Connecticut western news., 1896-06-04
DIR. TALMAGE ON WAR

DIR. TALMAGE ON WAR APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL DAY SER MON BY THE ELOQUENT PREACHER. He Calls Down the Wrath of the Almighty
 Against War. but Later He Induiges In
 Sentiments That Will Please Belligerent
 Jingoes.
 WASHINGTON, May 81.-What could he more appropriate or stirring than ihis discourse by the Rev. Dr. Talmage it the time of year when the friends of those who wore the blue and the gray have decorated the mounds of the fallen? The text was Solomonas Song iv, 4, "The tower of David builded for an armory, whereon there hung thousand buckles, all shields of mighty men"
 The church is here compared to an armory, the walls hung with trophies of dead heroes. Walk all about this tower of David and sec the dented shields, and the twisted swords and the rusted helmets of terrible battle. Q south, @ month later at the north, the American churches are turned into ar mories adorned with memories of de- parted braves Blossom and bloom, O walls, with stories of self sacrifice and patriotism and prowessl
 By unanimous decree of the people of the United States of America the graves of all the northern and southern dead are every year decorated. All acerbity and bitterness have gone out of the na- tional solemnity, and as the men and women of the south one month ago foralized the cemeteries and graveyards SO yesterday we, the men and women of the north, put upon the tombs of our dead the kiss of patriotic affection. Bravery always appreciates bravery, though it fight on the other side, and if a soldier of the Federal army had been a month ago at Savannah he would not have been ashamed to march in the floral processions to the cemetery. And if yesterday Confederate soldier was at Arlington he was glad to put sprig of heartsease on the silent heart of our dead.
 In battle during our last war the Confederates were driving back the Fed erals, who were in swift retreat, when 8 Federal officer dropped wounded. One of his men stopped at the risk of his life and put his arms around the officer to carry him from the field. Fifty Confsd crate muskets were aimed at the young man who was picking up the officer. But the Confederate captain shouted: !: -"Holdl Don't firel That fellow is too brave to shoot ' And as the Federal officer, held up by his private soldier, went limping slowly off the field the Confederates gave three cheers for the brave private, and just before the two disappeared behind @ barn both the wounded officer and the brave private lifted their caps in gratitude to the Con- federate captain.
 Shall the gospel be less generous than the world? We stack arms, the bayonet of our northern gun facing this way, the bayonet of the southern gun facing the other way, and as the gray of the morning melts into the blue of noon so the typical gray and blue of old war times have blended at last, and they quote in the language of King James, translation without any revision, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men," Now, what do we mean by this great observance?
 The Lesson of It.
 First, we mean instruction to one whole generation. Subtract 1865, when the war ended, from our 1896, and you will realize what vast number of peo- pie were born since the war, or were so young as to have no vivid appreciation. No one under Al years of age has any adequate memory of that prolonged hor- TOT. Do you remember it? "Well," you say, "I only remember that mother swooned away while she was reading the newspaper, and that they brought my father home wrapped in the flag, and that good many people came in the house to pray, and mother faded away after that until again there were many people in the house and they told me she was dead"
 There are others who cannot remem- Der the roll of drum or the tramp of a regiment or sigh or tear of that tor nado of woe that swept the nation again and again until there was one dead in each house. Now, it is the religious duty of those who do remember it to tell those who do not. My young friends, there were such partings at rail car win dows and steamboat wharfs, and at front doors of comfortable homes as I pray God you may never witness Oh, what time it was when fathers and mothers gave up their sons, never ex- pecting to see them again and never did see them again until they came back mutilated and crushed and deadl
 Four years of blood. Four years of hostile experiences. Four years of ghast- Illness. Four years of gravedigging. Four years of funerals, coffins, shrouds, hearses, dirges. Mourning, mourning, mourningl It was hell let loose. What a time of waiting for newsl Morning paper and evening paper scrutinized for intelligence from the boys at the front. First, announcement that the battle must occur the next day. Then the news of the battles going on. On the follow ing day still going on. Then news of 80, 900 slain, and of the names of the great generals who had fallen, but no news about the private soldiers. Wait ing for news! After many days load of wounded going through the town or city, but no news from our boy. Then a long list of wounded and long list of the dead, and long list of the missing, and among the last list our boy.
 When missingp How missing? Who saw him last? Missing, missingl Was he in the woods or by the stream? How was he hurt? Missing, missingl What burning prayers that he may yet be heard fromi In that awful waiting for news many a life perished. The strain of anxiety was too great. That wife'a brain gave way that first week after the battle, and ever and anon she walks the floor of the asylum or looks out of the window as though she expected some