Omaha daily bee., 1896-06-01
COUNCIL BLUFFS DEPARTMENT
sAwyEus BEAUTIFUL SENTIMENT.
one OF the OratoricnI Gems of Dccorn-
tion Day Exercises.

one OF the Oratoricnl Gems of Dccorn-
ton Day Exercises.
The brief Grafton delivered by Prof. n.
". Sawyer at Falrview cemetery on me-
mortal day was one Of the finest gems
II the many that were given to the people
during the exercises. He said in part:
This is the most sacred, the most hal
lowed day of all the year-the day on which
Americans meet TO commemorate the deeds
death Of their sacred dead, the day ON which
human thought goes back through the dlm
vista Of receding years IL review the bloody
panorama of rebellion; the day on which
the sumhre spirit of wife, mother, sister or
sweetheart fingers lovingly about the dust
that holds her precious dead, or the heart
goes cut on the wings of memory to a silent,
halluwed Sput somewhere under the warm,
genial skies OF the sunny south, Beneath
that sod mavhap sleeps a heart won In her
sweet wnsome malenhood and lost In the
fierce conflict Of battle. ,,..,,- 49,. 80.
party lines, on this day the sons of America,
gathering under the folds Of the old flag,
from Maine to California and from lake to
gulf, may stand upon one platform, shoulder
to shoulder and heart to heart in paying
tribute to the patriotism and yalor of those hos,
who are now where praise and blame fall
alike unheeded on the duh, cold ear of the
dead" The pens OF poetry and history VIII
forever be busy with the names of those for
whom we offer tokens of love and remem-
brance-our immortelles-who sleep the sleep
that knows no waking.
They sleep, their last sleep, they are free
They heed not, they hear not, they have
fought their last battle
No sound can wake them to glory again. "
Liberty weeps. for her martyrs today, but
They live in the aegis of liberty they planted
and in the hearts and affections of free and
happy people. SO long as men shall draw the
sword. aye, so long as time itself shall last,
will the matchless hero of Appamatt3x and
story and in song. 1t is not these alone that
we remember-the historian, the poet and
the monument will tell their story-but the
bone and sinew of the union cause, those dar-
ing spirits of the rank and file that went
down IN the din of battle, q willing sacrifice
freedom How can neeting words OF human
praise gold the record of their glory?
When the smoke of battle cleared away
thirty -one years ago and the comrades here
assembled returned to their peaceful homes
and firesides. Memorial day was unknown
the past cluster about it, and as time goes
on and we get farther away from the war,
more, and there will be music and oratory
and flowers and pageantry on the 30th of
May so long as the word patriotism shall
shall love deeds of her ism and daring.
The observance in fraternal spirit of the
to do with obiiterating the hatefu. animcsi-
ties engendered by the war. Here no discori
disturbs the serenity of fame's eternal camp
run red with human blood-our heroes are at
rest, and today willing hands directed by fer
vid hearts place upon the sepulchre of each
hero, known and unknown, the emblems of
love and fidelity.
1t is related of d'Auvergne, a grenadier of
Napoleon's old guard, that FOR ga liant serv-
ices on the field of battle he was rendered a
sword bearing the inscription, ITO the first
srenadier of France" He refused it, saying,
Among us soldiers there is neither first nor
last" He subsequently fel with face to the
foe, and by an imperial decree his name was
swering with each roll call 'D:ei on the fl I'D
of honor" This year and next, and centuries
after on the anniversary of this Memorial
day, when the roll cal in every churchyard
and village cemetery of the men who died in
the conflict Is read the answer of grateful
people vii. be, "D.ed on the field of honor
What matters it If our heroes repose in un-
known graves, sleep beneath the sea
Theirs is deathless fame that will be sung
IT, W the % Soldier Whether t stli eiiie living or in
peace after the smoke and the din of battle
we say, Cheers for the living, tears for the
friend-whether in the humber ranks or
bearing the sword Of official honor; whether
private, private, captain, surgeon, % chaplain, for all
hai: and farewelii Each here here st must sleep se
renely on the field where he fell in the cause
sacred to liberty and the right of mankind
Worn by no wasting, lingering pain.
No cold gradations of decay .. d.
Death broke at once the vital chain,
And freed his son the nearest way"
And now, as we take leave of our martyred
dead for another year, let us place upon the
sepulchre of each the rose of our admiration
for his patriotism and courage, the laurel
of sympathy for his sufferines and death and
a lily of white from our hearts as symbol
of re membrance He died bravely, heroic
ally, that he might preserve to us land of
peace and prosperity, a land in which, let
us hope, the tocsin of war may never again
be sounded. AS the rainbow of fraternal ,ove
spans the archway of promise, revealing here
and there in glimpses of sunlight the blue
sky of prosperity, and reaching in its vast
tO ntI
DIPPING the pen of patriotism in the blooi
OF cur consecrated dead, let us write in
crimson letters so large that our children and
our children's children may read, "Americas s
patriotic dead are enshrned in the hearts
Of a people free and happy, while America
nerSelf leads the great caravan of nations
IN their grand march to the golden glory Of a
nj le3n!um If reac t. a. shall gn III ou h
out the earth"