The National tribune., 1894-02-01
THE VETERANS
An Eloquent Tribute TO Them by
One Who was TOO Young to be a
Soldier.
Soldier.

hon. George L. Douglass the brilliant young
speaker Of the Kansas House Of Representa-
tives. was much too young to go into the army,
but he stands second to none in his admiration
Of the brave men who rescued the country. He
said in speech at a Reunion at Baxter Springs,
Kan:
The debt we owe 10 tho armies Of the Union
is the debt not alone of this but Of every land.
The Greenlander on his barren coast the Rus
sian peasant in the heart of the mighty En-
pire Of the Car, the British workman at his
forge, the Hindoo in his distant home, the
dweller in the remotest island of the sea, are
alike benefciaries Of the bravery and the sacri-
fees of the men who saved the Union and
stamped from the face Of modern civilization
the blot of American slavery.
The historian who would measure the results
of that war by the mere political fact of the
preservation of the Union. and the immediate
emancipation of 100000 Of slaves. is short
sighted indeed. Vast as was the gift Of free
dom to 1000, 900 of black men, the gift to the
white race by the consequent change in the
whole course of American thought, education,
civilization and influence was infinitely greater
and grander. And when / take the gray-haired
veteran by the hand / reverently think of him
not only as one to whom my devoutest thanks
are uuG LOT LNe preservation OF LD6 OnIOu III us
integrity and the flag in its glory, but as one
of the grand army that did greater service to
the cause of Christian civilization throughout
the world than any other army that ever
battled on American soil. 1t is no demagogy
to say this; it is but the acknowledgment of
an everlasting truth. / care not what are the
political affiliations Of any man, he honors him
self only when he konors the men whose yalor
saved for him a country and flag.
1 have no gVmnafhy with that 1ordid faaF-
so prevalent in high places to-dsy-that this
Nation may be too generous to its old soldiers.
To the distorted vision of some men, the oc-
casional discovery of q single unworthy PEN
sioner seems to be a larger fact than that thou
sands of brave old heroes receive some small
measure of justice at the hands Of this great
Government in the closing years of life. We
all agree that no pretender should ever receive
the bounty of this Government. But the vast
body of the survivors of the armies of the MON
are not pretenders; but brave men who deserve
the eternal gratitude Of this Nation to-day no
less than when they faced the rebel bullets
upon a hundred battlefeid5 or starved and
suffered in Andersonville or Libby Prison. I
was only small boy when the war closed, and
wasn't in it. But am not one of those who
believe that $13 month ever paid those brave
men the debt this country owed them.
They talk about frauds and "coffee-coolers,"
as though oGee-cooers made up the rank and
file of the grand army! / wasn't there, but
know there was someone else besides coffee
coolers who scaled the rocky nights of Lookout
Mountain; someone else than coffee-coolers
who charged up the bloody slopes of Kenesaw
and stood amidst the storms of shot and she'll
at Shiloh Antietam. and the Wilderness; some
ono else besides coffee-coolers who faced death
and hell at Little Round Top and drove back
the rebel hordes, shattered, broken and bleed
ing from the hills and valleys of Gettysburg;
= L -
ing, thirsting. famshing in Southern prison.
pens, came forth living skeletons or perished
within those awful con fines; someone else be-
sides coffee coolers, who, ere the war elded,
filed 100000 loyal gravesl
l have often thought when reading of the
force struggle of that contest, where shot and
shell plowed their bloody way through the
ranks of living men, and thousands were fall
ing never to rise again, how the shattered
columns would close up and still face the storm
of lead and steel, ready to do and die for cOun-
try and the flag-I have often thought, if had
been there, / would have wanted more than
anything else on earth to run. Whether would
have run or not i do not know. j can only
hope the Almighty would have vouchsafed me
some small share of that courage and devotion
which crowned the heroes of that day. But this
know: the more l think of that great struggle
and the glorious heritage of freedom and na-
tiOnality their valor preserved for my children
and me, the more thank God for the men who
stood fast in the hour of the Nations peril aud
braved death in all its forms rather than that
the Nations flag should go down.
When / was a boy, away lack in my child
hoods home on the banks of Lake Erie, there
was an old man. weatse beaten, gray and fee-
bic. He was an object of veneration and honor
in all the country around men went out of
their way to speak TO him; strangers sought
to meet and talk with him and felt honored
when they grasped the hand of "Old Ben
Fleming" who had fought with Commodore
Perry. so years ago, in the famous battle of
Lake Erie. He was plain, simple old man but
in the great patriotic procession, upon the sn-
niversary of that day, surrounded by flags and
banners the cynosure of all eyes, would ride
"Old Ben Fleming" the surviving hero of q
bygone age. How the boys cheered and women
waved their hands and men took off their hats
as the old hero of 1872 rode by.
A quarter of century now, and more, since
the battered regiments turned homeward from
the great war-a generation has come upon the
earth since then. One by one the old heroes
drop by the wayside aud we hear the footballs
of younger men in the haunts and places of the
brave men who are passing away; and, in the
not far distant future, can see the last old SOL
dier of the grand army of the Union. 1t
may be 30 or 40 or so years, but a day will
come, some day, when the last old hero of the
great war, with whitened hair and wrinkled
face and bended form will stand solitary and
alone amid the people of the Nation he fought
to save. Glorious and solemn thought! What
honor will be too great for him then7 What
matter where in this broad land he may be, the
whole Nation will claim him. Each tottering
step will be watched by the eyes of thousands
Each faltering word will be caught and treas
ured. How reverently even great men will
uncover before him and honor themselves by
honoring him. And how small, and petty, and
selfish, how incOmprehensible, to the men of
that day will seem the din and controversy of
this generation over the question as to how
much this country owes whether it still
owes anything to the heroes who saved it,
Old soldiers l want to say to you that in
the ignoble warfare now being waged upon so
many of you by men in high places, the young
men of this country with you. We glory
in the history you made for US; we love you
for the country you preserved for US; We honor
you for the iag you saved for us; and, as you
stood by your country in her time of need, so
every patriot, young and old, will stand by you
to-day and stand by you to the end.
The Northrup Braslan, Good win Co., of Min
neapolis makes an astonishing offer in our sd-
vertising columns, viz: to send free four
packets of flower seeds, postpaid, by mail, to
all of our readers who write them by letter or
postal mentioning this paper and good seeds.
Write to-day.