The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1894-03-23

| not for he gave by far the most touching
talk of the camp fires. He said histories of
the war had been written by the score yet
the most glorious history was the unwritten
one-that of the empty sleeve, that on the
faces of the women; of the emotions of the
human heart as the men faced the showers
of leaden hail; of the thoughts of the wound
ed and dying comrades. He paid the high
est tribute to the love, devotion, self-sacrifice
and mighty deeds of the rear guard--the
women. lie declared every woman had as
good right to vote as the man. They had
been under fire for four years but were
unable to return ii but suffered without
complaint. The life line anchored In a
woman's heart and unwound, az he went,
by the departing soldier, had guided him to
most noble deeds on land and sea and then
led him back to a life OF peace and honor.
HON. j. II. HOLMAN,
| the man who wouldn't make a political
| speech, spoke of the increasing interest as
| he grew older of the campfires and each
year the necessity of uniting in every thing
| for protection to the soldier. Il implOre
you, be American citizens first, partisaus
afterward and if the opportunity comes,
give the women chance to vote" In the
| course of his remarks he aroused great
cheers by saying. IF l could have had my
had the opportunity to put Hoke Smith in a
department of government. Why, il he
had taken fine tooth comb and raked hell
over he could not have found worse man
for his position" In referring to the rebels
he said: II would have asked them at the
close of the war "Are you loyal?" If they
said No / would have sent them home.
In four years l would have called them up
again and if they answered NO sent
them back fol four years more and then:
Are you lOyal?' If the answer was NO
would have sent them to hell. Their
cause was eternally wrong, ours eternally
right. The liberty of the colored man was
not at stake but the liberty of the human
| race and the human race won. Stick to
the old parties, boys. Don't fly off on side
issues. Vote for your home, your loved
ones and the right and If others will not
put it in the platform, do it yourselves"
NORM G.. COOPER
closed the most successful campfire in the
history of the organization with a few good
stories and fine farewell.
AT THE CHURCH.
The Congregational church was crowded
again on Wednesday night by those who
failed to gain admission to the big camp fire
al the armory.
Hon. jerome W. Turner presided happily
and announced song by Comrade e. p.
Chadwick who sang directing, Greeting,
Comrades, Greeting" song of his own
composition. After this song the chairman
introduced the Hon. Geo. NJ Dewey, who
said that it was the same spirit which called
the boys to the front during '61-'65, tina. now
called the people together to listen to patro-
tic speeches. A glowing tribute was
! paid to the valor and heroism of the Ameri-
can soldiers and to the brave spirits of the
wives and daughters who were left behind
After a rousing speech by j. IL. Holman
Comrade Chadwick, of Lansing, sang two
more of his songs. 'Sherman's Co. O." a
comic song and open the Door"
GEN. o. A. JAMES.
The popular 0ne-armed soldier commence
ed his speech by declaring some wrongs
would be righted if the women had equal
rights with men. In camp fires it was Gus
tomary to tell some pretty big stories but as
he had been caught at ii enc or two times he
should not attempt to tell any large stories
then. During the period from 81 to '65,
| two things were necessary-noney and
men. 1t was necessary that loyal men in
| the north should loan money and to secure
| them the nations bonds were given and to
| pay them they were to bear interest. 1t
was also necessary that men should go and
to secure them contract was given which
| promised to support them il they became
| disabled in the service, and to care for their
| families If they were killed. These two
classes he called the bond holder and the
gun holder The bond holder was paid
| first and the gun holder was willing to wait
| but now the gun holder must be paid and
| when the amount paid the gun holder
should equal the amount paid the bond
| holders in interest alone they would be sat-
isfed but not until then. They at least
wanted to be placed on an equal with the
bond holder. In comparing battles of the
civil war with famous European conflicts he
showed that the actual number of men en-
gagged and the actual number killed and
wounded at Gettysburg and Waterloo were
almost exactly the same. He would like to
have the man who claims the soldier only
| went for the $l3 per month, stand up before
him hundred yards away, and one armed
as he was, see il he would be willing to let
| him try his old Springfield on him. Ii he
wouldn't stand there could he close up the
| ranks when his comrades were falling
| around him and march toward the lannon's
mouth?
/ After his speech Mr. James led the audi
ence in number of camp fire songs, Amer
lea, Rally Round the FIae, Marching
| Through Georgia, Mary's Little Lamb. etc.
During short interval Comrade j, W.
Turner gave few amusing "reminiscences,
| then Comrade Rankin was called for and
was listened to for few minutes. He said
they must be quick to care for those whom
| they would soon leave behind
COL. II. s. DEAN,
of Ann Arbor, could never remember oc-
cupying pulpit before but once and then
Comrade Wiley, who was on the platform
with him, was in the pews. The entire au-
dience went to sleep and he did also. But
an explanation followed. His detachment
was marching in light marching order and
took refuge from storm in church. The
Colonel also told of the two Irishmen who
were asking each other why they enlisted
and the one enlisted because he thought he
would like to see little war; the other,
who was married, because he would like to
see little peace.
| DECORATIONS.
The armory was decorated by the citizens
| of Owosso as 1t never has been before, and
to make 1t prettier or more appropriate
would be an impOssibility. From the sides
of the ceiling to the center and to different
points hung red, white and blue streamers,
| while the electric lights were covered In