The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1897-06-03

equaled by long series of lessons from
the best text books ever printed.
We may symIathz, with the affection
that seeks To decorate the grave OF a
brave Confederate soldier, and honor
the bravery with which they, as Ameri-
cans, commended for a cause which, in
its inception, was wholly wrong, and
which, by the stern decision of battle,
was totally lost. But we must never
forget that our soldiers of the Union,
while equally brave and persistent,
fought for cause that was ever just,
always honorable, and gloriously tri-
umphant.
We have no occasion to go to Greece
or Rome, France or England, for heroic
deeds to fire the blood of our youth, or
to inspire them with patriotism, for every
heroic field of the old world has its
match and counterpart in this great
American struggle.
We hail with pleasure the formation
of camps of the Sons of Veterans
throughout the land who, when called
upon TO lay this pleasing duty down,
will be ready and willing to take it up
and carry it on to the elimination of our
National existence. These young men
have before them career we cannot
hope for, as the Grand Army of the
Republic takes no new recruits, while
their ranks, inspired by a patriotism
which grows brighter as history de.
velops, may be filled up continually
from succeeding generations.
There is no record of a contest in
which the women of country bore so
| prominent part as in our great civil
war. Ii our comrades met danger,
death, hardship, and disease in the ranks,
the women of their households met suf
ferings as bitter, and privations as great,
by their firesides, for not bullet sped
to its fatal mark at the front that did
not wound faithful heart in the far
away home, and wounds of the heart
are the hardest to heal.
One of the most marvellous achieve
ments of the Grand Army of the Repub-
lie was the peaceful aud quiet return to
the occupations of industry after the
settlements of the great issues of the
war Ii the lofty excitement of battle
keyed the spirits of the American SOL
diers up to the concert pitch, they have
played grander and more enduring
symphony in the thirty years that have
followed the war.
Did you ever think, nay comrades, of
the brief life which the Grand Army
must necessarily have, that it is not an
organization for all time, that we are
passing away. As the fathers of the
Revolution cannot be found upon the
earth, so the members of the Grand
Army, are, one by one, dropping from
our ranks and lying down to die; but a
decade or two shall fit by, and the last
soldier will be gone. The death rate in
the ranks of the Grand Army is fast in
creasing, and has advanced from less
than per cent in 1886 to over ? per
cent in 1897. High water mark was
reached in the membership of the Grand
Army in 1890, when we had 400, 900 men,
bers. Now, we have but 357 900, and
statistics show that over 10000 soldiers
have passed to the eternal camping
ground in the short space of six years !;
this showing would be largely increased
by the deaths among veterans not MEM
bers of our order.
The wholesale frauds alleged by the
Administration at Washington a few
years ago, have been shown by their
own agents, at great public expense, to
be absolutely without existence. There
is, probably, no expenditure of the pub
lie money that acts so directly for the
nations welfare as that which is laid
out on pensions. In almost all cases 1t
finds its way back at once, through the
channels of trade, in the payment for
the neeessaries OF life. Its suspension
or reduction would be sure to produce
business stagnation, and untold suffer
ing, in many communities.
In no other nation but ours would
Memorial Day be a possibility. 1t COM
memorates struggle which had not for
its incentive an ambition of one "Who
wades through slaughter To throne.
and shuts the gates of mercy on man.
kind 1t was not contest for deciding
a doubtful succession between two
equally despotic sovereigns. Our terri
bic conflict was not for the purpose of
adjusting any international balance of
power, or to increase our territory by
force of arms. The soldiers of the
Union army fought, suffered, and died
for the triumph of those great principles
of civil liberty which were transplanted
in this virgin soil by our ancestors, and
which their descendants have breathed
in with their native air.
What has been the result of this
mighty effort? Let us look abroad over
our vast domains, and behold the an
swer. We see nation, continental in
its extent and boundless in its resources
teeming with everything that the heart
of man desires, whether for necessity,
comfort, or luxury. Our fertile fields
are capable of being the granary of the
world; our countless herds supply the
nations of Europe with food; our stores
of mineral wealth surpass those of any
other nation. But added to this, is the
keen inventive genius of the cultured
mind, and the strong activity of the
most masterful race upon the earth.
When the throbbing cadence Of our
grand triumphal march echoed through
the streets of Washington, and our mag
nifieent fleet rode free upon the Atlantic,
released from yigilant guarding of our
coast, the legions of Napoleon Ill, recog-
niZing the stern logic OF events, FASTENED
away from American soil, and the surly
British lion preferred arbitration to war,
and unwillingly disgorged portion of
his plumber. To accomplish all this was
a mighty task; it required vast ex.
penditure of men and money, and if ii
seems burden to the present generation
to bear some of the consequent expenses,
in National debt and pensions, let us
consider what we have gained by the
noble sacrifices of our citizen soldiers,
and bear our parts with willing hearts.
The "hostile bugles have long since
sung truce" but many sad and bitter
memories remain in the hearts that suf-
fered through those four stormy years.
Many gentle women in this beautiful