The National tribune., 1895-09-19

ones thoughts. Never did / realize the
poverty of speech as / realize it now in at
tempting 10 convey to you and through you
to the good people of Louisville what
know TO be the heartfelt thanks of these
veterans for your royal reception and un-
stinted hospitality. Applause.
st may have occurred to you that we are
here on business. If SO, you are laboring
under delusion. We are here on pleasure
bent, determined in reasonably y-orderly
and semi-soberly way TO have good time.
True TO the soldierly instinct, we had deter
mined to do some foraging, but the Com
mander-in-Chief found that TO send out
foraging parties would be an unnecessary
waste Of energy, for you had not only an
ticipated but had bountifully supplied every
want of the inner Han as to liquids and
solids
Il am convinced that Kentucky raises
more and tenderer chickens than any other
S,ste in the Union, and that no color line is
drawn at the legs Of the fowl.
" But foremost among those to welcome
the veterans in blue TO the great Comm mon
wealth of Kentucky, the State that gave the
Great Commoner, Henry Clay, and the great
eet of fAmericans-Abraham Lincoln-in the
front ranks Of those 10 welcome us have
been the brave men who wore the gray.
[Applause You may have noticed, my
friends that some Of the boys are a little
bent, that the heads of many are wearing
the gray and here and there one has little
unsteady step, but to-day we are again the
boys OF 1861 and 1865, with hearts as young
forms as erect, heads as black and steps as
firm as when we marched TO battle 30 odd
years ago 10 fight for home, our country and
for God. These boys, God bless them, may
they always be youthful, happy and gay
until the last dear companion passes smil-
ingly away.
But i am expected to speak about the
Grand Army Of the Republic. j advocated
coming TO Louisville, and / am not sorry for
il. At our Campfres we boys sing the old
army songs as we used to sing them as we
marched from Atlanta to the sea, with feel
1ngs of comradeship toward you, sir, and the
other brave men who wore the gray. We
therefore in that feeling recount the suffer
ings of frozen camps, the hardships of forced
marches, the dangers of battle, and again
drink from the old canteen.
The Grand Army of the Republic has
had no predecessor, and can have no success
scr. IT was born when the first Union re-
cruit was enlisted in 1861; it will die when
the last survivor of the Union army shall be
gathered TO his fathers. 1t is an organiza-
tioD into the warp and woof of which are
woven fraternity and charity, and in its ranks
the strong and the weak, the rich and the
poor, the black and the white, the Jew and
the Gentle, the General and the private
touch elbows as comrades. 1t is political
organization-don't be alsrmed-but, thank
God, il is q bipartisan organization. Its
members are not divided by narrow plat
forms; they stand united upon the broad
plane Of Americanism in the highest and
best sense Of the term. The Grand Army
Of the Republic demands that the rights OF
the American citizen shall be protected al
home and abroad, and in every land and
| in every cline. 1t demands respect for Old
Glory wherever found; it demands obedi.
ence TO constituted authorities. 1t believes