The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1896-11-21

ITO tAlLtccA COiORfeS Wcut kuIO SuiiCilu6S
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, aud telegraphic wire, and
daily press, which have made US acquainted
with the horrors OF modern battlefield, had
not yet begun their vigilance, and the story
OF the American Revolution has neverbeen
told, and never will be told. 1t did not take
much ink to sign the Declaration of indie
pendence, but it took terrific amount of
blood to maintain 1t. 1t was an awful gate
OF opposition that the men and women
and the women as much as the men
pushed back. 1t was gate OF self-sacrifce.
1t was gate Of blood. 1t was a gate Of
earbulcle.
We are not indebted to history for our
knowledge OF the greatest of National
crises. Many OF US remember 1t, and fathe rs
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, s'On such a page OF
such book you can read that" will they
rather be able to say, 'My father told me
so." ''My mother told me So" Men and
women who wildly remember 1861, and
1852, and 1868. and 1854, be yourselves the
historians, telling it, 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 the grave tops soon be-
come breathle5s of perfume, AMI In a week
turn 10 dust unto that which lies beneath 1t.
But the story OF courage and selt-sacrifce
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-
tons are worthy OF preservation. Long
after you are dead your children will be able
to say, with the Psalmist: "We have heard
with our ears, o God, our fathers have
told us, what work Thou didst in their
days, in the times OF DID," But what
q time it was! Four years of home
ana sisterly arrangement! Four years OF
martyrdom! Four years Of massacrel Put
them In long line, the confagration OF
cities, and see them light up whole conti
nent. Put them in long rows, the hospitals,
making a vast metropolis of pain and
paroxyism! Gather them In one vast assem-
blage, the millions of bereft from the ST.
Lawrence to the Gulf. and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific beaches! Put the tears into
lakes, and the blood into rivers, and the
shrieks into whirlwinds, During those four
years many good aud wise men at the North
and South saw nothing ahead but annihila-
ton. With such National debt we
could never meet our, obligations! With
such moral antipathies Northern and South
ern men could never come into amityi Reps
resentatives of Louisiana and Georgia, and
the Carolinas could never again sit side by
side with the Representatives of Maine,
Massachusetts and New York at the Ma
tional capital. Lord John Russell had de-
clared that we were ga bubble-bursting Ma
tionaliry," 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 bells on
Parliaments and Reichstags and lowered
their flags at half mast. and even the lion
on the other SIDE OF the sea had whined for
the dead eagle on this side. The deep grave
had been dug, and beside Babylon, aud
Thebes, and Tyre, and other dead Nations of
the past our dead Republic was to be
buried. The epitaph was all ready: Here
lies the American Republic. Born at Phila-
delphia, 4th OF July, 1776. Killed at Bull
Run, July 81. 1861. Aged eighty-1ve years
and seventeen days. Peace to its ashes.''
But before the obsequies had quite closed
there was an interruption of the ceremon-
les. and our dead Nation rose from its
mortuary surroundings. God had made for
it special Resurrection bay, and cried, |
Come forth, thou Republic OF Washing.
ton, and John Adams. and Thomas Jeffer.
son, and Patrick Henry, and John Hancock,
ard Daniel Webster. andS 8. Prentiss, and
Henry Clay. Come forth!' And she came
forth. TO be stronger than she had ever been. |
Her mtghtiest prosperities have come since |
that time. Who would want to push back |
this country to what it was in 1860 or 1850? |
Bat, oh, what high gate, what a strong |
gate she had to push back before she could |
make one step in advance! Gate Of flannel |
See Norfolk Navy Yard, and Columbia, and
and Charleston on fire. |
Gate OF bayonets See glittering rides and |
carbines flash from the Susquehanna, and |
The James, to the Mississippi, and the Ar |
kansas! Gate of heavy artillery, making |
the mountains OF Tennessee and Kentucky |
and Virginia tremble as though the earth
Itself were struggling In its last agony. The
d nothing more appropriate than to take
he suggestion of Isaiah In the texr and call
t gate OF carbunoles.
This country has been for the most part |
d Its history passing through crises, and
liter each crisis was better of than before
{ entered 1t, and now we are at another
,risis. We are told on one hand that if gold
s kept as standard and silver is not ele-
rated. confidence will be restored and this
Nation will rise triumphant from all the
misfortunes that have been af1ict-
ng US. On the other hand we are told that
the free coinage of silver is allowed, all /
he wheels OF business will revolve. the poor
nan will have better chance, and all our
Industries will begin to hum and roar.
During the last six Presidential election
AVE been urged to enter the political arena,
nut never have and never will turn the
'ulpft in which I preach into a political
lump. Every minister must do as he feels
allied to do, and will not criticise him for
Icing what he considers his duty; but all
he political harangues from pulpits from
low until the Sd OF November will not In all
he United States change one vote, but will
cave many ears stopped against anything
hat such clergymen may utter the rest of
heir lives. As general rule the laymen
i churches understand politics better than
ne clergy, because they (the laymen) study
'olitics more than the clergy, and have bet
or opportunity OF being intelligent on these
objects. But good morals, honesty, loyal
y, Christian patriotism and the Ten Com
We must preach. God
avs distinctly in the Bible, "The silver and
he gold are Mine,' and He will settle the
controversy between those two metals. II
yer this country needed the divine rescue it
eeds 1t now. Never within my memory
ave so many people literally starved to
cath as In the past few months. Have you
oticed In the newspapers how many men
nd women here and there have been found
cad, the post-mortem examination stating
hat the cause of death was hunger? There
'-not day that we do not hear the crash OF
ONE great commercial establishment, and.
8 consequence, many people are
brown out of employment. Among
that We considered comfortable homes
ave comeprivation and close calculation ami
n economy that kills. Millions OF
eople who say nothing about it are at
his moment at their wits end. There are
billions OF people who do not want charity
ut want work. The cry has gone up to the /
ars of the Lord of Sabaoth, (" and the PRAYER
Ill be heard and relief will come. II we
ave nothing better to depend on than Ameri-