The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-09-24

| orary member.
The important routine business hav-
ing been transacted and there being
nothing offered in the way Of new mat
ters for consideration, the meeting
evolved itself into storytelling and
recollection contest at the suggestion
of Secretary Miller. At 4.45 o'clock the
meeting adjourned.
SUPPER AND CAMP FIRE.
The supper given by the local MEM
bers In Music hall was attended by
about 200 persons and the occasion
proved most enjoyable feature of the
reunion both on account Of the excel
lence of the spread, which was served
by Hanley and the informality of the
occasion. 1t was in no sense banquet
and in consequence formed splendid
occasion for the ladies as well as the
veterans for sociabllity.
At s o'clock the camp fire began and
before 1t was we'll under way every
seat on the lower floor was occupied
and quite a number of spectators were
in the gallery. Chairman William Nc
Clave, of the local committee, presid-
ed during a splendid programme of
music and patriotic addresses. The
speakers were Colonel Dodge, Rev. DR..
Joseph K. Dixon, Attorney A. j. Col
born, Major e. w. Pearce, ex-Sheriff
A. b. Stevens and Hugh Crawford,
of New York city.
A happy incident of the camp fire
was the presentation of a handsome
gold-headed cane to Colonel Dodge.
The vocal numbers were generously
distributed through the programme
and included selections by the Electric
Glee club, the Jones Family quartette,
Miss Margaret Jones and John w.
Jones. DIR. Dixon opened the meeting
with prayer and pronounced q bene-
diction, fervid and appropriate, at the
close.
Colonel Dodge made the opening ad-
dress. Physical weakness made 1t
plain that the effort of attendance, to
say nothing of the strain of speech
making. was trial for him and it was
understood why he occupied but a
brief period of time He made a COM
parison of the then and the now, re-
viewing the enlistment, the service OF
raw recruits, the memorable engage
ment at Fair Oaks and the enviable
record possessed by the Fifty-second.
When Colonel Dodge concluded, the
cane was presented him by Major John
B. Fish, of this city. 1t was of ebony
and headed with gold. Major Fish
said, in substance: "Thirty-one years
ago your comrades presented you with
a sword; today we have passed the
meridian of life, and we thought it fit
ting to present to you a token of our
love and esteem, that upon which you
may lean in the declining years of
life."
CANE PRESENTATION.
In accepting the gift Colonel Dodge
said that the welcome he had received,
the greetings given him and the evil
dences of gladness at his presence had
already made him so near the point OF
speechlessness that he could do no
more than return a simple voice OF
thanks for this further token of esteem
from his old command.
DIR. Dixon always fluent and gifted
and full of beautiful thought, present
cd an address peculiarly true to the
occasion well calculated to receive the
attention of the Fifty-second veterans
Dr. Dixon said in part:
Mr. President Survivors of the Old
Fifty-second-I had almost said Com
rades," for there Is soldier-blood in my
veins drawn fIom the Clans of Scotia,
and ever since you men
walked in wars red ways
/ have stood under the shoulder straps
of an honored father who laid his life
on his country's altar. What a thronglne
tumult of emotions, of triumph and sad.
ness rises in the heart at the mere men,
ton of those far away days when your
names were enrolled upon the enlistment
register, and you put on for the first time
the blue uriform-a uniform that shall
| OF M hA
ages of history throughout as the symbol
of purity of purpose, power and patriot
ism-as the pledge of loyalty, heroism
and union.
AS / open the doorway of your yester-
days, there comes to me down the aisles
of thirty-four years a strange, weird
sound. Since then-O since then! What
weary marches and sleepless nights un.
der rain dripping clouds! What wasting
| by fever and death in the Swamps before
Yorktown! What courage as you waded
waist deep in the swamps of the Chick
ahominy. What heroism and deathless
valor you gave the world on that May
day when at Seven Pines your brigade
made the most desperate fight of the wal
saving the Army of the Potomac from
rout and disaster, leaving over half OF
your men to fill a soldiers grave and
make your name immortal.
| What heroic grandeur and what lustre
I
days when Jackson hurled his tremedous
force upon your right and turned the
flank of the army, and fear seized the men
as they thought Of the rear at Bottoms
Bridge" What glory CLEANS across the
pages of your record as you stood in the
forefront of the land forces beselging the
city of Charleston, and were the first to
enter the gates of the conquered city
the first to plant the dear old flag upon
the ruined ramparts of Fort Sumter-tht
the first time the Stars and Stripes had
fioated from the shattered battlements af.
ter Major Anderson took down his flag
in 1861.
DIN me SEPULCHER.
Flag of battle thou art-thy folds have
been torn by traitor shot, thy stripes have
been dyed deeper crimson by the blood
of heroes-thy stars have looked down
clear-eyed upon Sumter the first altar
of treason, forevermore the altar of free
dom. We love thee! We could ask nc
diviner sepulcher than to lie down amid
thy tattered folds for deaths awakening
sleep.
To stand in the presence of an old sol.
der, is to stand before liberty and valoI
in symbol. In the receding remnant OF
the gallant "Fifty-second" l see again
the bloody flow of the Chickahominy-l
sense again the nosome smell of the
death-dealing swamp-I hear again the
screechng shell over the fields of "FaiI
Oaks" Malvern Hill" and the fair city
by the sea-and this for the preservation
of the temple of union and liberty Gods
civil mountain bulwarks for the veal OF
the race
To him who walks over the field OF
Waterloo or Austerlitz-or who reads OF
Inkerman and Balaklava comes the sac
questioning why this waste OF life? Why
this dreadful carnage? From the Russian
and Turkish battlehelds thirty thousand