The Portland daily press., 1897-06-01

Iu6IF lives SUbtLQ Ouu ouAli'AASt
| In noble records good and brave,
For all the coming time.
Their graves are ours, in solemn trust;
= Then strew with flowers
In The sacred dust.
Our Country; by their blood set free,
Complete their work begun!
Hold fast this dear-bought liberty,
And guard the rights they won;
For every tribute that we bring,
Though stepped in tears like RAIN
We're an unmeaning Offering,
If these have died in vain.
Their graves are ours, in solemn trust;
Then strew with flowers
The sacred dust.
W. r. Pattangall, ESQ.,, W rs then intro
duced and spoke as follows:
A dozen years ago the hero of the war,
the great silent captain, he whom today
all the world honors, sitting in the. cot
tage of his friend at Mt. McGregor writ
ing the story of his life and of the war lin
answer to question by a friend, wrote:
"The war was worth all that it COST
No man can tell what the war cost No
tongue however eloquent can paint the
horrors of that awful, long ng-continued
tragedy, and yet If I read Alright it's pur-
pose and results, the war was worth all
that it cost
: You fought not alone that yonder flag
might float over the united country not
alone that slavery might be abolished,
but first of all and most of all that the
free institutions bequeathed to you by
our forefathers might be preserved and
that government by the people might for
ever exist.
A band of noble men and women on
the shore OF q new world had founded a
nAtl0n th6 CORNER GfnnQ of yuhnco fOIIn6Q
tions was equality. Under the motto,
"Al! men are created free and equal. "
our fathers fought and won and blessed
OF God the nation grew and prospered.
1t was an ideal government The De-
claration of Independence and the Con-
stitution, those two documents which are
our fundamental law, seem inspired doc
uments They seek to protect the hum
blest citizen in his fullest right, yet no.
where substitute for that great individual
freedom which our fathers loved, the
despotism of socialism so often mistaken
for freedom.
From 1861 to 1866 you saved that gov
ernment from disruption. In its safety
was wrapped up the future liberties of
the whole human race.
To give to posterity such a government,
one in whose councils the humblest citi-
zen stands equal with the most preten
tious, government which endows with
equal rights and equal opportunities the
child of the beggar born in the garret of
the squallid tenement, with him born
heir to broad acres and great wealth, was
worth all that the war cost. Yes, all that
a Thousand wars could cost.
You had your duty and you did it well
and nobly. We, of the generation which
Is fast succeeding you, have ours, no less
sacred, no less hard. You steered the
ship of state through stress of storm and
gale and we must watch in thei rotting
calms. =
A nation which grants to it's citizens
equal rights, confers upon them equal
powers, asks of them equal service, and
burdens them with equal responsibilities.
A government of the people finds its
greatest danger in Indifference. The
war was not won by the great generals
whose names we applaud and whose fame
will last forever; its Lnal outcome cannot
ership of that sublimely simple central
figure of the great struggle, the immor-
tai Lincoln. Had there not been deep
seated in the hearts of all the loyal people
OF the north, a stern determination to
labor, to suffer, to die if need be for the
preservation of the nation, no leadership
however heroic could have carried the
war to it's final conclusion.
And so today each man has his duty,
his part in making final the results of the
war. A great people has seldom lost
its liberties in war; but always by the
slow insidious sapping of its powers and
assumption of it's rights in times Of peace,
when no great issue alarmed and unified
the nation to action. The time must
never come when the American people
find those sacred rights which you pre-
served for them, lost by their indiffer-
ence. The sacrifice was too great, the
price paid too large
Guard those rights as on the picket line
at night you guarded the sleeping armies
of the Union. and through no neglect
OF yours let Antietam, Gettysburg, the
Wilderness and Appomattox become mere
fruitless victories.
You saved the nation. Oh, citizens,
when for years you toiled under very
tyranny of taxation that your wealth
might be poured forth for your country's s
use. You saved the nation. Oh, soldiers
OF the republic, when you gave up all
that makes life dear to follow Old Glory
through the path led to the edge. of hell !;
you saved the nation. Oh, loyal women
Of America. when you sent to your coun-
try S service those dearer to you than life
itself, and with clear eyes and steady
voice bade them God speed, though your
hearts We're breaking, you saved the
nation. Oh, ye dead, and here in the pre-
sence of those dead, with the memories
VI UileIT leTO4C lives Iull upon us, we
pledge ourselves anew to the service of
that country for which they died, for
which you suffered and for which we all
will live.
The next speaker was the Rev. Samuel
Worcester. He said in part: "Once
more Memorial day brings with it hal
lowed memories to the hearts and minds
of all. From the Atlantic to the Pacific,
from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of
Mexico, there is not town or a hamlet
which has not this day placed with rever-
ent hands tokens of love on the graves of
fallen heroes. Memorial day is to every
loyal and patriotic heart the sacred day
of all the year. AS you stood by the
graves today and decorated them with
flowers and flags, what feeling what
emotions swept over you comrades? To
be sure stranger might have been buried
there beneath you, some one whom you
had never seen and never known. Moth
ing but his record and his name could
you find inscribed on the marble slab and