The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1895-05-31

of thanks be given the pastor, which was
unanimously concurred in by the Post and
Corps. The singing of Messrs. Seymour
Hoyt, Glen Reynolds, Ernest Jacobs and
Will Sullivan added much to the service.
The sermon was as follows:
| "And these stones shall be for memorial
unto the children of Israel forever" Josh. A; H.
| In all ages of the world nations have tried to
preserve in one way and another the memory of
| their great events and heroic men. They have
| had rolls of names and written histories. They
have erected monuments of stone. One such
monument is here spoken of in the book OF
Joshua. 1t was no ordinary event that these
children of Israel were trying to commemo-
rate. The passage of the Jordan river was the
| elimination of long years Of hope and expecta-
tion and struggle. 1t meant to them the full
| filment of promise, the achieving of God-giv-
en- destiny for their nation. And so according
| to arrangement twelve stones were gathered
out of the bed of the river and placed on the
western side of the river in the midst of their
new camping ground. And there they were to
remain for ever, if such thing might be, that
| when the children ask their fathers, in the
| time to come, saying, "What mean ye by these
stones" the answer would be given that
| there the waters of the Jordan were cut off be
| fore the ark of the Covenant of the Lord when
| 1t passed over Jordan. And thus this great
event would be commemorated The place of
this setting of their feet onthe soil of the land of
promise would be forever marked. Now, we
too have great events in our history, the mem
| ory OF which is dear to our hearts. One such is
our discovery by Columbus and the landing of
| the pilgrims, and the war for the independence;
| and still another, the writing and adoption of
| the constitution, of which Gladstone has said,
| "It is the grandest document that ever came
| from the pen of single man." And then, we
have in more recent times, our civil war and all
| that 1t means to us. And as the years come
! and go, and those who took part in that mighty
fray are dropping out we are multiplying
our efforts to put into permanent form, the
records and the monuments of the struggle.
Only last week the legislature of the great state
OF Illinois proposed the expenditure of many,
| thousands Of dollars in erecting monuments on
the exact spots on the field Of Mission Ridge ana
Lookout Mountain, where the Illinois troops
were stationed in those battles. And the gen.
erous hearts of grateful people are behind
| every reasonable effort at such commemora-
tion. There is nothing too good to give, nor ex-
| penditure too great to be made in preserving to
our children's children the memory OF these
| great events. And right here let me say that L
believe the increasing affection of this great ma
| tion will ever go out to the old soldier. That
| more and more ryou old veterans of ths. war are
| to be held in esteem. True, we have some diff
ference of opinion about the matter of pensions.
And to me there is something unseemly in this
eternal political contention about the soldiers
/ pension To be sure there are fraudulent pen
sioners that need wedding out, always, but after
| that is done, to be forever contending over the
amount of pension, seems like forever trying
! to measure love and gratitude in dollars and
cents. And just as / would not stint my mother
but do all for her within my power, and because
she Is my mother, so would have the gratitude
| of this great nation express itself, not after
| financial but an affectional manner, toward its
| old soldier. What you have done for this nation
could never be paid for in dollars and cents,
though we were to command the wealth of the
world in the effort and what this nation ought
to do is to see to it that no soldier or soldiers
immediate family should come to want, and
then pay its debt OF gratitude in o currency
more in keeping with the obligation. We want
to keep in memory the heroic deeds, We must
Epreserve the liberty that was gained. The
common brotherhood of man, white or black,
under the one Goa In Heaven must be aclxnowl-
edged The integrity and the perpetuity OF this
great nation must lie close TO our hearts, and
thus shall we, the sons, show our gratitude for
the heroic deeds of the fathers. And looking
toward this end we have this annual decoration
day; tae day on which we strew flowers upon
the graves OF our fallen heroes, and recall their
deeds. And would that AMID oil the days OF