Evening star., 1895-05-30
Their Graves Strewn With Flowers
by Surviving Comrades.
ORATIONS AND POEMS EXALT THEM
Interesting Exercises At Arlington
and Other Cemeteries.
AN MPOSIN ADE

There could he no fairer day than this
memorial holiday has been. The sun rose
In a clear sky, and but for a cool and per-
sistent breeze from the south, would have
made 1t a most uncomfortably hot occasion
for the dense crowds of people who throng
ed the streets to witness the parade and
make their way to Arlington and the va
rious cemeteries where the day was OBJ
served by fitting exercises in memory of
the soldier dead. 1t was June day set
forward somewhat in the calendar to COM
pensate for the chilling May that has been
experienced. The city was beautiful in the
luxuriance of midsummer foliage and
bloom the parks with their velvety lawns
and cleaning display Of flowers.
The Statues Decorated.
The statues in all parts Of the city were
draped with flags and decorated with
wreaths and f1owers-a work which was be-
gun early yesterday by the various COM
mittees of patriotic women and veterans,
who, as soon as the procession escorting
the remains Of Secretary Gresham to the
railw ay station had passed out of sight, set
about their labor of loyalty and affection
for the great host of brave men who fell in
war. Hundreds of flags were used for this
purpose, many being loaned by the War
Department. Tons upon tons If flowers
government gardens, and by thousands of
school children for the work Of decorating
the statues throughout the city and the
graves in the various cemeteries, and
tails in the hands of the G. A. r. memorial
committee every feature of the undertaking
was successfully carried out.
Transporting the Crowds.
There was no difficulty In carrying the
vast gathering of people to the various
cemeteries. The street railway companies
had out an extra number of cars, and the
best possible discipline was observed In the
operation Of all the lines. Thus the densely
packed cars moved rapidly on to their des-
tination. and long before the main process
sion going to Arlington had reached the
Aqueduct bridge the greater part of the
people who were bound for the cemeteries
at Arlington and in the suburbs of Wash
1ngton were set down at the termini in
good order. AS is usually the case, there
were many who treated the day as more
holiday for diversion than sober remem-
brance of the dead, and there were num-
berless pretty little excursions by boat
suburban, railways into the woods and
hills, where the flowers vie with each other
In beauty, and the birds fill treetops and
thiekets with their melody. The summer
girl was out, of course, diaphanous as to
costume and blooming and fresh as to COM
plexion. Her twinkling little russet shoes
started out briskly when the day was
young and tender, but at nightfall they
came home hot, swollen and disgusted with
these patriotic displays. that involve so
much standing and waiting, and stalking
and trotting.
Some of the Pilgrims.
Tho little boy with his flag and the little
girl in Write with her nosegay-they, too,
made a day of 1t. and from all accounts
had good time. The mother with a child
in arms and the young father with his
beautiful first born In az brand-new baby
carriage were numerous and everywhere
The old veteran whose game leg kept him
out of the parade stood on every street
corner, and many battle was fought over
again under some sheltering awning or
favoripg elm. The large, patriotic mother
In Israel. active notwithstanding obesity
red of face bonnet awry and elbows not
1nfrequently akimbo-God bless her, she
was all over the town. She just reveled in
dead men in blue, and but for her inces-
SAINT. indomitable and unspeakable deter
mination to wiring the last drop of glory
out of the great big day as 1t passed there
really wouldn't have been much of a time
anyway.