The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-05-31

ing under black headlines the stories of
great deeds, and of great calamities with
their long lists of the dead and wounded
and missing. We are here to revive the
memories and associations of that great
struggle for the preservation of our free in
situations and to show in some slight de-
gree our appreciation of the efforts and
sacrifices made in that behalf.
"This day is to US always a day of
chastened memories and solemn interest
Tue ceremony in which we are engaged is
at once beautiful and deeply impressive,
not so much because it is tribute of honor
and affection as because it is the express
sion of sentiment. This day emphasizes
the well-known battle-cry, Liberty and
Union, Now and Forever, One and In
separable.' We have our ODD of February,
Fourth of July and our 3Oth of May. When
our children shall ask from time to time
as this anniversary rolls round. What
means this celebration?' what shall we
teach them concerning it? Let US tell
them it is in honor of those who saved the
Nation by the war for the Union.
ave will teach them that that conflict
was one of the worlds great wars. The
war of the Revolution was also great
struggle, the war of 1912 was mere sea
fight, while the Mexican War was only an
adventure. But the war of 1861 to 1865 was
terrific conflict. 1t sent terror into every
home and heart in this great Nation.
Never since the days when the fiery cross
was sent flaming through the highlands of
Scotland was there such enthusiasm fir
ing all hearts for the defense of the Ma
ton as when the news flashed over the
wires that the stars and stripes had been
fired upon at Fort Sumner. Many of US
remember the dark days of the Bull Run
defeats, those awful days of anxiety and
bloodshsd on the field of Gettysburg, the
horrors of Pittsburg Landing. the partial
or complete failure of Mcclellan and
Hooker and Meade, the transfer of Grant
to the Army of the Potomac, the battle of
the Wilderness, the surrender of Lee. We
sweep the field with few short sentences,
but they cover years of heroic sacrifice and
Undesirable suffering. Let US teach our
children that this was great conflict
1--WE must teach our children that the
war for the Union was a holy war We
must tell the story truthfully. We must
let them know that it was not a war of
passions, but of principles. Ii was the
elimination of long and bitter conflict of
was an irrepressible conflict; it had its orr
gin away back in the early history of this
country. At first a small germ it
grew with our growth and strengthened
with our strength 80 that when our Gov
eminent came to be established it had an
immense and deadly parasite attached.
1t was a land of liberty only in part.
The organic law of the land recognized,
1a1 60. IL
The issues of the war for the Union in
volved more than the existence of our free
institutions-itw was war in defense of civil
liberty and human progress the world over.
The farther we get away from the peril and
deliverance the more clearly we see how
great was our danger and how vast are our
obligations, first to the God of battles and
next to the loyalty and bravery of our citi-
zen soldiery.
what thrilling chapter in our history
is that one which records the story of the
great uprising of April, 1851, which tells
how the flower of our youth and the strong
men of middle life sprang forth at our
country's call to save the Nation. But,
alas! the unwritten history contains count
less chapters of sacrifice, of hardship and
suffering endured for us. They suffered
ana 1ell III NOBLE cause.
And how die better,
Than facing fearful odds.
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples OF his gods?
LET us not forget to-day that at the
close of the war 100000 brave soldiers had
bivouacked in the dreamless sleep of
death.
"Some were tenderly buried in GENE
of IN 20,
distant battlefields, by the roadside, or in
other unmarked places. They fought
bravely, and they fought for us.
They died heroically, and they died for
us. Their right to the Nations gratitude
can never discharge. We are reaping now
the harvest of their blood and ashes.
eve must burn this lesson of gratitude
into the hearts of the young. The rising
generation is in danger of gross and crimi-
nal forgetfulness. The president of large
school in Massachusetts for young ladies
said last week: In my work with young
people find very slight appreciation of
the purposes, conditions or results of the
Civil War. As rule it is less understood
than many OF the wars of conquest of
Europe. Patriotism is almost lost art
in the oncoming generation
''Over the Spartan heroes who fell at
Thermopyl@ a monument was raised with
this inscription: Stranger, go tell the
Lacedemonians that we lie here in ODE
dience to their laws
lover the graves of our dead soldiers,
we may, with the utmost propriety place
similar inscription, an inscription which
shall speak to all future ages.
1--WE read in ancient story that one day,
in the Roman forum, the earth opened and
great gulf yawned in the midst The
oracles said this gulf would never close it's
horrid mouth until it had been fed with
the most precious thing in Rome. There
was doubt as to what the most precious
thing might be, when a young soldier,
armed and mounted, rode boldly forward
and plunged into the chasm. declaring
that nothing could be so precious as life
given for ones country. The story of
Curtius, this Roman youth, has never been
allowed to fall into oblivion. Shall the
not less heroic deeds of our fathers and
1.,rO+l 1<.T 49,