Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-06-04
MOUNDS OF THE DEAD
REV. Or. TkLMAeE breaches A NE.
: MORAL DAY SERMON.

more appropriate or stirring than this dis
course by the Rev. DR.. Talmage at the
time Of year when the friends of those
who wore the blue and the gray have dec
GRATED tho mounds of the fnllenP The
text was Solomon's S Songiv, 1, 1.-THE tower
of David builded for an armory, whereon
there hang thousand bucklers. all shields
of mighty men,"
Tho church is here compared to an ar
mory, the walls hung with trophies of dead
heroes. Walk all about this tower of David,
and sec the dented shields, and the twisted
swords, and the rusted helmets of ter
rible battle. So at this season, a month
earlier OF the south, a month later at the
north, the American churches are turned
into armories adorned with memories of
departed braves. Blossom and bloom, o
walls, with stories of self sacrifice and pa-
triotism and prowessl
By unanimous decree of tho people Of
the United States of America the graves
of all the northern and southern dead are
every year decorated. All acerbity and
bitterness have gone out of the national
solemnity, and as the men and women of
the south one month ago ioralized the
cemeteries and graveyards, so yesterday
we, the men and women of the north, put
upon the tombs of our dead the kiss of pa
triotic affection. Bravery always appreci-
ates bravery, though 1t fight on the other
side, and If o soldier Of the Federal army
had been month ago at Savannah he
would not have been ashamed to march in
ho Anru1 rrpnaeotonG tha
And if yesterday a Confederate soldier was
at Arlington he was glad to put sprig of
heartsease on the silent heart of our dead.
Brave Generosity.
In battle during our last war the Con-
federates were driving back the Federals,
who were in swift retreat, when 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 Confederate muskets were
aimed at the young man who was picking
up the officer. But the Confederate cap
tain shouted: "Hold! Don't fire. That
fellow is too brave to be shot" And as
the Federal officer, held up by his private
soldier, went limping slowly off the field
the Confederates gave three cheers for the
brave private, and just before the two dis
appeared behind barn both the wounded
officer and the brave private lifted their
caps in gratitude to the Confederate cap
tain.
Shall the gospel be less generous than
the vorldi We stack arms, the bayonet of
our northern gun facing this way, the bay
onet 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
and blue of old war times have blended at
last, and they quote in the language Of
King James translation without any re-
vision, "Glory to God In the highest, and
on earth peace, good will to men," Now,
what do we mean by this great observance?
First, we mean instruction to one whole
generation. Substract 1865, when the war
ended from our 1896, and you will realize
what O vast number of people were born
since the war or were so young as to have
no vivid appreciation. No one under Al
years of age has any adequate memory Of
that prolonged horror. Do you remember
it? "Well," you say, ~ only remember
that mother swooned away while she was
reading the newspaper, and that they
brought my father home wrapped In the
flag, and that good many people came In
the house to pray, and mother faded away
after that until again there were many
people in the house, and they told me she
was dead"
There are others who cannot remember
the roll of drum or the tramp of a regi-
ment or a sigh or tear of that tornado OF
woe that swept the nation again and again
until there was one dead in 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 part
ings at rail car windows and steamboat
wharfs and at front doors of comfortable
homes as pray God you may never wit
ness. Oh what time it was, when fa-
thers and mothers gave up their sons, never
expecting to see them again and never did
see them again until they came back mutt
lated and crushed and dead.
A Glance at the Past.
Four years of blood. Four years of hos
tile experiences. Four years of ghastli-
ness. Four years of gravedigging. -Four
years of funerals, coffins, shrouds, hearses,
dirges. Mourning, mourning, mourning
1t was hell let loose. What a time OF
waiting for news Morning paper and
evening paper scrutinized for intelligence
from the boys at the front. First, an
nouncement that the battle must occur the
next day. Then the news of the battle
going on. On the following day still going
on. Then news of so, 600 slain and of the
names Of the great generals who had fallen,
but no news about the private soldiers.
NJ; Ao, ftnp Iayc a
load of wounded going through the town
or city, but no news from our boy. Then
long list of wounded and long list Of
the dead and a long list Of the missing.
And among the last list our boy.
When missingP How missing? Who
saw him last? Missing! Missing! Was
he In the woods or by the stream? How
was he hurt? Missing! Missing! What
burning prayers that he may yet be heard
from. In that awful waiting for news
many life perished. The strain of anx,
iety was too great. That wife's brain
gave way that first week after the battle,
and ever and anon she walks the floor of
tho asylum or looks out of the window as
though she expected some one to come
along the path and up the steps as she
soliloquizes, Missing; missing"
What made matters worse, all this might
have been avoided. There was no more
need Of that war than at this moment I
should plunge a dagger through your
heart. There were few Christian phi
lanthropists in those days. scoffed at both
by north and SOUTH who had the right of
it. If they had been heard on both sides,
we should have had no war and no slavery.
1t was advised by those Christian philan-
thropists, "Let the north pay in money
for the slaves as property and set them
Free" The north said, 1--WE cannot afford
to pay The south said, "We will not
sell the slaves anyhow" But the north
did pay in war expenses enough to pur-
chase the slaves, and the south was COM
pelled to give up slavery anyhow. Might
not the north better have paid the money
and saved the lives of 500, 900 brave men,
and might not the south better have sold