Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-17
comrads oows Address Of Welcome.

Mr.. Chairman. Sons of Veterans and
Ladies of the Aid Society:
II Is with a great deal OF pleasure that
| undertake on behalf of my fellow cit
liens 10 welcome you to our city. Yet
n lngled with this pleasure is an annoy
Ing consciousness of my inability 10 eN-
press that warmth of welcome which the
\ rod citizens of Waterville would give
You. | feel that no address of welcome
could do justice to this occasion nor eX-
press our pleasure at your visit half so
eoquensly as have the smiles of greeting
and warm hand clasp with which your
friends In Waterville have already met
y ~.
Waterviile has never been lacking in
patriotic spirit. In the days of 81, four
hundred of her bravest and best men
marched forth to meek the vicissitudes OF
war Today you whose fathers were the
comrades of those men, are the city ;
guests, and in extending to you the glad
hand clasp of welcome, she is but eN-
hihiting once again that patriotic spirit
that has ever been hers. The citizens OF
Waterville feel that In welcoming you 70
their city they are performing a patri-
Otto duty, and they feel thus because they
have a proper conception of the work and
purposes of the great order which you
represent
the Sons of Veterans is pre-eminently
a patriotic Organization. Search this
broad land throughout and ! challenge
anybody to find an organization whose
purposes are so patriotic. whose work Is
so noble. whose efforts for the welfare of
our nation. the future Will bless with
erander results, than those of the order
which you are here 10 represent, the or
der of Sons of Veterans.
Thirty years of peace and prosperity
have dimmed the memories of war and
we as Sons of Veterans would not renew
them. For we know that as the memo
ries of the strife have grown less distinct
the bitter sense of enmity and of defeat
has passed away. That every passing
year has ddmmed the line OF demarka-
ton between North and South, and that
today We are united people in spirit and
in truth. Far be 1t from us to revive the
bitter memories of the past or regard
with other than the most liberal views
the honest differences of thirty years ago.
But there are lessons taught by that
great conflict which we would never have
forgotten. Lessons which it is the pur-
pose of our order to impress upon the
minds of future citizens of this republic
as an inspiration to patriotism. an incen-
tive to noble living, a mighty guarantee
Of the strength and perpetuty of our
Republican institutions. We would re-
member the war. not as a conflict be-
tween sections, but as conflict between
triumph of the Nor.h. but in the triumph
of the right We would remember the
grand old soldiers of the North, not as
the conquerors of their fellow country
ilcli, Dut dS the CfituIploHS OF f1Snl
whom the God of battles gave the vic
tory. Men
who never turned the back
But marched breast forward.
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were wors-
ted. wrong would triumph.
Held. We fail to rise:
Are bafiied to fight better
Sleep to wake.
The noblest purpose of our order Is to
pay to these men the respect and homage
which Is their due, Shame be upon us as
Sons of Veterans If we forget but for a
single moment all that they did and en-
dured that the cause of right might
triumph. and the Union be maintained
These are the memories OF the war
which We would ever cherish, and thus
promote the three cardinal principles OF
our order. friendship. charity and loyalty
In charity we would keep silence regard
ing the errors of the past: in friendship
we would Join more closely the men who
Wore the grey with those who wore the
blue: While We the sons of the North
challenge the sons OF the South To an
other contest in which their share shall
be no less glorious than ours and IN
which there shall be no defeat For We