The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1897-03-19

striking down a Hessian. fof rusty
swords hing I'm on the rafters and bull
let's cut out of log houses IN WHICH lhe'
were lodged during the great strlle We
had unbounded admiration, or on soAle
public day, clothed in u g~ranalathei >
soldierly Announcements. We leIt as
grave as Garibaldi or Mllt!adeS. we
are wiser now, for we make a vast us
tinction between the poetry ana tAe
prose O: war. The roll Of drums ana
the call OF bugles, and the champlns OF
steeds foaming and paving for the pat
tie; a hundred thousand muskets GNt-
tering among the dancing plumes'
God Save the King" waving up from
claricnets and trUmpets n rung PACK
from deep deiles or the arches OF d
PROSTATE city: distant capitals OF KING
doms illuminated at the tidings: gen
erals returning home under flaming
arches and showering amaranths and
the shout OF empires: that is poetry.
Chilled and half-blanketed, lying on
the wet earth: feet sore with the march
and bleeding at the slightest toucn;
hunger pulling OF every fiber OF fiesh
or attempting to satisfy itself with a
scanty and spoiled ration: thirst lick
ing up the dew or drinking out OF filthy
and trampled pool: thoughts Of home
and kindred far away while just on
the eve of a deadly strife, where death
may leap on him from any one Of a
hundred bayonets: the closing in OF
two armies, now changed to a hundred
thousand maniGcs: the ground slippery
with blood and shattered flesh: fallen
ones writhing under the hoofs OF I'M
bridled chargers maddened with pain:
the dreaGfulness Of night that comes
down when the strife is over: the
struggle Of the wounded ones crawling
out ove the corpses: the long. fever
ish agony of the crowded barrack and
hospital, from whose mattresses the
fragments OF men send up their groans,
the only music Of carnage and butch
cry: desolate homes from which
fathers and husbands and brothers
and sons went off: without giving any
dying message or sending a kiss to the
dear ones at home, tumbled into the
soldiers grave trench, and houses in
which a few weeks before unbroken
family circles rejoiced, now plunged
in the great scrrows of widowhood and
3rphanage: that is prose.
But there is now on the earth a king
dom which has set itself up for conflicts
without number. In its march it tram
pies no grain fields, it sacks no cities,
it impoyerishes no treasures, it fills no
hospitals, it b%ereaves no families. The
courage and victory Of Solferino and
Mageltz without carnage. The kingdom
Of Christ against the kingdom of Satan.
That is the strife now raging. We will
offer no armis.ices: We will make no
treaty. Until all the revolted nations
uf the earth shall submit again to King
Emanuel, IN the name of Gcd we will
set up our banners"
Every army his its enslgns. Long
before the tine when David wrote the
text they were in use. The hosts of
Israel displayed them. The tribe Of
BENJAMIN carried a flag with the in
scripti0r OF a wolf. The tribe of Dan
a representation Of cherubin. Judah
a lion wrought into the groundwork Of
white. purple, crimson, and blue. Such
flags from their folds shook fire into
the bs:rts Of such numbers as were in
the field when Abijah fought against
Jehoram. and there were twelve hun
dred thousand soldiers. and more than
FIVE hundred thousand were left dead
on the field. These enSignS gave hero
ism to such numbers as were assem-
bled when Asa fought against Zerah,
and there were one million five hun
dred and eighty thousand troops in the
battle. The Athenians carried an in
scription Of the owl, which was their
emblem Of wisdom. The flags of mod
ern nations are familiar to you all, and
many of them so inappropriate for the
character of the nations they represent
it would be impoiitic to enumerate
them. Thasc ensigns are streamers
borne on the point Of a lance and on
the top of wooden shafts. They are car
ried in the front and rear of armies.
They unroll from the main-top-gallant-
masthead OF an Admiral's flagship to
distinguish it among other ships Of the
same squadron. They are the objects
of national pride. The loss of them on
the field is ignominious.
The three banners of the Lords hosts
are the banner OF proclamation, the
banner OF recruit, and the banner of
victory. When a nation feels its rights
infrinsed or its honor insulted, when
its citizens have in foreign climes been
oppressed and no indemnity has been
offered to the inhabitants of the repub-
lie or kingdom, a proclamation Of wal
is uttered. On the top Of batteries and
arsenals and custom houses and rev.
e1ue Offices flags are Immediately
swung out. All who look upon them
realize the fact that uncompromising
war is declared. Thus it is that the
Church of Jesus Christ, jealous for the
honor of its Sovereign, and determined
to get back those who have been car
ried off captive into the bondage Of
Satan, and intent upon the destruction
of those mighty wrongs which have SO
long crushed the earth, and bent Upon
the extension of the Saviour's reign Of
-,r,,- IN +ba mama Of Cod SafS I'M its