The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1897-06-11

glory, throughout the world, as yearly
reminder of their great past. This Feast
of Purim was the great Jewish National
Memorial Day.
THE BOOK OF ESTHER IS REMARKABLE
for one thing, and that Is, that the book
does not mention the name of God. Yet
this omission, think, is rather an &C
cident than thing of design; for this
very memorial day of the Jews, the
Feast of Purim, was recognition of the
hand of God in the deliverance Of the
people. Israel's history was peculiar
history in that it had so close a relation
to God. From the time that Abraham
was called as a stranger out of far-away
Ur of the Chaldees to be the forefather
of this peculiar people" to the time
when Jesus Christ came of Dayid's line
according to the flesh, of all this history
it could be written, as its handspring
and guiding spirit, "God, God, God"
1t was Gods right hand, Gods holy arm
that had gotten Israel the victory clear
through.
And yet, in a very real sense, the his
tory of every nation is a peculiar history
because of its close relation to God. The
history of this nation is especially so :;
and, my soldier friends, we shall but
come to the true meaning of this Me-
mortal Day of ours when we recognize
that it was God who gave the North the
victory, and so the peace and the Union
which we prize so much to-day. No; it
was not the North, not the unconquer-
able genius of Grant, not the bulldog
| grit of Sherman, not the hard-gritted
common sense of Lincoln, not the SUI
periOr fighting power of our men, not
our Vaster resources, but Gods will and
Gods might that gave US the surrender
of the sword of Lee. This fact gives to
this day place in the ministrations of
the Christian clergy and theme for their
utterance. Otherwise L should have had
no business to call you here. Otherwise
L should be desecrating my sacred task
and rendering unworthy my high calling.
1t is God to whom the praise and the
honor belong.
In one thing the great National Me-
mortal Day of the Jews was like our
great National Memorial Day, and in an
other thing it was unlike ours. 1t was
like ours in that 'the Jews ordained and
took upon them that they would keep
these two days" Nobody commanded
it. 1t was an act of love, an act of
sheer paying back what was due. 1t
needed no statutory law; it required no
legislative enactment. And so it was
with US. If we who reap the benefits of
what the fallen brave secured had not
instituted such day, we should indeed
be nation of ingrates. Our Memorial
Day sprang, Uniformed, out of the
bosom of grateful people, wishing to
express in some slight way, by acts OF
devoted love, the feelings that were with
in them.
We are not nation of hero worship
pers. 1t is not our customSto lionize in
discriminatory those who have been dis
tinguished by some illustrious deed.
We pay court to men only for what is
strictly due them. In America a man is
sovereign by inherent right, yet we
require every man to prove his sovereign
ty by some deed of worthy endeavor.
Every man, we believe, has manhood in
him that is deserving crown; but we
demand that he express it. The adven-
titious circumstances of "blue blood and
yellow DUST are nothing to us.
''The rank is but the guinea's stamp;
The mans the gold"
We, still, are a nation of generous free
men, and we will show our gratitude for
noble deeds; and the deeds OF 81 were
so illustrious, the sacrifices of those dark
days so magnificent, the complete giving
up of self majestic, that our deepest
gratitude is due.
OF course, we do not expect that the
flowers we strew to-day or the
words of eulogy we pronounce can do
the silent dead any good. We cannot
wake them. They cannot hear what
we say. We cannot tell them how much
we feel.
"Fast asleep the boys are lying, In their low
and narrow tents,
And no battle cry can wake them, and no or
ders call them hence;
And the yearnings OF the mother, and the
anguish OF the wife,
Cannot with their magic presence bring the
| soldier back to life"
They are only waiting in their narrow
graves, not syllabled praise from our
lips, but the great reveille that shall
sound In the dawn or the eternal morn