The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1896-05-30
OUR DUTY TO THE MEMORY OF
DEPARTED HEROES.
The Growing Tendency TO Bellttle the
Past-lleroes TO Which the World
Owes the Biggest Debt.
S-S1S5~HERE seems to be
IL q %E agrowing tendency
~ y NJ to belittle the past,
aEI v to shatter the idols
c11 which earlier gen.

erations had erect
ed. The iconoclast is getting to be more
and more in evidence, and as an expo.
nent OF the age takes the place of the
hero worshiper, IL such an uncompro-
missing and cynical spirit has its useful
side, 1t also presents a serious evil. IL
helps to kill the fame of enthusiasm
which tends more than any other ele-
ment IN the human heart to INSPIRE the
young to live beautiful, self sacrificing.
or, II the occasion comes, heroic lives.
Gibbon, in speaking Of the age Of the
Antonines, says it is marked by the
rare advantage Of furnishing very few
materials for history, which is indeed
little more than the register Of the
crimes, follies and misfortunes Of man. {"
1t is true that the majority Of care.
less, pleasure seeking people eat, drink
and are merry on May 30, very much as
they are on any other holiday. Probably
many think Of 1t merely az IA day Of
junketing. With the exception Of the
Grand Army, and Of those audiences
large or small, who assemble to hear
speechmaking, often very commonplace
and conventional, no one takes much
part in the exercises Of the day. But, in
spite of all this, the thought gets itself
impressed on the heart that there il a
meaning in this day of deep significance
Even the merriest idler will not escape
some CLINT, though it be but tiny spark,
Of the great truth that
Whether on the scaffold high
Or in the battles van,
The noblest place for man to die
Is where he dies for man.
and that to be q sleek and we'll
groomed "hog Of Epicurus' sty" is,
after all. not the most desirable raison
d'etre for rational and self respecting
human being. He may not have coca
sion to carry sentiment to the extent Of
dying for his country, as did SO many of
the heroes, known and unknown, whose
statues or whose graves he sees decorat-
ed with flowers by reverent hands. But
he can at all events live we'll and purely
for himself and family and his commu-
nifty, and in doing this for his country he
does the next best thing to dying we'll
for her. The first named, too, Is often
the more difficult thing, for it involves
steady and persistent battle against in
sidious and beeuiling forces, while a
heroic death is frequently only a matter
of impulse brilliant and instantaneous
as the lightning flash.
1t has been estimated by competent
authority that in that catalogue Of war
from 1851 to 1865 more than 800, 900
northern soldiers died, either ON the field
of battle or afterward. or as an effect of
their wounds within few years. But
few of these men wore officers insignia.
Their names were not mentioned in
public dispatches. In fact. to a very
great extent they are not even known
except TO those hearts which suffered by
their loss. They died like the coral
polyps. on the top Of whose stony tombs
the brilliant and shining islands Of the
Pacific have taken root.
"Hoi Polloi" was the greatest hero Of
the war. and all other glory. be 1t a
Grant. Sherman, Sheridan or Far
ragut, or all of them together, must
grow dim before the splendor Of that
aureole. 1t is this nation perhaps which
for the growing mind should plant the
richest seed. 1t is not those
Names most widely blown by Fame's engross
ing trump
to whom the world owes the biggest
debt. but to the rugged. stubborn, pa
tient worn In living and dying, which
made the more snowy deed possible.
1t will not be many years before the
men who actually participated in the
civil war will be. reduced to mere
handful. The Grand Army of the Re-
public will have swept into the I'M
known within the next quarter Of a
century almost as completely as that
grand army of Napoleon whose blood
Redeemed the snow in the most dreadful
retreat of history. But as long as Me-
mortal day endures its life and soul win
not have departed.
One Of Heine's most beautiful poems
that Heine whose statue has recently
become SO tired in seeking resting
plaoe-depiots the specter tramp of Ma
poleon's grand army. The memory Of
army hosts will not fade, nor will the
reverberation of their tramp cease from
ont Of the lives Of man. Perhaps indeed
the things connected with the civil war
will evoke more poignant and passion
ate interest in the next generation. 1t is
rather noticeable that there has been
during the last ten years a great revival
of interest in Revolutionary history and
personages, These have grown at the eX-
pense Of that fascination previously exer-
cised over our generation by the tragedy
of the later war, drama perhaps repre-
scented so often as to grow little stale.
But as time passes and our children
take our places the rehearsal Of that ire.
mendous convulsion will arouse more
than pristine freshness Of interest.
1.-The hand Of little employment hath
the daintier sense. b" just as now fash
ionable society is all agog with Sons Of
the American Revolution. ETC., 80 theI
will the Sons of the Civil War, taking
the place Of the Grand Army and other
similar societies, revive with keenei
yividness than ever the tremendous mem,
Dries clustered about Memorial dav,
g. 4. +.