The Portland daily press., 1897-05-31

his Will, mace DuU a rev Gays before his
death, said, 81 wish to be buried without
the least show or ostentation, but in a,
manner respectful to my neighbors
whose kindness has contributed SO much
to the happiness of me and mine and for
whose prosperity / offer sincere nraverr
to God.' And there beneath the shades
of the trees he himself had planted and
with the whispering of the waves to which
he had so often listened, he was horne
to his grave by six plain Marshfield farm
ers who had been kind neighbors of the
great statesman in his Lifetime
If the soldier killed in battle. goes
straight to paradise as tbe fa,itb Hui
Moslem believes, would it not add to the
joys OF even Moslem heaven to look
down and witness the great homage of
the living.
Ii the Mohammedan gallant soldiers,
IN whose memory we dedicate this
sacred smart. are here Gin spirit
win US today, may we not believe
marcnes, their wounds and countless
su1ierlngs. And if, among those who are
looking upon US today through the portals
OF announcer world, there may be some of
your friends and mine who walked here
III tneSs prime of their manhood and went
1orth never to return, can we but believe
thaG these simple but heart felt honors
$1,000 oi6ohu VI UilSlT II llOillCb5 etlC
Q them more than laurel to the victor?
Ihey to them are the prayers OF a mother,
Une Denedlctions of q father, the caressa OF
a wife, the pure kiss of sister.
Inc ceremonies which we have met to
perform are the outcome of sentiment
which is an instinct of our nature. Cere-
monies similar in purpose if not in exc
cutlon to those which we are now per
forming have been accorded to the hon
OreQ dead in all countries and in all aQaS
Our soldiers, as they stood in long lines
before the frowning earthworks at Mine
Kun, awaiting the signal for the charge,
knowing full we'll that to advance was to
die, as they pinned to their breasts little
pieces of paper giving the name and rank
and regiment of the wearer, did an act
which showed, that, while they could
calmly face death, even in what they
clearly saw would be fruitless battle,
with a courage which quailed not at the
lannon's mouth, they could not for
moment bear the thought of filling I'M
known graves. Such scenes as this re-
mind me that the desire to be remembered
after death, is an instinct OF our natures
which we do well to heed and obey
The dying soldier with no kind hand
to close his eyes, and no pen to record his
deeds OF humble daring, asplres, after all
his hardships and sutferings, to leave be-
hind him an honorable record though his
body1nay fill a nameless grave.
Wh6n that noble soldier who had re-
fused promotion, content with the modest
title First among the grenadiers of
Francet finally met his death upon the red
field of battle, it was ordered that his
heart should be embalmed and preserved
in silver urn to be carried by the Oldest
sergeant OF his company, that his name
should never be effaced from the roster,
and that at each successive roll call 4he
custodian of the brave soldiers heart,
when the name of Tour d Auvergne was
reached, should answer, N'Dead upon the
field of honor"
When we see, from year to year, rever-
ent hands placing above the ashes Of the
great Napoleon, resting so peacefully in
the very midst of city which had so Of
ten trembled to its very centre with revo-
luton and bloodshed, garlands of immor-
telles-thus tenderly expressing the
the bravery of the dead-we cannot fail to
recognize the potent influences of senti-
ment which has shaped the fat es of
nations.
The Earl of Cardigan, whose effeminate
nature and quarrelsome dispositi on had
embittered his best friends, when called
upon to face what appeared to be certain
humiliation, rode at the head Of the gal
liant "Six-Hundred at Balaklava, as if
atone for thesshort comings of fruitless
life.
Tennyson, in measured verse, has i'm
mortalized the prowess and discipline of
these gallant troopers, but nowhere does
his tuneful Tyre fifty sound the praises of
that noble heroism and broader courage
which have their birth in the hope of
fame beyond the grave.
The poet is yet to be born who shall
htly set to verse the bloody conflicts,
where sabre clashed with sabre and bayo-
net crossed with bayonet, where men
fell at the lannon's mouth and went
down to their death, during our own
bloody conflict, in charges which would
eclipse the glory of Balaklava, and, in
comparison, make the history of all
former Wars but a parade andssa pastime.
Alike to him who believes in the stern
doctrines OF Calvin, to him who takes his
religious instruction from Martin Luther
and the days of the Reformation, to
him who bows before the idol in the joss
house, to him who, like the simple Indian
worships the Great Spirit, = to him who
believes in the mo God' of Ingersoll,
and to hi1n@to whom this life is the end
Of, all existence, there is a future, an
existence in the memory of men, dearer
thin all the glow and glimmer of the
feeting present. The liberal doctrines of
the German theology may dissipate our
CalY1n1Stlc Ideas OF future state, but
there is philosophy older, and religion
stronger, than any which limits mans
ambition to the affairs of life, or moulds
his actions by the joys or sorrows of the
present.
The ceremonies we today perform are
alike just to the dead, and honorable to
the living. The beautiful custom which
yearly bedecks the last resting place of
Frances greatest soldier has been fifty
transferred to these shores, not for the
idle purpose of perpetuating the glory of
a single name, or of commemorative the
deeds of single class or family, but to
preserve among the living the sacred
memory of those who died in obedience
to their country's call.
When our departed comrades bequeathed
to us the legacy of national glory, did
they not, by the very manner of their
deaths, as well as by the gallant deeds
they performed while living, plainly say
to us who should survive them $50 tell
our loved ones, our children and our
children children that we died like men;
bid them preserve pure and spotless the
heritage weshaye left Them And can
you, as the friends and admirers of these
brave men, can you, the former comrades
of these gallant soldiers, allow their mem
cries to fade in the coming years, and
their noble deeds to pass away from the