The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1895-12-06

forces. Then in 1861, when cur civil
var opened, many at tho north and at
the south pronounced it rational suicide
1t was not courage against cowardice,
II was not wealth against poverty, it
was not large states against small states
1t was heroism against heroism, it was
the resources Of many generations
against the resources of generations, it
was the prayer Of the north against
the prayer of the south, it was one-half
Of the nation in armed wrath meeting
the other half Of the nation in armed
Indignation What could come but ex-
termination? NUaf
At the opening Of the war the COM
mander in chief Of the United States
forces was man who had been great in
battle, but old age had come, with
many infirmities, and he had right to
quietude He could noNmount horse,
and he rode on the battlefield in car
tiage, asking the driver not to jolt it
too much. During the most of the four
years of the contest, on the southern side,
was q man in midlife, who had in his
veins the blood of many generations ST
warriors, himself one of the heroes Of
Churubusco and Cerro Gordo. Contreras
and Chapultepec. AS the years passed
on and the scroll Of carnage unrolled
there came out from both sides hero
ism, and strength, and determine
tion that tho world had never seen mar
shaled. And what but determination
could come when Philip Sheridan and
Stonewall Jackson met, and Nathaniel
Lyon and Sidney Johnston rode in from
north and south, and Grant and Lee,
the two thunderbolts Of battle, clashed?
Yet, we are nation, and yet we are at
peace. Earthly courage did not decide
the conflict. The upper forces of tho
tbxt-they tell us there was battle
fought above the clouds on Lookout
mountain, but there was something
higher than that.
A Friend of the Nation.
Again, the horses and chariots Of God
came to the rescue of this nation in
1876, at the close of presidential cleo
ton famous for ferocity. A darker cloud
yet settled down upon this nation. Tho
result of the election was in dispute, and
revolution, not between two or three
sections, but revolution in every town
and village and city of the United States
seemed imminent. The prospect was
that New York would throttle New
York, and New Orleans would grip New
Orleans, and Boston, Boston, and Sa-
vannah, Savannah, and Washington,
Washington. Some said Mr.. Tilden was
elected, others said Mr.. Hayes was
elected, and how near we came to uni
versal massacre some of us guessed, but
God only knew. l ascribe our escape
not to the honesty and Righteousness of
Infatuated politicians, but ascribe it
to the upper forces of the text. Chariots
of mercy rolled in, and though tho
wheels were not heard and the flash was
not seen, yet all through the mountains
of the north, and the south, and the
east, and the west, though the hoofs did
not chatter, the cavalry of God galloped
by. tell you God Is the friend of this
nation. In the awful excitement at the
massacre of Lincoln, when there was
prospect that greater slaughter would
open upon this nation, God hushed the
tempest. In the awful excitement at
the time of Garfield's assassination God
put his foot on the neck of the cyclone.
To prove God is on the side of this ma
ton I argue from the last eight Or nine
great national haryests, and from the
national health of the last quarter of a
century, epidemics very exceptional,
and from the great revivals Of religion,
and from the spreading of the church Of
God, and from the continent blossom
ing with asylums and reformatory insti
tutions, and from an Edenization which
promises that this whole land is TO be a
paradise, where God shall walk.
am encouraged more than can tell
you as 1 see the regiments wheeling
down the sky, and my jeremiads turn
into doxologies, and that which was tho
Good Friday of the nation S crucifxion
becomes the Easter Inofn of its resu1rec
ton. Of course God works through hui
man instrumentalities, and this nation
al betterment is to come among other
things through scrutiniZed ballot box.
By the law of registration 1t is almost
impossible now to have illegal voting
There was titne-you and | remember
1t very well--when droves Of vagabonda
wandered up and down Oh election day,
and from poll to poll, and voted here,
and voted there, and voted everywhere,
and there was no challenge, Or if there
were, it amounted to nothing, because
nothing could so suddenly be proved
upon the vagabonds. Now, in every we'll
organized neighborhood, every voter ia
watched with severest scrutiny. If | am
in a region where am allowed a vote,
l must tell the registrar my name, and
how old l am, and how long l have re-
sided i'll the state, and how long l havo
resided IN the ward OF the township,
and if l misrepresent, so witnesses will
rise and shut me out from the ballot box.
Is not that great advance? And then
notice the law that prohibits a man
voting if he has bet on the election. A
step farther needs to be taken and that
man forbidden vote who has offered or
taken bride, whether it be in the shape
of free drink, or cash paid down, the
suspicious cases obliged to put their
hand on the Bible and swear their vote
in if they vote at all. So, through tho
sacred chest of our nations suffrage, re-
demption will come.
God will save this nation through an
aroused moral sentiment. There has
never been so much discussion of morals
and immorals. Men, whether or not
they acknowledge what is right, have 10
think what il right. We have men who
have had their hands in the public treas
ury the most of their lifetime, stealing
all they could lay their hands on, dis
coursing eloquently about dishonesty i'll
public servants, and men with two or
three families of their own preaching
eloquently about the beauties Of the sew
enth commandment. The question Of So
briefly and drunkenness is thrust in the
face of this nation as never before and
takes part in our political contests
The question of national sobriety is GO