Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1894-06-01


into the very centre of those Kingdoms /
where injustice and oppression have their
home.
True it is that in the gain or loss of one
race all the rest have equal share and
when this young republic, by the splendid
valOr of her soldier citizens, made her sec
ond great contribution to the cause of free
DOM she gave new strength to that i'm
spiratiOu which will ever urge to greater
attachments through the centuries TO come.
Since the close of the war this nation
has been privileged to experience ma
tonal prosperity and material develop
ment which have been the wonder and
admiration of the older countries and
the envy of the inferior nations With
the evolution of this higher civiiza-
ton new problems of commanding i'm
portance have been born, new compiled
tiOns have arisen and new questions have
been introduced which before many dec
AIDES have passed will demand answers sat
istactory to the American masses. l do
not wish to become a pessimstic prophet.
do not say that the questions of the
hour rival or equal the difficulties of 30
years ago: l do not say that the present
unrest equals that of the earlier decades l
do not say, because ] do not believe, that
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of the Union is again
threatened: but l do affirm and affirm
boldly and challenge contradiction, that IN
this year 1894. there are evils in our coun-
/ try which threaten the purity, the
| strength and solidarity of the true basis OF
American life. and that is the American
! homes and where the sacredness OF the
home becomes deseCrated, the first page
/ of the history of the nation retrogression
| is ready to become recorded.
No problems today The man who
would make such an assertion must be
mentally and morally blind. NO problems,
| in a country with greater natural resources
than have ever been vOuchsated to any
people in Gods great universe. and where
adverse combinations of natures forces do
/ no, destroy the labor OF men hands. and
vet where there is a world OF human sui
terlnC. and human misery and human III
Justice. No problems in a country with
hundreds of thousands of her citizens idle
because of an industrial depression. with
200. 600 striking miners in one state, and
with the universal unrest resulting almost
daily in the destruction of life and prop
erty: and in the very midst of these
calamities the presence of those vices
which will sap national life and destroy
the strength, lust as certainly as the sever
ing of an artery will weaken and destroy
the physical body. No problems in a
country where il You get enough gold dol
lars YOU can buy anything but education
and virtue.
1t is useless and absurd. men and wo-
men of Brattleboro, for you and !, reclin-
ING in the comfort and luxury OF compare
tive prosperity and happiness. to tightly
close our organs of vision and Composedly
affirm that whatever is is right, that there
are no evils threatening our civilization,
and that the necessity for a watchtu
patriotism is past. We must remember that
such narrow conceptions of the conditions
t of things We're expressed when slavery
was in the ascendant. but today we re
p cognize how false We're such assertions.
p If the dead could now speak they would
70 bid us not alone to glory in the achieve
ments of the past. but to enter into thu
actual life of the present and become con
scious of the fact that while there wer'
problems of gravest importance 30 year
ago, other days and other times hav'
brought problems of their own. They
would urge the Younger generation TO cul
r tivate those traits which 90 to make
S sound American manhood and wOmanhood
o they would urge a larger intellectual free
t dom and a sounder and safer morality.
70 Ii took brave men to stand by their col
b ors in the face of the awful slaughter a
Q Gettysburg. 1t takes brave men today I,
= stand for truth. and purity and justice il
o the face OF an Indifferent and hostile pub
V lie opinion. which is so willing to entertain
. enslavinG conceptions, which so often sane
b tons impurity of life and which has no
f the courage to resist injustice
Soldiers. my message to Won is this: A
e Won 90 forth from this service carry a deel
consciousness of the pride of the republic
= in your achievements and of her SINGER
j. gratitude: where your silent comrades re
n pose and whereyou shall one day 90 for YOU
n last long rest, is and shall be cOnsecrate
d ground. As ancient Israel had her sacre
q places so America has hers. ! know tn
# word Won would have me say to the youn
# manhood of Brattleboro is: BE proud o
j. your heritage glory in your country; re-
d member that it is grand to live in coun
!. try whose history is so full of inspiration
p but it is disgracefuI to use that inspiration
q for lgnOble ends.
Finally men of the Grand Army an
u citizens, let us ever bear this fact in min
that what saves individual and natiOna
If life is the making actual in each life, II
It matter how humble or how grand. some
b. thing of the spirit of Abraham Lincoln q
d America and Jesus of Palestine: and tina
If a republic whose citizens respond to tn
l. noblest suggestions of the highest civiliza
l- tion and the highest Christianity sha
k never perish from the earth
e Exercises at the soldiers MOnumen
It aud Cemeteries.
h The exercises at the hall closed with tn
~ singing of America by the audience. Tn
line was then formed as follows:
, Band
y Marshal c. K, Briggs and aids.
II Estey Guard. Captain J. Il. kst-y.
Il Fuller Battery dismonnted, Captain +. ID. Weld
q Sedgwick post, q. A r., Commander j. A. Suai
ford
j Carriages containing the president of the day
II orator, chaplain, invited guests and
20 veterans unable TO march.
Il AT the soldiers monument the chaplain
e of the post read the prayer designated il
the ritual and the High school gIee clul
p. sang "Tenting tonight on the old CAM
$ ground After a selection by the banC
Il the march to the cemetery was resumed.
S At the cemetery prayer was offered b.
d Rev. MI Shaw, hymn was sung by tn
e scholars of the Prospect Hill primar
Il school, ranks were broken and the grave
# decorated a detachment visited the Ro
l. man Catholic cemetery and decorated tn
d graves there. On their return a voley wa
e fired by the Guard, taps were sounded AM