The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-01
FEDERAL DECORATION DAY
APPROPRIATELY OBSERVED BY
MEADE POSTG, r.
A Fine Grafton 10y Rev. Or. Curtis and
the Graves OF the u; ian Soid-
iers Decorated.

is again united. Mankind is one great
| brotherhood, and sectional feeling will
not be allowed to divide it.
| Henry w. Grady startled the world by
| saying something like this in the city of
| Boston more than ten years ago, and
| since that time it has come to be plati-
| tude. But if, of its truth, one wanted
| proof, he should have gone out to the
| Federal cemetery yesterday afternoon.
| 1t was Federal Decoration Day, and
many people were present to strew flowers
on the graves of the heroes there sleeping.
! They were not all old Union soldiers and
| their families either. Indeed, it is to be
| doubted if a majority of the old soldiers
present were not Confederate veterans.
| They went there to do what they could to
| bridge the bloody chasm-to aid in deck
! ing the graves of the men whom they had
/ faced in the crash of battle and found
worthy of their steel-heroes, every inch
! of them.
| Somewhat the same spirit now ami
| mates these men-wearers of the gray
as was in frank, cheerful Bill Arp, when,
coming back from the war, he said: "Well,
| / killed as many of them as they did of
me, and now I'm going to work" All
petty hatreds, have been laid aside, all
| the smouldering fires of feeling have been
| put out, the South accepts the situati
/ and her sons are trying to make the most
| of it.
/ But it was a pretty sight-this ming
J ling of the blue and the gray. The exer-
! cises were very appropriate and beautiful
and all entered into it most heartily. The
orator of the day, Rev. DIR. A. w. Curtis,
delivered a splendid address, in which,
h;,xh t,.lN, 70 a1p,.
and patriotism of the Federal soldier, the
. Confederate was not forgotten. 1t was
such speech as is calculated to bring
the North and South to a better under
standing of each other, to foster spirit
of mutual respect and to inculcate the idea
| that this is reunited country and the
duty of every good citizen to strive for
. its peace and prosperity.
/ The services began with a song service
| followed by responsive reading and
prayer by Rev. A. B. Hunter. He pray
ed that all bitterness might be taken
away; that the two sections migiA be
brought together in brotherly love and
friendship; all ill-feeling be buried and
all strife be forgotten.
After the singing of I'VE are tenting to-
night" by the choir, a selected poem,
May 30th," was read by Mr.. A. B. For
rest.
The orator of the day, Rev. Dr. A. w.
Curtis, was then introduced by Prof.
Frank Il. Emery. 1t was very fine ad-
dress, breathing beautiful spirit of love
and forgiveness on both sides. Among
other things the speaker said:
I'VE rejoice to-day in this grand coun-
try, the greatest, grandest country under
the sum- yet who made it so? Can we
forget these mem-men who came here
as the pioneer heroes of the new world?
Can we forget their self-denial, their bat
tie for liberty? Then came the late
fearful struggle, and the country was a.
bout to be dismembered and divided, can
we forget the men who saved it? 1t
is fitting that we should set apart spe-
cial day ON which to honor them.
Blood was spilled throughout the war,
almost every home was stained with the
crimson flood. Fires blazed and passion
ragged; women were left childless and
widowed children found themselves or
phans. And yet the result was worth
the price we paid. United under one flag,
brothers STILL the scars almost healed and
this great country pursuing the grand
course marked out for it by destiny.
Our hearts grow tender and our eyes
FIJI with tears as memory carries US back
to that long fearful struggle and we live
over again the thousand thrilling Incl
dents of the war, when, for months, vic
tory and defeat seemed almost evenly
balanced, and the blood of our bravest
was poured out like water, till almost
every home in our land was shrouded in
mourning and tears. and yet to-day we
4 gt.th oil f1al
cost to have a united country, a free
country, a God-fearing people, brothers
in the truest sense of the word, which
we were not before the war.
The Negro slaves of the South, the
speaker said, inaugurated the custom of
decorating the graves of the northern sol
diers. They gathered flowers from the
fields and under cover of darkness placed
them ON the last resting place of these he
roes of the Federal army. Since then, he
said, the country had been only too glad
to adopt this day and this ceremony as
a national holiday and national cere-
mony.
at was the men who fought in the ranks
that saved this country-it was the men
who carried the musket."
Let us weave for our nations heroic
dead garlands of flowers, of red, white
and blue, and scatter them upon every
spot where sleeps the sacred dust. Nor
! would we withhold the tribute from our
brothers who wore the gray; Memorial
Day does not bring thoughts of hate and
war, but of love and peace. Our foes
were brothers of our own great race, and
in instances, not a few, brothers of the
same household, some on either side.
"They were brave and gallant foemen.
They poured forth their blood in a gem
erous stream. The sacrifice and the
suffering was theirs, no less than ours.
Nor will | say that they were not as
true to their convictions of duty as We.
Let all past discord be forgotten, while
the blue and the gray unite with gener-
Gus respect in these ceremonies of
Memorial Day in honoring the valor of
the American soldier; so shall this day
continue as pledge that a government
of the people, by the people and for the
ban ariSh tho on th