Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-11-29
A PLEASANT REUNION.
Comrades Of the G.. A. r. Enjoy Them
selves Thoroughly at the
Camp Fire.
Instructive and Entertaining Addresses
From a Number of Local
Speakers.
Baked Beans in Abundance and Other
Army Delicacies Served
Afterwards.
The Campfire.

The Campfire.
A very successful campfire Of James
B. Mcpherson post, G. A. R., was held
at Armory Thursday night. The heartsof
the old soldiers we're stirred again with
that patriotism which encouraged and
sustained them in the dark days from
81 to '65, and "reminiscences of olden
times were brought back to them by the
brief addresses of the several speakers.
Judge Hare presided over the meeting,
in the absence of Judge Bartholomew,
who was unavoidably detained, and in
troduced the first speaker on the pro-
gram as one in whom and in whose posi-
ton every citizen of the city was inter
ested, Professor Moore of the public
schools. Mr.. Moore responded aptly,
and in a brief address, pointing some
valuable lessons from the war, by whose
veterans the campfire was celebrated.
He pictured the wal as the crisis of the
nation, and the first shot fired at Sumter
as a blow at the liberties of the world.
Despots and monarchs looked and hoped
that the rebellion might be successful,
and the nation disintegrated. But the
boys of '61 rose ~valiantly at the call of
their chieftain, and battled VIGOROUSLY
! for the right. Their duty was done, and
nobly done, and the victories which they
had achieved on the field Of battle must
be achieved by the younger generation
on the field of civil strife. He felt Ger
tain this younger generation would meet
it's duties periodically. He was conf
dent Of the stability of the nation. He
cited improvements in civil government,
the extension Of civic service, to prove
the advancement of the nation. There
were questions at present which would
require patriotism to meet-the safety
and sanctity of the ballot box must be
assured-the government Of large cities
must be cleansed and purified. He
thought the rising generation would full
fill the requirements Of right and justice,
and be ready to respond at the call Of
duty, as were the veterans Of
Judge Winchester, in responding to a
call upon him, said he had prepared a
two-hours' speech, and it had rather
upset him to find itmust be concentrated
in a fve-minute address. Under the
circumstances, he had thought it best
to procure a substitute, and he had
found one in his little son, Harold, who
mounted the rostrum and sang "Colum-
bal the Gem of the Ocean," firmly,
clearly, and sweetly, and the little fellow
won the hearty applause of the audience.
Attorney w. S. Hammond was called
upon, and remarked that it had always
seemed p~resumptuous to him for one of
the younger generation to speak at a re-
union of those veterans who had borne
the trials and hardships of the war.
But he felt it a duty of every American
citizen to be ready always to pay a
tribute to the flag under which they had
fought. Mr. Hammond was eloquent in
his eulogy Of the patriots of '61, and be-
spoke a similar patriotism for those who
would be the soldiers Of today, should
there be a similar need of patriots. The
boys of 81 had handed downfa nation,
the grandest on earth: preserved and
purified to the younger generation. He
was optimistic as to the future of the
nation-the temporary questions and
trials which beset it, would be solved.
He closed with Ingersoll's tribute to the
veterans-"Cheers for> the living, tears
for the dead"
Ex- Governor Shortridge was particu-
larly pleased at the final and complete
reconciliation of the north and south, as
exemplified in the reunion of the veter-
ans of both armies in the south this
year. He was gladdened because
OF the wiping out of sectional lines-no
north, no south, no east, no west, but
one reunited people and striving to the
accomplishment of the greatest good for
the whole nation. He spoke, he said, as
one Of the probable few present who were
born south of Mason's and Dixon's line.
He was familiar with the opinions and
sentiments Of southern people. The
war had blotted slavery out of existence
in the nation. He did not believe there
was one person in the south who would
restore it, if it could be done by the
turning of a hand. He closed by eulog-
izing that grandest of American patriots,
Abraham Lincoln, whose memory he
said, was revered south as north-the
brightest and best beloved figure in AM
erican history.
General Alexander Hughes was one