The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1896-10-09

Potomac River. scalping knives all ready
to receive them, they landed, their only well
the beach. Red men In the forest. Red men
on the mountains. Red men in the valleys.
Living, gates Of red men. Gates Of car
buncle!
Aboriginal hostility pushed back, surely
now our forefathers will have nothing to do
but to take easy possession of tho fairest
continent under the sun. The skies so
genial the soil 80 fertile, the rivers 30 pop
ulous with fnny life. the acreage 80 i'm
mense, there will be nothing to do but eat :,
drink and be merry. No. The most power
full Nation, by army and navy, sounded its
protest across three thousand miles Of water.
Then came Lexington, and Bunker Hill, and
Monmouth, and Long Island battles. and
Valley Forge, and Yorktown, and starva-
ton. and widowhood. and orphanaSe, and
the thirteen colonies went through sufrerings
which the historian has attempted to put
upon paper, and the artist to put upon can
vas, but all In vain. Engraver's knife, and
reporters skill. and telesraphic wire, and
daily press, which have made us acquainted
with the horrors OF modern battlefield, had
not yet begun their vigilance, aud the story
OF the American Revolution has never been
told. and never will De told. 1t did not take
pendence, but 1t took terrific amount OF
blood to maintain 1t. 1t was an awful gate
OF opposition that the men and women
-snd the women as much as tho mem
pushed back. 1t was gate OF self-sacriflce.
1t was gate OF blood. It was cato OF
carbuacle.
We are not indebted to history for our
knowledge Of the greatest OF National
crises. Many OF u; remember 1t, and fathers
and mothers now living had better keep tell
ing that story to their children, so that in
stead OF their being dependent upon cold
type and obliged to say, "On such page Of
such book you can read that" Will they
rather be able to say, "My father told ms
so!' "My mother told me So" Men aud
women who vlvdly remember 1861, and
1862. and 1868. aud 1854, be yourselves the
historians, telling 1t, not with pen, but with
living tongue and voice and gesture. That
Is the great use OF Memorial Decoration Day,
for the Gala lilies on tho grave tops soon be-
come breathless OF perfume, and In week
turn to dust unto that which lies beneath IT.
But the story OF courage and self-sacriflce
and patriotism told on platforms and in
households and by the roadside and In
churches and In cemeteries by that annual
recital will be kept fresh In the memory OF
generations as long as our American institu-
tions are worthy of preservation. Long
after you are dead your children will be able
to say, with the Psalmst: eve have heard
with our ears, o God, our fathers have
days. in the times OF DID," But what
q time 1t was! Four years Of home
Four years of brotherly
ana sisterly estranaement! Four years OF
martyrdom! Four years Of massacre! Put
them in long lines the conflaRration OF
cities, and see them light up whole conti-
nent! Put them in long rows, the hospitals.
making a vast metropolis Of pain and
pnroxyism. Gather them In one vast assem-
blage, the millions Of bereft from the st.
Lawrence to the Gun. and from tho Atlantic
to the Pacific beaches! Put tho tears into
lakes. and the blood into rivers, and the
shrioks into whrlwinds! During those four
yeats many good and wisa men at tho North
aud South saw nothing ahead but annihila-
tion. With such National debt we
could never meet our Obligations! With
such moral antipathirs Northern and South
ern men could never come Into amity! Rop-
resentatives OF Louisiana and Georgia, and
the Carolinas could never again sit side by
side with tho Representatives Of Maine,
Massachusetts and New York at tho Ma
tional capital. Lord John Russell had de-
clared that we were "a bubble bursting Na-
tionality," and it had come true. The Ma
tions OF Europe had gathered With very re-
signed spirit at the funeral OF our American
Republic. They had tolled the bclls on
Parliaments and Reichstags and lowered
their flags ut half mast. and even tho lion
on the other sIde OF the seq had whined for
the dead eagle on this side. The deep grave
had been dug, and beside Babylon, and
Thebes, and Tyre. and other dend Nations of
the past our dead Republic was to be
buried. The eptaph was all ready: ''Herc
lies the American Republic. Dorm at Phila-
delphia, 4th Of July, 1776. Killed at Bull
Run July 21, 1861. Aged eighty-ive years
aud seventeen days. Peace to its ashes"
But befors the ohsequies had quite closed
there was an interruption of the ceremon-
les. and our dead Nation rose from its
mortuary surroundings. God had made for
Come forth, thou Republic OF Washing
ton. and John Adams. and Thomas Jeffer-
son, aud Patrick Henry, and John Hancock,
and Daniel Webster. and 8. s. Prentiss, and
Henry Clay. Come forth" And she came
forth, to be stronger than she had ever boon.
Her mightiest prosperities have come since
that time. Who would want to push bnck
this country to what II was In 1860 or 1850?
But, oh, what high gate. what q strong
cute she had to push back before she could
make one step in advance! Gate Of flame!
See Norfolk Navy Yard, ani Columbia, and
Chamber.burg, and Charleston on fire!
Gate of bayonets! Sce glittering rifles and
carbineS flash from tho SusQuehanna. and
the james. to the Mississippi, and tho Ar
kansas! Gate of heavy artillery. making
tho mountains OF Tennessee and Kentucky
and Virginia tremble as though tho earth
itself wero struggling in its last agony. The
gate was 80 fiery and 80 red that can think
OF nothing more appropriate than to take
the suggestion OF Isaiah in the text and call
1t gate OF carbunCles.
This country has been for tho most pnrt
OF its history passing through crises. and
after each crisis was betto OIL than before
1t entered 1t, and now we are at another
crisis. We are told on one hand that II gold
is kept as n standard and silver is not ele-
waited. confidence will be restored and this
Nation will rise triumphant from all the
financial misfortunes that have boen aflict-
ing us. On the other hand we are told that
If the free coinage of silver Is allowed, all
tho wheels Of business will revolvc. the poor
man will have batter chance, and all our
Industries will begin to hum and roar.
During tho last six Presidential election
have been urged TO enter the political aroma,
but / mover have and never will turn tho
pulpit in which l preach into political
stump Every minister must do rs he feels
called to do, and ] will not criticise him for
doing what he considers his duty; but all
the political harangues from pulpts from
now until the 81 Of November will not in all
tho Unitou States change one vote, but will