Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-06-04

menH I swear you by the graves Of your
fathers and brothers and sons to a new
hatred for the champion curse of the uni
verse-war o Lord God, with the hot
test bolt of thine omnipCtent indignation
strike that monster down forever and ever.
Imprison it in the deepest dungeon of the
eternal penitentiary. Bolt 1t In with all
the iron ever forged in cannon or nodded
into howitzers. Cleave 1t with all the
sabers that ever glittered in battle and
wiring its soul with all the pangs which it
ever caused. Let it feel all the connagra-
tions of the homesteads 1t has ever de-
Etroyed. Deeper down let IL fall and in
flercer Fame let 1t burn till 1t has gathered
| into its heart all the suffering of eternity
| as we'll as time. In the name of the
millions of graves of its victims, de-
nounce 1t. The nations need moro tho
| spirit of treaty and less Of the spirit Of war.
Why War Is Detestable.
War is more CHASTITY now than once, not
only because of the greater destructiveness
of its weaponry, but because now it takes
down the best men, whereas once 1t chiefly
took down the worst. Bruce, In 1917, in
of the European armies of his day, "If all
Infamous persons and such as have COM
mitted capital crimes, heretics, atheists
and all dastardly feminine men, were
weeded out of the army, 1t would soon be
reduced to a pretty moderate number.
Flogging and mean pay made them still
more ignoble. Officers were appointed to
see that each soldier drank his ration of a
pint of spirits day. There were noble
men in BATTLE but the moral character of
the army then was 95 per cent lower than
| the moral character of an army today. By
so much is war now the more detestable
because 1t destroys the picked men of the
| nations.
Again by this national ceremony we
| mean to honor courage. Many of these
departed soldiers were volunteers, not con-
scripts, and many of those who were draft
ed might have provided substitute or got
off on furlough or have deserted. The fact
that they lie in their graves is proof Of
their bravery. Brave at the front, brave at
the cannon's mouth, brave Oh lonely pick
ct duty, brave In cavalry charge, brave be-
fore the surgeon, brave In the dying mess
age to the home circle. We yesterday put
garland on the brow of courage. The
world wants more of it.
The church of God is in woeful need of
men who can stand under fire. The lion
of worldly derision roars and the sheep
tremble. In great reformatory movements
at the first shot how many fall back.
The great obstacle to the church's advance
ment is the inanity, the vaouity, the soft
prettiness, the namby pambyism of pro-
| 40
ards in battle. Afraid Of getting their
plumes ruffled, they carry parasol over
their helmet. They go into battle not with
warriors gauntlet but with kid gloves,
not clutching the sword hilt too tight lest
the glove split at the back.
In all our reformatory and Christian
work the great want Is more backbone,
more mettle more daring more prowess.
We would in all our churches like to trade
off hundred do nothings for one do every.
thing. "Quit yourselves like men; be
strong"
Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they die.
They see the triumph from afar
And seize it with their eye.
Self Sacrifice.
Again we mean by this national observ.
ance to honor self sacrifice for Others Tc
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 to-
morrow morning with nine chances out OF
ten against our returning alive, for the
intelligent soldier sees not only battle
ahead, but malarial sickness and exhaus.
| HaI oh
have spent last night in their homes and
today have been seated where you are
They chose the camp not because they
liked it better than their own house, and
followed the drum and fife, not because
they were better music than the voices ot
the domestic circle. South Mountain anG
Murfreesboro and the swamps of Chicka
hominy were not Fairgrounds.
These heroes risked and lost all fol
others. There is no higher sublimity than
that. To keep three-quarters for ourselves
and give one-quarter to others Is honora
BILE. To divide even with others is gener
Gus. To keep nothing for ourselves anG
give all for others is magnanimity Christ.
like. Put girdle around your body ant
then measure the girdle and see if you art
80 or 60 inches round. And is that the cir
Gle of your sympathies-the size of your
self? Or, to measure you around the heart
would it take girdle large enough to en-
circle the land and encircle the world
You want to know what we dry theo
logians mean when we talk of vicarious
suffering. Look at the soldiers graves and
find out. Vicarious! pangs for others
wounds for others, homesickness for 9th
| ut fDp
Those who visited the national GENE
teries at Arlington Heights and at Rich
mond and Gettysburg saw one inscription
on soldiers tombs oftener repeated thar
any other-"Unknown." When, about 81
years ago, I was called to deliver the ora
tion at Arlington Heights, Washington, ]
was not SO much impressed with the min.
ute guns that shook the earth or with the
attendance of president and cabinet and
| foreign ministers and generals of the army
and commodores of the navy as with the
pathetic and overwhelming suggestiveness
of that eptaph 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 epitaph They are no more
unknown. We have found them out at
last. They are the beloved Sons of the re-
public.
Would it not be we'll to take the statue
of the heather goddess off the top of the
capitol (for I have no faith in the morals
of a 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 Rock of Ages, with the
other hand pointing down to the graves of
the unknown, saying, "These are my sons,
who died that Imight live" Take off the
misnomer Everybody knows them. 1t
is Of comparatively little Importance what
was the name given them in baptism Of
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