Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-06-12

the sreAt want IL more backbone, more
mettle, more daring, more proves. We
would IN all our churches like 20 trade OF a
hundred do nothines for one do everything.
"Ouit yourselves like men; be strong"
The saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer. though they die.
They see the triumph from Rfar
And seize IL with their eye.
Again, We mean by this national observ-
ance 20 honor self sacrifice for others. To
all these departed men home and kindred
were as dear as our home and kindred are to us.
Do you know how they felt? Just as you and
! would feel starting out tomorrow morn
ing with nine chances out OF ten against our
returning alive. for the intelligent soldier
sees not only battle ahead but malarial sick
ness and exhaustion. Had these men chosen
they could have spent last night in their
homes and to-day have been seated where
you are They chose the camp not because
they liked il better than their own house,
and followed the drum and fife not because
they were better music than the voices OF the
domestic circle. South Mountain and MUIR
freesboro and the swamps Of Chickahominy
were not Fairgrounds.
These heroes riskel and lost all for others
There is no higher sublimity than that. To
keep three-quarters for ourselves and give
one-quarter to others is honorable. To
divide even with Others is generous. To
keep nothing for ourselves and give all for
others is magnanimity Christhke. Put a
a girile around your body aud then measure
the girdle and see il you are fifty or sixty
inches round. And is that the circle of your
sympathies?-the size OF yourself? Or, to
measure YOU around the heart. would il
take q grdle large enough to encircle the
land and encircle the world? You want TO
know what we dry theologians mean when
we talk of vicarious suffering. Look at the
soldiers graves and find out. Vicarious-
pangs for others. wounds for others, home
sickness for others, blood for others,
sepulcher for others.
Those who visited the national cemeteries
at Arlington Heights and at Richmond and
Gettysburg saw one inscription on soldiers
tombs oftener repeated than any other-"Un-
known" When. about twenly-one years ago,
l was called to deliver the GRAFTON at Airing
ton Heights, Washington, | was not so much
impressed with the minute guns that shook
the earth or with the attendance Of president
and cabinet and foreign ministers and gen.
erals of the army and commOdOres OF the
navy as with the pathetic and overwhelming
! suGgestiveness of that epitaph on so many
graves at my feet, "Unknown!" "UnknOwn.'
1t seems to me that the time must come when
the government of the United States shall
take off that sptaph. They are no more I'M
known! We have found them out at last.
They are the beloved sons of the republic.
Would it not be well to take the statue OF
the heather goddess off the top OF the capt.
toll (for have no faith in the morals OF q
/ heather goddess) and put one great statue
/ in all our National cemeteries-a statue of
/ liberty in the form of Christian woman
! with her hand on an open Bible and her foot
on the Rcck 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 comparatively
| little importance what was the name given
! them in baptism of water. In the hotter 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 mean
the future defense OF this nation. BY every
wreath Of flowers on the soldiers graves we
say, "Those who die for the country shall
not be forgotten and that will give enthu-
siasm to our Young men in case our nation
should in the future need TO defend itself In
battle, We shall never have another war be
tween north and south. We are floating off
farther and farther from the possibility o.
sectional strife.
No possibility Of civil war. But about for
eign invasion am not so certain. When
spoke against war, | said nothing against
self defense. An inventor told me that HI
had invented a style of weapon which could
be used in self defense, but not in aggressiv,
warfare. l said, when you get the nations
to adopt that weapon, you have introduced
heig6bors premises and assault. him. but j
some ruffian break into my house for the as
sassination OF my family, and can'bOrrow
gun and load it in time and aim it straigh
enough, | will shoot him.
There is no room on this continent fo
any other nation except Canada, and bet
ter neighbor no one ever had. II you don
think so go to Montreal and Toronto an
see how well they will treat you. 0the
than that there Is absolutely no room 70
any other nation. l have been across tn
continent again and again. and know tina
we have not half inch of ground for tn
equity foot OF foreign despotism to stand on
But am not so sure that some of the arrOg
ant nations Of Europe may not some da
challenge US. | do not know that thos
forts around New York hay are to sleep al
through the rext century. l do not know
that Barnegat lighthouse will not yet lool
OIL upon hostile navy. do not know bu
that Il half dozen nations. envious of GU
prosperity may want TO give us a wrestle
During our civil war there were two or thre
nations that could hardly keep their hand
OF u.s. 1t is very easy TO pick national quar-
|
1t will be the exception.
1fforeign foe should come, we want mel
like those of 1912 and like those of 1862 t
meet them. We want them all up and dowI
the coast, Pulaski and Fort Sumter in tn,
same chorus Ofthunder as Fort Lafayette ant
Fort Hamilton-men who will not onl,
know how to fight, but how to die. Whel
such time comes, lift ever does come, tn,
generation on the stage OF action will say
INV will aur ~ fC~ 20 mi tna,
did in the soldiers asylum for the orphans
in the Civil War, and my country will honol
my dust as it hOnOred those who preceded
me in patriotic sacrifice, and once year a
any rate, on Decoration Day, | shalt he res
directed into the remembrance of those fo
whom died. Here 1 go for God and my
country! Huzza!"
If foreign foe should come, the old sec
tiOnal animosities would have no power
Here go our regiments into the battlefield
Fifteenth New York volunteers, Tenth Ala
bama cavalry, Fourteenth Pennsylvania rifle
men, Tenth Massachusetts artillery. Seventh
South Carolina sharpshoopers. | do no
know but it may require the attack of SOM
foreign foe to make us forget our absurd sec
tional wrangling, l have no faith in tn,
cry. mo north, no south, no east no west =
Let all four sections keep their peculiaritie
and their preferences, each doing its owl
work and not interfering with each other
each OF the four carrying its part in the grea
harmony-the bass, the alto, the tenor thu
soprano-in the grand march of Union.
Once more, this great national ceremon,
means the Identification of the tombs
whether of those who fell in battle or acct
dent, or who have expired in their beds, o
in our arms, or on our laps. l suppose YOU
have noticed that many of the families taxi
this season as the time for the adornment o
their family plots. This national observanc
has secured the ar1oriculture and horlcul
ture of the cemeteries. the strai ghtening u
Of many slab planted 80 or 40 years age
and has swung the scythe through the Ions
grass and has brought the stonecutterto cal
out the half oblit Grated epitaph. This da
is the benediction of the resting place Q
fathar rnnther SON dauOhter. brother. SIS