News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1897-05-26
WARTIME MEMORIES.
SAD SCENES RECALLED BY MEMO
RIAL DAY.
FareweIIs That Often Proved to BE For
ever-WOmen Suffered More Than the
Men-AwfuI Suspense After News Of a
Battle-Anxiety For Loved Ones.

ever-WOmen Suffered More Than the
Men-AwfuI Suspense After News of a
Battle-Anxiety For Loved Ones.
A day of memoriesl
Sweet and sorrowful memories inter
mingle inextricably.
With the soldiers it is the years one day
| for general review. While they are busy
planting flags at the heads of comrades
graves, scattering springs fragrant bios
SONS upon them, and now and then brush
ing aside an unbidden tear, they will live
over in memory the years whose war ex-
perience constituted the chief event of
their lives. They will go back to the hour
of the day and the place where they decid-
ed to join the throng on the way to the
ranks of the army of rescue, to the furrow
in which they were following a pillow, the
row of corn they were killing, the field of
| wheat they were harvesting, the roads
they were working, to the schools and COL
leges they were attending, the duties they
were performing in offices, schoolrooms,
pulpits, printing offices, editorial rooms,
law offices, lumber camps, mills, factories;
to the prairies, villages, hillsides-where-
ever they were and TO whatever they were
fected and they were ready to announce it,
They will recall the heartaches, the
tears, the weeping of precious mothers,
wives, children, sisters and sweethearts,
the sober faces and trembling voices of
dear old fathers, loving brothers and kind
neighbors. What day it was-the day
when "a father, husband, son or brother
said: Il will offer my services. l am
IpH I thAt 10,
against my ever seeing the old home again
the sweet faced mother, the loving wife,
darling children or sweetheart, the father
who loves me better than he does his own
life. l know that death may overtake me
on the battlefield, on the march, in hos
pital; that hardships, hunger, suffering,
await me- But this is my country. l be-
long to it. 1t needs me. l shall 60" Do
you think men forget such scenes, Incl
dents and thoughts-that they do not find
satisfaction in recalling all of the then
sorrowful details?
Then came the day of home leaving.
A million veterans and members of their
families will recall that hour on this day
of memories-this day when the people of
grateful nation, or the grateful people
of a republic made better and stronger be-
cause Of the services and sacrifices of the
sleeping soldiers manifest their apprecia-
ton of those services and sacrifices by Civ
ing more or less attention to the impressive
and patriotic memorial services in all of
our cities and villages.
And what an hour it was!
1t was more trying hour with many
of the sons, husbands, fathers, brothers
and lovers than they passed through at
Antietam, Shiloh, Lookout Mountain,
Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Atlanta or
Petersburg. 1t was an hour when the
hearts of men and women were wrenched
to almost the crushing point-an hour
when the tear fountains ran dry. Can the
men and women most interested ever for
get that hour of sorrowful parting? Such
hours and such partings do not often come
and let us thank the good Lord that they
do not. Such wars are far apart, and If
the prayers of those who participated in
that one are heard they will grow farther
and farther apart as the years flash past
| l wish l could call back and so wildly
describe those wartime partings that every
| one of the present generation might realize
| what they meant-how much of sacrifice
| on the part Of men and women who part
| ed; the men to face death in battle, hospi-
tai and prison; the women to walk alone,
save the company of their little ones, whose
mouths must be filled and backs and feet
covered in thousands of instances by the
earnings of their own hands. The soldier
husbands suffered no more in battle than
| they did when news of a battle reached
them in the lonely homes Was he slain2
Was he badly wounded! Is he in grave
or languishing in hospital? Shall ever
see him again? Are my little ones orphans
and am l a widow? These are some of the
questions that came to tens Of thousands
of devoted wives in that struggle that gave
us Nation with large N. And they will
be recalled by thousands of gray haired
mothers and grandmothers on this May
| day.
In short, on this Memorial day, all Oh
the great and lesser battles, all of the Skin
mishes, will be fought over by the men
who participated in them on both sides,
for these loving ceremonies are as sacred
at the south as at the north.-Chicago
Times-Herald.