The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-09-03
ADDRESS OF THE
COMMANDER-lN-C
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Continued from first page.)
must forgive and forget. We must rub
out old animosities and take fresh, un-
stained parchment, fit to receive the
ideas and lessons of later times We
must carry hopeful hearts and cheerful
brows. We must fill the veins of edu-
cation and the organizations of industry
with the spirit Of liberty regulated by
law. We must mould the life of the
Nation by the force of great moral
ideas, and rule through the royalty
of principle, which can never be dis
crowned.
IN MEMoRIAM.
Comrades, it is fitting, ere We enter
upon the duties of another year, to pause
upon its threshold, and, with one more
backward glance, take leave of those who
have thus far accompanied us on our
march. Many who one year ago an
swered to the roll-call, hold their En-
eampment to-day in the halls of heroes
in Valhalla, with Lincoln, Grant, Sher-
man, Sheridan, Thomas, and Logan. As
we run our eye over the old roster, now
dimmed with age and burnt with tears,
We sadly realize how many a star has
shed its fatal ray upon those we've loved
long since, and lost awhile"
Few Posts have escaped the invasion
Of the Great Conqueror, and to many of
us He has come very close and torn from
us those to whom we were bound by close
encircling bands. More than 1000 of
our number, within the short II months,
have crossed the star-lit line, and ere
another Encampment assemblies some in
this presence will join their comrades on
eternal camping-grounds. National, De-
partment and Post officers have often
been called upon to perform the last sad
rites over their fallen comrades, and with
the simple bronze badge upon their
breasts, they have laid them away upon
their shields.
speak of many-you are thinking
of one. Long had he served J0u and
his State and Nation faithfully; long
had his firm, quiet character been posi-
tive factor in public affairs. You learned
to love him. you learned to trust him,
you raised him to that high position for
which he was SO fitted. In the midst of
his usefulness the Supreme Commander
summoned him to a higher service.
Death came suddenly, and you laid him
away at Madison amid the flowers moist
ened by the tears of many friends.
But, comrades, he is not dead. A
patriot never diesl His spirit moves
among us to-day! We see him not, but
the inner soul catches the sound of his
voice as in years agone. He comes not
to claim his wonted place, but in our
hearts he asserts his rights, and while to-
day we deliberate for the welfare of his
comrades, may we still give heed to the
guiding counsel of our departed but ever
living friend and comrade-Lucius
Fairchild.
Comrades, our work for this year is
nearly completed, and in returning to
you, unimpaired, the trust your suffrages
imposed, desire to express my profound
sense of appreciation. hope that my
efforts in behalf of our great organiza-
ton have not been in vain, but that some
lasting good has been accomplished.
Permit me to again thank you for one
of the greatest honors of my life, second
only to that Of being permitted to stand
by your side in defending our country in
its hour Of peril, which service made ii
possible for me to become a member o1
the Grand Army of the Republic.
When your duty here is performed