Evening star., 1895-05-30

| eloquence to defend its civil and religious
rights and institutions of freedom so as
to perpetuate and hand them down from
generation TO generation
Thirty years and more have come and
| gone since peace was proclaimed and the
horrors of fratricidal war closed and the
Union saved. Why should We assemble
here to scatter these flowers over the
graves of the sleeping heroes? Is 1t to per-
petuate hate and keep open the old wounds
between north and south? Is it to nero
glorify the heroism of the northern armies? ?
Not at all. The purpose it to keep aflame
true patriotic principles in the hearts of
peace. assured that If we prove recreant
to the gallant memories of Shiloh. Gettys-
burg and the Wilderness and Sherman's S
march to the sea we may find ourselves
destitute Of heroes to save us in any future
struggle that may arise from foreign foes |!
Four long years-years filed with alter
mating hopes and discouragements--victo
| ries and defeats-they battled on. Brilliant
statesmen quailed and talked about peace
at any price, So gaciouS theorists suggested
Compromises" and towards fled to Eng
llsh soil when new drafts were ordered, but
the army never once wavered, and the
mighty hosts of God drove on and never
uttered one regret or n. urmur failed un-
til Lee surrendered his sword to the man
whom all the nations of the earth honored
"a name enshrined in every American pa
triot's heart-Ulysses S. Grant.
The veterans that surround me are but
remnant Of that army of heroic volun-
crisis came, and he who sat at the helm of
the nation at the White House, a man
raised up by God for special deliverance Of
great cause. and fell a martyr to liberty
triotic fervor-Abraham Lincoln-when he
called for reinforcements answered back
Were coming. Father Abraham,
Six hundred thousand strong"
and rested not until the effulgent light of
righteous peace illumed the face of every
ma - in nd
heroic valor consecrated forever to Lib
erty! DID l say Intelligent?
The Dangers of Ignorance.
Ignorance is the strong ally Of oppres-
sion. and more dangerous in republics than
in monarchies because 1t transforms the
masses into plant tools of demagogues and
gives power to the corrupt and unworthy
and inf1ames the passions of the populace,
and under the blight of ignorance the ex-
pertinent of popular government must fail.
The best education is that which teaches
the people their rights as men and their
duties as citizens, and the essential dis
tinctions between true liberty and a false
license! There is but one way to secure
this ard SO preserve our Inheritance which
our dead heroes gave to us and to our chill
dren, and that is your preserving the COM
mon free schools over which waves the
sacred emblem, the stars and stripes!
Our American homes represent about 13.-
49,, ,572 Of school age, representing every
race and condition. They are advancing at
the rate of a million year. Every citizen
ought to interest himself in the personnel
of our educators and insist that patriotism
shall be taught in all our public schools,
for the very existence of our republic de-
pends upon it. as 1t is what Lincoln has so
eloquently said. "A government of the peo-
pie. by the pc ,ple and for the people,
American Labor.
I'VE desire to see the memory of our he
roes held Gear, so that the coming man
hood of the nation, whether 1t toll at the
forge or at the loom, or in the bowels of
the earth, deep down in mines, bringing
out natures hoardings for the benefit Of
our 70,OOO.OOO population, shall be defended
against debasement and serf-lke tyranny
and toll for less than man should take or
man should give Having ended forever
slavery i'll the cotton fields of the south
land must not tolerate white slavery
at the north! Monopolies and oppressive
corporations must not tread upon the rights
of American labor!
81 Ill fares the land to osickenfng ills a prey,
Whose wealth increases, but whose men
decay.
''The immortal Lincoln led his country lid
to the sublmity of resolving that in a
republic Of freemen there should not and
could not justly exist slave, and his mas
terful American spirit inspired the party
of liberty, inspired the legions of glorified
heroes who followed the path marked be-
fore he sank to rest, and 1t is ours to stand
I'D and declare over the graves of the
of soil which there shall be found a
white slave of labor! Said Daniel Web
ster: The worlds deep and awful anxiety
is to learn whether free states may be
stable as we'll as free The war of 1861
1864 proved beyond all debate, and settled
the question forever, the stability of our
free states and made all the states free in
fact, what our forefathers had held in the
ory. let us teach the truth, not in bitter
ness but in love and just patriotism, that
all who come after us shall know the
truth and avoid the rocks that nearly
stranded and wrecked the grandest republic
that ever rose upon the shores Of history"
The Peroration.
The orator closed with an eloquent trib-
ute to the departed Secretary Of State,
Walter @. Gresham. and finished the ora
ton thus:
"Oh, land Of liberty. my heart loved thee
before my eyes beheld thy consecrated
shores. and longed for the day to come
when should be numbered with thy sons.
That day came long ago. for which I never
forget to render thanks to that loving prov
idence which hath made thee glorious, and
thy destiny blessed. Today l am thy son
and thou art my country-my proudest
boast, the noblest of my free, unfettered
spirit, Is 1 am an American citizen! Were
I now. oh, my country. sweet, beautiful
Columbia, the kohinor among all the ma
tions, to express for the last time on earth
the wish of my heart for thee. I would
- kl1t bot y