The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1897-05-25

their toubS, protect their widows anJ
fovnhsns and guard their sacred dust,
ron fsmo's eternal camping ground.
Their silent tents are SpreadS
And glory guards with solemn round
Tho biVoUse ot the dead,
/ THE mOracd drums sad roll has beat
i Thc soldiers las, tattoo,
NJ men, ON Nic'S parade shall meet
That brave and fallen few,
"Wjtb ,hc dawn OF Decoration hay,
from city and Villago, nom hillside and
vaf'eN- win No sven thc yoNnE, the old
aUj little children bearing the rareSt
flowers Thar tender hands and loving
4 hearts can gather 70 strew them upon
Z thc soldiers grave.
"Floral offerings, bouquets, anchors.
I UreathS, crosses and crowns, the low
. ing tribute OF a grateful people win be
/ brought into re0uisition, Wives and
+ children OF those sleeping heroes viii
. De there 90 venerate the memory OF
/ thCiv loved ones
I And the surviving, War-Scarred vet
] grau. some with empty sleeve. some
I bowed down with disease or wounds
win De there Hands that never trem-
Z hle3 amid the roar of artillery and the
rattle OF musketry viii remhle with
emotion as they lay their loving tri-
butte upon q comrades grave, Cheeks
that never hlanched as they faced that
/ cleaning. advancing line Of bayonets
viii turn pale on Decoration Day.
a grateful loyal public viii be
. HheHrsala nj VFHhn hs - r,airr
liberty, whose hosOms pulsate with
patriotism, win DE there to do homage
10 those whose lives We're the sacrifice
thar purchased the liberty they enjoy.
But for those lives yonder flag
would not float so proudly in our har-
hor, those stars would not be in that
galaxy, the Union would have been
dismembered and the clank of the
bondsman's chain would still be heard
What mean we by this service? We
men that but for those graves, and for
the living veterans. liberty would have
perished from OFF the earth, free gov
eTnment would have been a demon
strated failure. there would have been
no American Republic and no Hawai-
ian Republic But there would have
been the auction block. Human lives
would have been held as property;
souls would have been sold into sla-
very; husbands and wives, parents
and children would have been torn
asunder; the lash of the slave-driver
would still have caused the blood to
flow from the back of the slave, and
freemen would have been turned into
bloodhounds, by the law, to drag back
to the master the bondsman, who, fix
ing his eye on the north star, had
struck for liberty
Tell to our children the meaning Of
the Memorial Day? Yes; we will tell
how these men, in youth, left home and
the wife of their youth and their chill
dren and all, and barred their breasts
to the foe, standing as living wall in
the defense of Old Glory
I'VE will tell how liberty, peace, the
/ Union. the flag, the prosperity of the
! Great Republic were purchased at the
price of 100000 such lives, and as many
more who returned wounded, and still
as many more with broken constitu-
tions. to drag out a decrepit life.
But on that day there will be many
] graves of soldiers undecorated. All,
! comrades, we recall how our ranks
were decimated by the march, the fe-
yer and the battle. Where are those
graves? Along the line of march, on
the red field of battle. along the Po-
tomac and the Mississippi On Dec
oration Day I shall think of those who
| fell at my side in front of Vicksburg
and those who died of wounds at my
side on the hospital boat on the way
to hospital at St Louis, whom they
buried by the light Of the moon on the
banks of the Father of Waters Who
shall decorate their graves? No wife
will be there; no sister, no sweetheart
/ to strew those graves with flowers and
/ tears.
"And the missing. Where are their
graves? All, that word Missing how
much it meant to us after the battle,
when we found them not in the list Of
the dead or wounded. How much it
meant to those at home. have seen
a mother, a wife, sweet heart, as the
! daily paper revealed the name Of their
! loved one among the missing after
/ the battle. I have seen the light go
out of that eye, that home, that heart.
I have seen them waiting days weeks,
months. years for tidings from their
missing one, but no tidings came. But
gray hairs came and burrows of grief
came into the cheek and forehead. At
last. they knew that their missing one
had starved in some prison pen, or had
fallen from loss of blood in some thick
ct in the wilderness and that no more
shold they meet them until the Resur-
rection Day
"And the unknown dead Some sol
dier's grave, but whose? We are CRATE
fuI to Professor Cook for his contribu-
ton to this occasion. He Sleeps I'm
known The siege of Petersburg last
ed many weeks. Daily there were
sharpshooting and cannonading. Il
was almost certain death for any, Of
either side. to be out of the trenches
A hand raised above the Notifications
would bring a shower of balls from tht
sharpshooters. A soldier from another
part of the line was shot near Profes-
sor Cook. His regiment and name
could not be learned. They buried hin
and put on the headboard the sac
word, Unknown In the trenches
during the siege, Professor Cook com
posed the words, and later, the music
you have heard him sing tonight.
''While we do honor to our heroic
dead. who shall chronicle the noble
deeds of the women at home?' But fol
their patriotism and sacrifices, theil
prayers aud tears, the victory could no
have been won. Mother, wife, sister