Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-06-01

our national cemeteries-a statue Of
liberty in the form Of a Christian wo-
man with her hand on an open Bible
and her foot on the Rock of Ages. with
the other hand pointing down TO the
graves of the unknown. saying: These
are my sons, who died that | might
live" Take off the misnomer. Every
body knows them. 1t is Of compare
lively little Importance what was the
name given them in baptism of water.
In the holier and mightier baptism OF
blood we know them, and yesterday the
nation put both arms around them and
Rugged them TO her heart, crying:
Mine forever
Again, by this national ceremony we
BY every wreath of flowers on the SOL
diers graves we say, These whit die for
the country shall not be forgotten"
and this will give enthusiasm TO cur
young men in case our nation should in
the future need TO defend itself in bat
tie. We shall never have another war
between North and South. The old,
decayed bone of contention, American
slavery, has been cast cut, although
here and there depraved politician
takes ii up 10 see if he can't gnaw some
thing Of it, We are floating off farther
and farther from the possibility of Sec
tional strife.
IF FOREIGN FOE SHOULD CONS,
the old sectional animosities would
have no power Here so our regiments
into the battlefield: Fifteenth New
York volunteers, Tenth Alabama cav
airy, Fourteenth Pennsylvania rifle
men. Tenth Massachusetts artillery,
Seventh South Carolina sharpshooters.
do not know but it may require the
attack of some foreign foe TO make us
forget cur absurd sectional wranglins.
have no faith in the cry, mo North,
no South, TO East, no West" Let all
four sections keep their pecuilarities
and their preferences, each doing its
own work and not interfering with each
other, each OF the four carrying its
part of the great harmony-the bass,
the alto. the tenor, the sopr&no--!n
the grand march of Union.
Once more, this great national cere-
tombs, whether of those who tell in bat
tie or accident or who have expired in
| their beds or in our arms or on our laps.
suppose you have noticed tina: many
OF the families take this season as the
time for the adornment Of their fam
| lily plots. This national observance has
! secured the arboriculture ana floricul-
| ture of the cemeteries, the Strengthening
up Of many a slab planted thirty or
| forty years ago. and has swung the
scythe through the long grass and has
| brought the stone-cutter to call cut the
! half-obliterated epitaph. This day is
the benediction of the resting place of
father, mother, son, daughter, brother,
sister
II is all that we can do for them now.
Make their resting places
ATTRACTIVE, NOT ABSURD
with costly outlay, but in quiet remem-.
brarce. You know how. If you can
afford only one flower, that will do. II
shows what you would do if you could
| One blossom from you may mean more
that the Duke of Wellington's cata-
falque. Oh, we cannot afford to forge.
them. They were so lovely to us. We
miss them so much. We will never
! get over it. Blessed Lord Jesus, COM
| fort our broken hearts. From every
| bank of flowers breathes promise OF
| resurrection.
/ In olden times the Hebrews, return
! ing from their burial place, used TO
! pluck the grass from the field three or
| four times. then throw it over their
| heads, suggestive Of the resurrection
\ We pick not the grass, but the flowers,
and instead of throwing them over our
heads we place them before our eyes,
/ right down over the silent heart that
once beat with warmest love toward us,
or over the still feet that ran to service.
or over the lips from which we took the
| kiss at the anguish of the last part
! ing.
But stop, We are not infdels. Our
bodies will soon join the bodies of our
departed in the tomb, and our spirits
| shall join their spirits in the land of the
| rising sun. We cannot long be sepa-
rated. Instead of crying with Jacob
for Joseph, 81 will go down into the
grave unto my son, mourning" let US
cry with David: Il shall go to him."
On one of the gates of Greenwood is
the quaint inscription: "a nights
lodging on the way TO the city of the
| New Jerusalem" Comfort one another
| with these words. May the hand OF
| him who shall wipe away all tears from
all eyes wipe your cheek with its softest
tenderness. The Christ of Mary, and
Martha, and Lazarus will enfold you in
1 his arms. The white-robed angels who
sat at the tomb Of Jesus will YET roll
the stone from the door of your dead in
radiant resurrection. The Lord HIM
self shall descend from Heaven with
/ shout and the voice Of the archangel.
So the Dead March in Saul shall become
| the Halleluiah Chorus.