Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1894-05-31
MEMORIAL SERVICES
Appropriate Exercises in the City
Schools.
MEMORIAL SUNDAY OBSERVED.
Decoration of the Graves of Dead
Comrades.
PROGRAM AT PARK.
SCHOOL EXERCISES.


The wishes of the Grand Army of
the Republic were carried out in our
public schools, on Friday, May 25,
the last hour of the afternoon session
being devoted to patriotic songs, read
ings, essays and quotations.
In the High school and other rooms
of the First ward school building
appropriate exercises were held Some
of the G. r, A. veterans were present
and evinced deep interest.
In the second ward quite an inter-
esting program was presented. The
Grammar and intermediate depart
ments united, and the scholars were
very enthusiastic in the work. The
Primaries also joined and the at
tempts of the little folks in pronounc-
ing the names of our heroes were. in
teresting as well as amusing.
MEMORIAL SUNDAY.
Memorial Sunday was duly OBJ.
served by comrades of George II Leg
ate Post and the ladies of the
Relief Corps, who attended in body
at the Nj. +. church. The sermon was
preached by the pastor Rev. F. w.
Straw.
He took for his text, Deut eighth
chapter, nineteenth verse: "And it
shall be, if thou do at all forget the
Lord, thy God, and walk after other
gods, and serve them, and worship
them, testify against you this day
that ye shall surely perish"
Throughout the entire book of
Deuteronomy, Moses emphasizes three
facts in regard to the children of Is
rael; viz, The nation belonged to God;
because He had saved it through His
people; and, 1t must be preserved by
His people. These three thoughts are
appropriate for our nation and our
time.
1st. Our country belongs to God.
When the Bible is taken out of the
public school, and national fair is
opened on the Sabbath, it does not
look as though Gods claims were
recognized. Yet though it sometimes
seems that we are forgetting God, l
present the thought as a historical
fact rather than theological dogma,
that our country belongs to Him.
The character of Columbus is faulty
in many respects, yet the main idea
which influenced him in his voyage of
discovery was the religious idea. His
first act on landing was to kneel and
give thanks to God. On his return to
Spain the sovereigns received him
with thanks to Almighty God, who
had given into their hands the CONVEX
sion of new people to Jesus Christ
The Jesuits have not always found
nor deserved favor, but those Jesuit
priests who went down the st. Law
renee to the Great Lakes did not go
for trade, or discovery, or glory, but to
preach Jesus to the Indians; and many
of them gave up their lives for the
faith. 1t was the same with Penn in
Pennsylvania; with Lord Baltimore in
Maryland; with Oglethorpe in Georgia;
and we all know the sentiment of the
Puritans in New England. In the
early colonies no man could vote who
did not believe the Bible and have
well defined religious opinions. Our
whole continent from the White
Mountains to the Sierra Nevadas has
been baptized in the name of Jesus.
I'd. The country has been saved by
Gods people. Religious people are
and always have been in the minority
in our land, but their influence has
been the means of binding the nation
together OF the three classes the
religious, irreligious and moral-the
first has. exercised more power than
the other two. Washington leaned on
God and even in the darkest hours of
the Revolution was comforted by His
promises. Adams was firm believer
in Almighty power and help. Frank
lin has been claimed by the skeptics,
but the resolution and speech defend
ing it which he offered in the constitu-
tional convention, of 1887, show his
firm belief in and dependence on di-
vine help. The great leaders of the
Revolution shine like stars in the
darkness Of the French infideIity
which for time swept over the coun-