense of Memorial services sometimes is a
serious one. This has been solved in many
places by asking the authorities to appropriate
an amount sufficient to cover this expense. In
but few cases have Posts met with refusal of
requests.
The community can make no better invest
ment than in supporting their efforts to teach
patriotism through these Memorial exercises
One of the successful ways to stir up interest in
these Memorial exercises is for the Chaplain or
some other good person to write up rousing
appeal for the local papers just before Memorial
Day. Try it, Chaplains, and be sure to ask the
people not only to observe the day themselves,
but to frown upon any efforts to desecrste the
day with sports, races, etc.