Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-06-06
DIR. TALMAGE ON WAR
APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL DAY SER
MON BY THE ELOQUENT PREACHER.

APPROPRIATE MEMORIAL DAY SER
MON BY THE ELOQUENT PREACHER.
Tie Calls Down tho Wrath of the Almighty
Against War, but Later He INDUCES In
Sentiments That VIII Please Belligeront
JinGoes.
WASHINGTON, May 31.-What could
be moro appropriate or stirring than
this discourse by tho Rev. DR.. Talmage
ut the tine of year when the friends OF
those who wore the blue and the gray
have decorated the mounds of the fallen?
Tho text was Solomon's Song iv, 4,
"Tho tower of David builded for an
armory, whereon there hung thousand
buckles, all shields of mighty men,"
The church is here compared to an
al1nory, the walls hung with trophies
of dead HEROES. Walk all about this
tower of David and see the denied
shields, and the twisted swords, and
the rustod helmets of terrible battle.
So at this season, u month earlier at the
south, month later at the north, the
Ameriean churches are turned into ar
mories adorned with memories of de-
parted braves Blossom and bloom, y
walls, with stories Of self sacrifice and
patriotism and prowessl
Bv unanimous decree of the people Of
the United States Of America the graves
of all the northern and southern dead
are every year decorated. ALI acerbity
and bitterness hare gone out of the ma
tional solemnity, and as the men and
women of the south one month ago
horalized the cemeteries and graveyards
so yesterday we, tho men and women of
tho north, pat upon the tombs of our
dead tho kiss of patriotic affection.
Bravery always appreciates bravery,
though it fight on the other side, and if
q soldier of tho Federal army had been
Il month ago at Savannah he would not
have been ashamed to march in the
floral professions to the cemetery. And
if yesterday Confederate soldier was
at Arlington he was glad to put sprig
of heartseaso Gu the silent heart Of our
dead.
In q battle during our last war the
Confederates were driving back the Fed
erals, who were in swift retreat, when
a 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 Confed-
crate muskets were aimed at the young
man who was picking up tho officer.
But the Confederate captain shouted:
Hold! Don't frcl 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 tho
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-
federato captain.
Shall the gospel be less generous than
the world? Wa stack arms, the bayonet
of our northern gun facing this way,
the bayonot 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 aud blue of old war
times have blended at last, and they
quote III the language of King James
withoutany revision, "Glory
to Gcd in tho highest, and on earth
peace, good will to men. " Now, what
do we mean by this great observance?
The Lesson of 1t.
First, wo mean instruction to one
whole generation. Subtract 1865, when
the war onded, from our 1896, and you
will realize what vast number of peo-
ple wero born since the war, or were SO
young as to have no vivid appreciation.
No one under II years of age has any
adequate memory of that prolonged hor-
Tor. Do you remember it? "Well, " you
say, II only remember that mother
swooned away while she was reading
the newspaper, and that they brought
my father homo wrapped in the flag,
and that a good many people came i'll
the house to pray, and mother faded
away after that until again there were
many people in tho house and they told
me she was dead. p"
There ara others who cannot remem-
Der the roll of drum CT the tramp of a
regiment or g sigh or a tear Of that tor
nado of woe that swept the nation again
and again until there was one dead III
each house Now, 1t is the religious
duty Of those who DO remember it to tell
those who do not. My young friends,
there were such partinSs at rail car Win
dows and steamboat wharfs, and at
front doors of comfortable homes as
pray God you may never witness. Oh,
what ii time it was when fathers and
mothers gave up their SENS, never ex-
pecting to see them again and never did
soc them again until they came back
mutilated and crushed and dead!
-Four years of blood. -Four years of
hostile experiences. -Four years of ghast-
lincss. Faur years Of gravedigging.
Four years of funerals, collins, shrouds,
hearses, dirges. Mourning, mourning,
It was hell let loose. What
a time of waiting for news! Morning
paper and evening paper scrutinized for
from the boys at the front
First, announcement that the battle
must occur the next lay. Then the news
CT 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 ncws After many days load
Of wounded going through the town or
city. but 10 news from cur boy. Then
long list of wounded and long list OF
the dead, and long list of the missing,
and among tho last list our boy.
When missing? How missing? Who
saw him last? Missing, missingl Was he
in the woods or By tho stream? How
was he hurt? Missing, missing! What
hurniup nr,.ycrs that he may yet be