Evening star., 1895-05-30

appreciate its full proportions until we get
far enough away to take in it's whole mean
ing. Thirty years have come and gone and
each year has added to Our knowledge of
us siae we have got away from the pas
sions which came to the best of men in
those days Of trial and tribulation and
have reached the threshold of newer and
smoother ground from which we can view
the marvellous results of the greatest civil
conflict In the worlds History.
Across the river we see Maryland, which,
although border state with firm and con-
tending convictions. sent her full quota of
men TO the Union army. and of their
bravery and the work they did history
tells. The same manhood which saved the
day for Washington in the revolution more
than once; which drove the British from
the Chesapeake in 1914; which achieved
glory on the heights of Mexico in 1913.
sixties. If Maryland as border state did
her duty so nobly what words can I find
TO describe the heroes of those other states
which sent their thousands to the front?
look at the work of these men without
profound emotion. I cannot understand
now citizens of this country can jeer at
the old wounds and the ragged sleeves.
What War Service Meant.
Go back with me to the early sixties.
You are young man with good prospects
and with high ambition. Others look to
you for future support. The next five
years are to determine your success. Your
country is assailed. War Is declared. A
call for troops goes forth. Being a man
with your intense love of country, with
the ardor of youth and with the courage of
your forefathers. you do not stop to calcu-
late chances or to consider circumstances,
but at once offer your services to the
flag. From the comforts of home you go
nj F~nYr fhn
first exposure Is your fate. Your food is
coarse and often scant. Within week you
have probably taken tQto your system the
germs of disease. YoH serve through the
war; you give yourself to your country.
Perhaps you are wounded perhaps not.
You return home. Your chances of sue
cess in civil life are changed. You are not
fit for the duties you left five years before.
There are only certain kinds of work you
can do, and you have a hard time getting
employment. In the course of time the dis
ease you contracted begins to show. Your
earning capacity is only a fraction of what
it would have been if you had remained at
your desk instead of answering your coun-
try's call Now. my friend, do you think
because you receive a pittance from this
rich government that people look upon YOU
as a pension hummer?
No. thousand times, no.
III they did l would not profane this
place and the memory of the men who lie
buried here by trying to exalt the dead at
the cost of the living. 1 have no sympathy
with that mean spirit which would let the
olo soldier starVe and then heap flowers
upon his grave after he is gone. Beautiful
as the tokens are and much as they mean
they cannot signify more than a crust of
bread given to hungry veteran or a cup
or cold water raised to the lips of the
wounded soldier
The People Are Just.
But. my old friends, you must not mis-
Judge the people of the United States. You
must not measure their sense of right by
the abuse of the few persons who care
more for notorety than they do for the
truth. 1t has been the fate of the old SOL
dfers OF every great war to suffer Many
of those who took part in the immortal
charge of the light brigade were permitted
by the mUnificent government of Great
Britain to die in poverty. Men who turned
the fate of nations have died In poor
houses. 1t has remained for this country
to do in a larger degree than was ever be-
fore done in the world justice to those who
gave their lives and their services to its
cause. Over the dead 1t has erected monu-
ments for the living 1t has provided pen
SionS.
Because man occasionally comes from
obscurity and directs attention to himself
by calling the old soldiers names proves
nothing He may be worth many hundreds
of thousands of dollars, but it is quite safe
to say that he would not give ten cents to
aid the men he maligns and who enabled
him to get the fortune he holds.
You never heard Grant or Sherman or
or Schofield or Sickles or the great
soldiers you followed declare that your
pensions were not deserved. You know and
l know that the millions of the people
that you are receiving only what
Is due. The great heart of the people is all
right They have not forgotten, and in all
that Is said you must remember that there
Is no need for you to show anger or re-
Rrqva hroy
and only towards throw mud at the vet
Grams In blue
HonOrfns the Dead.
In keeping green the memories of this
day you touch the heart of all good Ameri-
cans and fill the souls of young men and
young women with larger and grander
emotions OF love and patriotism
l greet you, boys in blue and join you
in your loyalty to the flag. in your re-
Of those who went down in the
fight, in your exaltation of that American
spirit which is true to the best and widest
warfare of this nation.
God grant that we may never have
another war. But If one should come 1
know that your example and your work
would carry Old Glory to victory again. I
know that the people would exclaim in the
words of the patriot:
Our country, however bounded or de-
scrfbed-still our country to be cherished
in all our hearts-to be defended by all
QUE hands,
Though Dead Yet They Live.
And with you and with them, lowering
over and around you, would be these who
are dead, yet who are living In the ac-
of their work.
Standing upon the parapets of eternity,
us and those who come after US,
they send their message of encouragement
and command.
We see the lost battalions marching In
the light of glory.
With them stand the great commanders,
not on pedestals beyond their reach. but
as soldiers with the boys-Grant and Sher-
man and Mcclellan and Sheridan and
Logan and Meade and the Others
And in that vision We behold the great
est no greater than the least, and the least
as great as the greatest.
For the heart of the soldier was just as
true, just as warm and just as immortal,
whether he wore shoulder straps or went
from the ranks to the presence of the One
who commands US all, and under whom
are the destinies Of nations, the blessings
or life and the hopes of the future
hez<<SA