Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1895-05-08
Memorial Day.


The bravery of our honored dead
Shall never be erased
The beautiful custom of decorating de-
parted worth was not unknown to the
ancients. But never to the same extent,
never as a universal custom, recurring
year by year, was it observed as it is
with us.
No flower of rhetoric can ever be so
eloquent as those wreaths of affection,
those
"Floral apostles that with dewy
splendor,
Weep without woe, and blush without
crime.' -t'.
To Americans alone is Decoration Day
significant. A foreigner might suppose
it time for putting a ribbon on coat,
or for beautifying house, or other baser
physical significance. But we know the
tender meaning of the term. 1t is time
when flowers are placed on the graves Of
the dead by their surviving comrades.
Out of sorrows common alike to the
North and the South came this beautiful
custom. But Decoration Day belongs no
longer to those who mourn. 1t is the
common heritage and privilege of us all
and will be celebrated as long as graft
tude exists and God allows the flowers
to cheer man with their beauty.
Flowers on graves! Is there anything
simpler? Is there anything more appro-
pirate? Is there anything that has more
exquisitely the quality of universally
about it than graves of flowers? If
there is anything more numerous in the
world than flowers, it is graves. The
world has been a sepulchre ever since it
has been birth place. All that tread
the globe are but handful to the tribes
that sleep in it's bosom.
Flowers are the materialized beauty of
nature. OF nature that which is mortal
OF the dead has become factor. Flow
ers spring from the dust and to the dust
return. So has it been written of man.
Flowers are the resurrection gift of the
Spring. They live to die. They die to
live. We know they will be, becase they
are. They are at once evanescent and
immortal. So by faith we think of the
dead. "Fhe dead are the seed of life,
sown in the soil OF time, they spring up
into everlasting radiance in better
worlds"
This memorial habit is the most beauti-
full one of any land at any time. 1t is the
recognition of courage. 1t is the celebra-
tion of fidelity unto death. BY it we at
test to the greatness of motive and the
magnitude of achievement of those who
perfected the incomplete work of the
fathers and founders of the republic.
For more than union these men fought
and died. They fought and died for
nationality. For more than nationality
these men fought and died. They fought
and died for liberty. 1t was begun early
for union. Thence it advanced to the
purpose of nationality. Then it became
vivid and vital with liberty and the
greatest OF these, and that which ener-
gized most, was liberty.
"Above the graves of the Federal and
Confederate dead to-day hover, with
locked arms, the Goddess of War and the
Angel of Peace" We have learned
through the blood that they shed the
cost of slavery and the price of freedom.
From the time that the first shells shat
tered the walls of Fort Sumpter, through
that great climacterie period of '63,
when the joyful news swept DER gov
ernment almost riven with strife that
Gettysburg had been won for union, ma
tion and right: until that world famous
conditional surrender-that the officers
and soldiers be allowed to 60 home on
parole not to take up arms against the
United States, until exchanged, and re-
tain their private baggage and horses to
aid them in their future work at home
was signed by Grant and Lee did both
the North and South bravely fight for
what each thought was right. Then
"Let us deck their graves alike to-day,
And raise our anthems high,
For those who fell when far away,
Beneath a distant sky
Our country called our gallant sons,
For service in the fray,
And on the graves of fallen ones.
We strew sweet flowers to-day
"Your silent tents of green,
We deck with fragrant flowers,
Yours has the suffering been,
The memory has been ours
j. M. FOGELsINGER.
Linw ood, n. j.
A New Temperance Organtza-
ton i'm the Field.
A dispatch from Chicago dated May 3
says "The National Temperance Union
is the latest organization to get in line
against the saloons. 1t is composed of
men and women who believe that the
Women's Christian Temperance Union
has outlived it's usefulness and is i'm
practicable in it's operations. Among
those interested in the new movement
are Mrs. J. M. Arnold, an ex-vice -presi-
dent of the W. G. II. IT,; Mrs. Norah
Gridley, Mrs. Violet Sanborn, president
of the Anti-Women's Christian Temper
ance Union; the Rev. G.. E. Morse, John
R. Mitchell. Fernando Jones, Mrs. Alice
Houghton; president of the anti-suffrage
movement; John A. Nicholas and num-
ber of prominent clergymen.
OpcdhluS vi luc uONtluoHU .. OIlO.
ley said We are are just getting our
incorporation papers ready. The Natio-
nal Temperance Union is for men and
women of practical ideas. We will not
be the tag end of the suffrage party nor
work in with the cranks of the Prohibi-
ton party. Ifprohibition would pro-
hibit we would be for it most enthusias-
ticajIy, but it often does more harm than
good. Where we can influence high