The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-09-07

s-tfANft.
I>sss1f ~ 9.ssssS:S
CAPTAIN J. y. ADAMS, COMMANDER ~ CHEF.
more than one-third of the soldiers OF
the war-the states of Pennsylvania.
New York and Ohio. But whether the
gathering be largo or small the event
is great in significance and in the sug-
gestions for new ideas or the rearrange-
mcnt Of former ones which 1t brings
with il. The anniversary is held upon
soil peculiarly sacred TO the cause rep
resented at this gathering. Pennsylya-
MIA gave more sons according TO her
quota as a sacrifice to the god Of battles
than any other state in the Union. She
stood on the border in 1861. She sent
the first volunteer defenders TO the inn
periled capital in >the crisis following
Sumter Her genius ruled in the ma
tional camps and councils, and within
her limits, fair set among the charming
hills of the Cumberland. lies the battle
field OF Gettysburg. Cold must be the
heart that will not respond beftting
the occasion and give the hour TO graft
tude and congratulation.
There remains little to be said Of the
sacrifices Of the armies whose remnants
shall march along Fifth avenue on Sept
IL. -Four hundred thousand dead and
a long procession of the stricken and
manned is the story the nation knows,
alas, too we'll. But there is another side
20 the patriotism Of tho Union soldier
that might be recalled today, a less
grewsome one TO dwell upon and more
noble one because it furnished the in
spiration for those deeds of courage
whose glory brightcns as the years roll
on. 1t would be an easy task to prove
that tho Grand Army, itself body
unique in the worlds experience, is
not due to military clanship nor to the
protective union principle which is 50
active in this era. The genius of the
Grand Army lived in the breasts of the
soldiery in the war days. and the mind
t. almost startled to come upon such
witnesses to the fact as this poem of
Miles O'Reilly's. 1.-THE Song of the Sol
Giers, written in camp in 1869:
Comrades known in marches many,
Comrades tried In dangers many.
Comrades bound by memories many.
Brothers ever let Us be.
Wounds or sickness may divide Us,
Marching orders may divide us,
But whatever fate betide Us.
Brothers Of the heart are we.
Comrades known by faith the clearest,
Tried when death was near and nearest,
Bound we are ly ties the dearest,
Brothers evermore to be.
Aud IL spared aud growing older,
Shoulder stil In line with shoulder.
And with hearts no thrill tho colder,
Brothers ever we shall be.
BY communion Of the banner.
Crimson, white aud starry banner,
BY the baptism of the banner
Children OF one church are we.
Creed nor faction can divide us.
Race nor language can divide US.
Still. whatever fate betide us,
Children of the flag are we.
There is nothing Of sordid selfishness
or Of caste or guild eXclusiveness
breathing through those lines. No more
were there to be found in the hearts Of
Stephenson and his colleagues, who in
their bivouac i'm the southwest in 1864
dreamed out their magnificent scheme
for perpetuztiug in peace the spirit Of
fraternity, charity and loyalty which
characterized the soldiers in the field
The veterans estimates Of themselves
are far too modest when they rest satis-
fed with eulogies upon their battlefield
prowess and their heroic bearing under
severest hardship, and if proximity TO
scenes so rich in war associations shall
unloose the tongues Of Commander in
Chief Adams and his staff Of orators at
the enoampment they may give TO the
careless yet responsive throngs of out
siders new cause to doif their hats TO
the Grand Army. They will tell us how
the soldier set the pace for Union savers
in 1861 and bow, by the guiding and
shaping amid the storm and stress of
civil war Of these same men, the yeo-
many, who filed the ranks as volun-
teers so years ago. this vast nation sprang
into existence from an aggregation of
states whose watchword until then both
north and south had been state suprema-
ry They might give voice TO the claim
that the beardless boys, who. as far as
time and Confederate bullets have
spared them, will appear in the march
ing lines at Pittsburg, alone made the
war possible, alone made possible those
victories and results which the encamp-
ment standing out as the exponent Of
The military spirit Of the nation, cele-
bra;cs with duo civic and military
Cclt Ihe war--that is, the war now
hold I'm memory, that which announces
! alf hY cannon peal and the "clash Of
r80ulling arms would not have been
commenced nor maintained but for
tArir Spartan VIM their virile, aggres-
ite, ua r.id and unfal,cring attitude
N....1 l..,.gulA hVsitatod and civic