Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-01
Father CharIand's Address.

Members of the Grand Army. Kindred
Organizations and Dear Friends:
on this day. the significance of which
Is manifold and obvious as 1t Is impor-
tant our country is wont to pay her an
nual visit TO the graves of her dead he
roes. This visit is the outcome of her
affection and her gratitude. In her care
for the living she Will not forget the
dead and so she goes year after year, to
those places of deep. silent meditation
to drop tear over their departed worth
and to bewail the fate that so abruptly
stopped their short but brilliant career
She can never allow them to depart from
her memory. Gratitude. whether il be
toward the Almighty God the great Civ
er of every good gift or toward our fell
bowman. is a virtue that does honor tn
the heart from whach II springs. and al
ways elevates and digni.ies its happy
possessor. 1t is this charming feature of
a great soul that gives to the ceremonies
of today their impressive character. II
is a festival OF gratitude that We are
celebrating. A nation while she weeps
over her departed heroes, remembers
with pride their manly deeds and strews
their hallowed graves with the choicest
flowers of spring in testimony of her
high appreciation of their sterling worth.
History will not fail to write their re-
cords in letters of gold. They were not
the vassals of some naughty chieftain
arousing them in barbarous times by Il
blind attachment to his family name, or
engaging them to eSpouSe his quarrels by
the music of the festivities of his baro-
NAL halls. That were the chieftains of
their own cause They were not soldiers
by profession. they We're not bred to
arms nor from early training attached to
military life. They We're from every
walk in life, mechanics from their daily
avocations merchants from the counting
desk. students from the literary pursuits
farmers from the fields; all fired with
one ambition. the preservation of their
eountry's unity They now sleep their
final sleep and they sleep well. They
met their death In an ecstasy of courage
and patriotism. and all the glory which
this world gives to poetry and eloquence
is not worthy to be compared with the
fame and love in which their memory
will be enshrined. Their places on this
earth and in their homes will know them
no more. but their images will live In the
loving hearts and In the fond recollec-
tons of a grateful people. Gratitude
which Is one of the noblest qualities of
the soul. honors and blesses the giver
and the receiver. and while 1t dignifies
hearts Yields them together in amity
and affection. The virtues that exalt
and perfects the Individual are the same
to the nation. As there Is nothing that
renders man more base, odiolls and
contemplate than gratitude. so too in
gratitude in n nation IL the surest sign
of its corruption and decay. No nations
inScrfbe their names so deep and high on
the pinnacle of fameas Greece and Rome,
and It was because gratitude always held
and used the graver: statutes triumphal
arches and temples were erected in hon
or of their patriots and benefactors
Their names. their deeds and their prais-
es burn on every page of their annals
and come down through the ages to tell
of their greatness and to explain it.
What reason the heart and its best in
stincts taught the great nations Of pa
ganism. God himself inculcated to the
Jews. The Bible teens with eulogies of
the benefactOrs Of the Hebrew race, and
festivals sanctioned by Gods own a,i- /
thorfty. are decreed to be celebrated for
an eternal coMmemoration OF the events
and benefactors that achieved or consol-
idated the liberties OF the nation. The
names of Moses. David. Solomon Samp-
son. Judith ard Esther were the watch
words OF Jewish liberty. They gave
strength to the nation In the day Of peril