The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-31
THE SOLDIERS HOME
Patriotic Words Pronounced Over the
Buildings Corns Stone.
THE WORK OF THEvETERANs
Governor RIckards Speaks Elo-
quently of the Sfnificanoe OF
Memorial DayAnd Of the
Soldiers services.

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Following is the text of Governor
Richards Memoris day address on the
occasion of the Tying of the corner
stone of the soldtrs' home at Column
bia Falls:
what means Ais audience? Why are
men. women andchildren congregated to-
day all over THU fair land of ours? From
the Atlantic tothe Pacific. from the up
per lakes to ne gulf, in almost every
hamlet, town nd city are scenes like this.
What does imean? 1t is an expression
of the natioPs gratitude and love. Me-
mortal dayfit is called. A memorial of
what? In hemory of our brave dead; in
memory o. those who laid down their lives
in defenA of our nations honor, in de-
Tense Of our country's flag.
1T nay not be known to most of you
that mis- beautiful custom of strewing
. with flowers the graves of our dead sol
( diers, originated in the southern states,
wbere. under warmer skies and in an at
mosphere of the fragrant magnolias, the
PEOPLE have a more poetic temperament
that we of the North. After the war was
over the mothers, widows and children
of the confederate dead went out and
strewed upon the graves of their loved
ones the choicest flowers of their country.
On their errand of love they noted many
unknown and unmarked graves of union
soldiers; and 1t is said that upon these,
too, they scattered the flowers of their
native South. AS the news of this touch
ing and beautiful tribute was flashed over
the wires it aroused in the hearts of the
people a feeling of gratitude, out of which
grew a mere intense national love. In
every household where there was mourn
ing for a loved one who had fallen upon
southern soil a new sentiment was
aroused, a new gratitude was born, which
found expression in such fords as. who
knows? 1t may be that our darling's
grave has been strewn with flowers by
the Southern woman's hand Thus out of
a common sorrow throughout the nation
has grown this beautiful custom of strew-
ing earth's choicest flowers upon the rest
ing place of our solder dead, be they of
the blue or the gray.
1T is 81 years since the close of that
terrible war, but Memorial day means as
much to us to-day as ever, and 1t will be
celebrated so long as flowers bloom.
What a rush of memory the day brings
to many of us. We live over again the
stirring scenes inciden I to that time
when we saw lovers bidding a fond good
bye; when we saw the aged mother and
her son embrace in a tender and affec-
tionate goodbye; when we saw fathers
taking their little ones in their arms and
kissing them, oh, so tenderly! when hus-
band and wife, in a lingering, fond en-
brace, were saying goodbye perhaps for
the last time. We remember hearing the
newsboy crying out: Another great bat
ue.' and we knew that some of our
friends, some of our dear ones had fall
len on that battlefield. oh, how much
there is in memory of suffering, of sorrow
and of death which this day brings to US.
However, we may thank the God of ma
tions that it has been our privilege to ex-
tract some sweet from the bitter.
Indulge me a moment There stood
upon Mars Hill, man who, upon a mo-
mentous occasion gave utterance to the
words, God hath made of one blood all
nations of men that dwell upon the face
of the earth, and hath fixed the boun-
daries of their habitation.' Ny fellow
citizens, want to say to you / believe
in the Divine appointment of the geogra-
ply of a chosen nation. also believe
that the Great Ruler of Nations has fixed
upon ours as a nation to work in and
through to the uplifting of the human
family. 1t is well for US to call to mind
the fact that the men who laid the foun-
dalton of this great republic were men of
intellect; men of refined SEN
timent and restless energy; in a word,
they were true noblemen. The father of
our country stands out among the states
men of the past and present without a
peer. No language can adequately pro-
nounce an eulogy upon such honored
names as Franklin, Jefferson, Hancock.
and Henry. Nowhere in the his
tory of the world did a nation start with
so many of the elements which belong to
a great and free people. Our forefathers
were not slaves: they were, though, still
English subjects, English freemen. The
war of the Revolution was not for a lin
tied, local freedom-it was for all men,
Our fathers proclaimed the truth of pub
lie liberty when they said all men are
created equal and are endowed with GER
tain inalienable rights, and by the en-
dowment of nature and in harmony with
order and constitution of nature every
man has right to his life, to seek happi-
ness and to retain his property And all
that had preceded that momentous strug-
gle was but tributary to that great re-
suit
How wise and paternal our govern
ment, founded upon the essential princ.-
pies of justice. recognizing the common
brotherhood of man, IL throws around our
rights the sanction of law.
Here justice reigns supreme. All citizens.
the richest and the poorest, stand in
equality before our courts of justice and
are recognized as equal under the law
The blessed heritage. handed down to US.
you, my soldier friend, have defended.
your comrades. who died that this ma
ion, so wisely planned. should not be
torn asunder
Some dangers yet beset us, but have
faith in our ability to grapple with every
problem and to erect a sure defense /
have unbounded faith in the recuperative
energy of the American people. From the
lime our pilgrim fathers erected their
affairs the words of the poet, as applied
o the individual will apply to US as a peo-
Die. divinity has shaped our ends as a
nation, however men may have rough |
lewed IL. The point ! want to emphasize |
o-day is, If we are true to our trust we
AN commit our future to Him who !
ilumbers not. Let US not forget, however,
hat only by our fidelity TO our country.
md TO her sacred institutions, can our
children inherit the blessed privileges |
which we inherited. Let US also remember |
hat in our country the individual is ev- |
'rything. AS is the individual. so are the |
masses: as is the individual. so shall be |
hE - liz Il .