The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1897-09-03

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MA, n. D., FRI.
They were boys when they went to war,
they were men when they returned.
The stern, cruel. bloody, desperate
scenes Of battle, the hardships Of, camp
and hospital, the restrictions of army dis
cipline, ,.changed the mobility Of youthful
faces into the hard lines of determination
and earnestness Of purpose Of the, mature
man. War marked almost every man
who participated in its horrors. And to-
day as the old comrades march together
on parade, it is still as when they march
ed to battle, death marches in every pla-
toon. In the battle it was question Of
being shot to death within few minutes
or escape with a possible life of fifty
years more. Now death is just as close
and the death rate is just as great as in
the years of the war, and present escape
can mean but few years longer at best.
Perhaps for this reason the Grand Army
comrades are closer to each other in fra
ternity than any other organization.
And the people stood and watched the
great procession go by hour after hour.
But little of fpageantry, little Of glitter and
gold embroidery, just these old men, one
platoon just like another, one man typi-
cal of the thousands who marched before
or behind him, and yet the populace
watched them and cheered them from
the beginning to the end.
No other procession or parade .awak-
ems such general interest, or draws such
crowd of visitors. We believe the rea-
son to be largely that of a patriotism that
means much for the future good of the
country.
Not many more parades of the G. A.
R. Already large proportion of the
old comrades have to stand or sit by the
wayside and watch the others. Soon all
that parade will have to ride in carriages
and that will not be a parade. And with
outtheparade the encampment will have
lost much of interest to others.
President Mckinley and many of the
cabinet and other high officials reviewed
the procession. Nobody did harder
manual labor that day than the Presi.
dent. He stood on the stand and bowed,
hat in hand, to each platoon as it passed
him for all those long hours. To usfit
seemed an unnecessary task, as simply
fsitsing still in sight of the procession
would have answered every purpose.
Privates were ordered not ocheer or sa-
lutte the President as they went by; but
they would occasionally break out in
spite of orders.
There were about fifty comrades pres.
ent at Buffalo from North Dakota and
almost as many ladies. We may add
with pardonable pride, that the veterans
from this state in manly bearing, physl-
que and vigor compared favorably with
those of any other state. Worden Post
of this county was represented by Com
rades Fry, Heller, Webster and Ward.
well. Comrade Fry had a reunion of
eight or ten old comrades of his 'sharp-
shooter" company; Comrade Heller in
troduced us to his brother who lives in
Cleveland, and Comrade Webster was
right among many old New York friends.
The great majority of veterans and other
visitors took advantage of the limit of
their tickets and will visit relatives and
friends in different localities of the east
until September Goth. Comrade Fry
visits near Boston, Webster in lSt. Law
renee county, N. Y, and Heller at Cleve-
land, Ohio.
Niagara Falls are 81 miles from Buffalo
and are connected by several steam and
by electric railways. Of course every
body went to the falls. We have not
time or space to describe the sights and
grandeur of the rushing waters. We
might add however that there is much of
interest beside the grand old waterfall
itself. The rapids above and below the
falls, the parks about the falls, historic
battle grounds from Queenstown Heights
to Lundy's Lane, a beautiful farming
country full of orchards and vineyards,
the power-house where small part of
Niagara is harnessed for electric power,
the bridges that span the chasm below
the falls, these and many other things are
attractions almost as great as the falls
themselves. A week could be pleasant
ly spent viewing these things and still no
time wasted.
In the old times. Niagara Falls was
noted as the worst place for extortion