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

need be, for it. A strong government is
a government that is near the people, an
unstable government is one between
which and the people there is a great
gap; and it is one of the danger signals
in our national life to-day that so many
of our citizens are putting the govern
ment as far from them as possible as a
thing with which they have little 20 do.
Memorial day should cause love for our
country to grow strong; it should cause
US to be proud of our government, proud
of our citizens, proud of our flag. 1t
should teach US how noble we're the men
Of the war, no matter on which side of
the line they fought; for they we're
Americans every one. AS we recall that
heroic charge against the fortified slopes
at fredericksburg and Chancellors-
vile with Hooker, let US think
that only Americans could
make charge like that, and only by
Americans could such charge be re-
pulsed. Let US glory in the thought that
only our own countrYmen would have
courage enough to make that assault up
on the line at Cemetery Ridge in the bat
tie of Gettysburg and to stand under the
pelting of that death-dealing rain. 1t
was dreadful sacrifice that was made in
the bloody attack at Cold Harbor under
Grant, but there is balm for our grief in
the thought that only those who swear
allegiance to, such country as ours could
fight with such valor and such Ifortitude.
Yes, this is Gods country; and we
must keep true to God, or else we shall
go down. History is TO teach US by ex-
ample, and history has a lesson full of
warning right here. The cause of free
dom was fought almost contemporaries
odsly in America and France. When we
were eIecting to the chief command of
our armies the plain man of the people
who thoroughly believed in God, in
France Napoleon was wading to throne
through seas of blood. While our peo-
pie were preparing themselves by conse-
Grafton and prayer for the onset of war,
the mobs were gathering in the streets of
Paris and writing the words Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity" across the dead
walls and on the doors of Notre Dame.
The Continental Congress was opened
with prayer; but in the Corps lLegislatif
a resolution was introduced and passed,
''There is no God" The wives and chill
dren of our soldiers, while their husbands
and fathers were enduring the hardships
of war, brayely faced in their homes
THE PRIvATIoNs WHICH CAME TO THEM.
The women of France marched out to
Versailles and interrupted the National
Assem- bly,, CRYING, ''This is no question
of politics; this is question OF bread"
While the fabric of constitutional liberty
was rising on this side of the sea, in
France the sharp blade of the gUllotine
was destroying the noblest and the brav-
est; and when the end came and the
American Colonies reioiced in the sue
cessful issue of the battle for human
rights and gave praise to God for the
wonders He had wrought, in France the
cry of anguish and despair went up be-
cause the glorious temple of freedom had
been built of straw, with pillars of sand.
The nation that honors God, God will
honor; the nation that forgets God, God
will utterly cast off and destroy.
At the outer end of Commonwealth ave-
nue., Boston, Miss Anne Whitney has
caused to be erected an ideal statue of
Lief Ericsson. Here, with his back to |
the splendid improvements of the Back
Bay, the young Morse discoverer looks |
out from the prov of his Viking ship. |
His eyes are shaded by his uplifted hand |
as he stands ready to leap ashore into
the new-found country. This is notHleg- |
end; it is history. In 1901, nearly 500
years before Columbus discovered our
shores. Lief Ericsson set sail from Nor
way, and, passing Greenland, explored /
the coast of what is now New England.
He traded with thu natives who came to
him in boats made of skins stretched on
frames. He planted a colony not far
from the latitude of Rhode Island, which /
is said to have remained several years /;
and there are supposed connections be-
tween him and the Old Stone Min in
Newport, while some find traces of him
on the banks of the River Charles.
This statue represents young man,
such as Lief Ericsson may well have
been; but since it Is an ideal statue. the
meaning aud beauty Of it lie in the idea it |
represents that is so distinctive of Ameri-
can thought and life. It is the spirit that |
does not stay content with the achieve
ments of the past, that always sees some-