The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1894-06-06

cred and graves decorated with garlands
OF flowers, and all this is being done 10
commemorate the great sacrifices and
daring deeds of the soldiers who sleep
beneath the sod, of those gallant men
who in the dark days of 81 rushed to
arms at their country's call These cere-
monies are being participated in by the
living comrades of their dead compan-
ions. There can be nothing more touch
ing than the generous solicitude with
which the sol Tiers who still survive,
keep alive and green the memory and
deeds of those who have gone on before.
1t has been long time since the con-
dition OF your country called upon you
TO serve il in the capacity of soldiers.
Your heads have been silvered over with
the frosts of many winters; some are
totering on the very verge of the grave,
and it will not be so very long until the
last survivor shall pass away and sleep
in the silent city of the dead. And then
it will devolve upon the younger genera
ton to reverence and cherish the MEM
DRY of all the soldier dead even as you
the survivors have cherished the memory
of that part of the Grand Army who
sleep under the stars. And we will be
true to, the trust which you shall be-
queath to us. Every year we will assem-
BILE on the 30th day OF May and do honor
unto your memory. And all honor is
due unto those who went forth to do
battle for their country; to preserve the
Union and to beat back the advancing
tide of dissolution.
Other men gave their moral support
for the war; the soldier gave his person
al service. Rich men gave of their
money; the soldier gave his blood.
Other men lent to the prosecution of the
war their intellect and ability, but the
soldier gave his life. No orator, how
ever, eloquent, no poet, however, sweet
ly he sings, can paint or picture the
great hardships and sacrifices or the
valient deeds of arms more glowingly
than the actual reality.
The origin of this beautiful custom of
decorating with flowers the graves of the
nations dead may be traced to General
John A. Logan, the black eagle, of
Illinois. The object, the idea and aim
of this practice is to keep alive in the
minds OF our people the heroism of the
Observation-Disclosures and to inculcate
patriotism in the minds and hearts of
our citizens. And no better way could
have been adopted TO teach these lessons
than that OF honoring and reverencing
those vino defended the Union and the
constitution. As far back as history can
take us, we can find traces of this idea.
There is glamour and halo surround
ing the soldier heroes OF every nation
and of every cline. All people of every
age unite to ascribe to them every virtue
and surround them with halo of glory,
such az we are not willing should enclr-
Gle the brows of any other men. In fact
We iii we have any generous feelings or
noble impulses at ALL are all hero wor-
shippers, and those who claim the greater
part of our worship are the heroes of
war. The ancient Greeks and Romans
enshrined their memory in their hearts
and made gods of them when they died.
When the brave Spartaus under Leoni-
das, their king, resisted to the death the
invasion OF the great army under Xerxes
the government raised monument to
their memory inscribed the names of
the three hundred gallant Spartan dead
on it and added this simple legend:
GO stranger and to Lacedaemon tell
That here obeying her behests we fell"
The Romans erected tnumphal arches
in honor of ther victorious generals and
emperors Many of them
still attesting the glory of the departed
heroes OF ancient times. Napoleon rear
ed the Bridge of Jena and the Temple OF
Glory to the memory OF his soldiers who
made possible so many magnificent vic
tories, and the conquerors of Marenge
and Austerlitz are made immortal by en-
during works of art. So in our own time
and country this custom has been follow
ed and grateful people have not been
backward in concentrating the brave
deeds of their soldier fellow. citizens.
While monuments have been reared and
statues erected to perpetuate their men,
DRY and their deeds, the hearts of their
grateful felloweountryrnen fare the real
of their glory. AS long as
the union exists and ciyilliberty is loved
so long will their memory be reverenced
and cherished. We will remember that
to them we owe the union, the preserva-
ton of the constitution and all the bless
ings which we enjoy, under it. In re-
spending to theft country's call they
were not actuated by thoughts OF lrapine
and plpnder, nor by the passion OF
hatred, but they wentiforth 10 battle, in
fluenced by higher and anobler motive.
They were inspired by love OF country;
by patriotism one OF the noblest and
purest passions that can animate tue
human breast. They were not the paid
of military government, but
the free citizens Of a Republic, who took
up arms willingly to prevent the dissolu-
ton of their beloved country. Too
much praise can not be bestowed upon
them; they, are above the reach OF fiat
teryand tbs simple record of their deeds
Is their brightest glory. And l might go
on and tell of the defeat at Manassas
which impressed on the mind of the ma
ton the terribleness OF the struggle be-
tween the boys in blue and those who
wore the gray, OF Cold Harbor and
Seven Pines, OF Fort Donelson and
Shiloh of Vicksburg and Stone River,
of Antietam and Gettysburg, where the
invasion was stopped and rolled back, OF
Corinth and Lookout Mountain, OF the
battle of Atlanta and the majestic march
of Sherman to the sea; OF the sanguinary
battles of the Wilderness, terminated by
the. surrender at Appomatox. Qlall
fhese and ID ore Knight sneak where The
soldier covered himself with fame and
renown imperishable. But no word of
mine could add to theirsglory or ade-
quately describe the valor of the Grand
Army. Their fame is secure. History
records it.
rfG tD a tlflliA LONG TRAIN
of diseases follows bad blood and inactive
liver Every one knows when their blood