Connecticut western news., 1897-05-27
MEMORIAL DAY AT ATHENS.
Not the First, but the First of Which We
 Have Particulars.

Not the First, but the First of Which We
 Have Particulars.
 Of course it cannot be known when civ ilizcd nations first began to flx certain days for the annual commemoration of the acts of their dead heroes, but so natural is the custom that it must have arisen among the oldest nations. By n rare combination of circumstances, however, we have yer. batim report of one Memorial day address. delivered ? 1929 years ago by the grea.Cst man of his age.
 We know, moreover, that, unlike many so called orations reported in ancient bis tory, this one was delivered very nearly as reported, for it was a written address, aud the report comes to us by Thucydides, an enemy of the orator. The great war of Sparta and her allies against Athens and her allies had been in progress year when the Greeks who had fallen in the first bat. ties were honored with a magnificent funer- al, and Pericles, then ruler of Athens, made the speech.
 1t is really wonderful to note how much of it could be adopted word for word in a Memorial day address of today. He began by eulogy of their ancestors who had founded Athens, and of their successors who had defended her against Persia and made her free. He then told why these brave young men had died-to preserve that glorious liborty-and thus continued: ::
 ''For we enjoy form of government which does pot copy the laws of our neigh bors, but we are ourselves rather a pattern to others than imitators of them. In name, from its not being administrated for the benefit of the few, but of the many, 1t is called democracy, but with regard to its laws all enjoy equality as concerns private affairs, while with regard to public rank each man, according as ho has reputation for any thing, is preferred for public honors, not so much from consideration of party as of merit Nor, again, on the ground of poverty, If be be able to do the state any service is he prevented by the obscurity of bis position.
 This was not sarcasm. He really meant it. We are at liberty, however, to surmise that Pericles meant to set forth what the object of their government was rather than what 1t really accomplished, for he goes on to relate how carefully they observe the laws, because they are of their own choos- ing, how recreations are provided for all classes of men and equally in their enjoy ment, how the freedom of Athens is the envy of mankind, and is go highly regard ed by Athenians that every one would rather die fighting than lose it. Indeed, if he spoke exact truth, 1t is much to Do feared that no modern state is equal to it. His closing paragraph might appropriate ly be recitcd to any American audience on this Memorial day of 1897. 1t ran thus:
 "Wherefore to tho parents of these dead I will not offer coincidence SO much as con b solation, for they know that they lived subject to Inisfortunes, but that happy is their lot who have gained the most glori- ous death as these have, and theirs whose sorrow is as yours; their life so measured that it ended in honor, and even so your sorrow Difficult indeed l know it is to persuade you of this as you must be re- minded of your loss by the good fortune of others, and sorrow Is most keenly felt, not for the loss of that of which one is with out much experience, but of that which one loses after being accustomed to it, But bear mp in hope of your other chil. dren, who have them, and you who are old consider that the long period before was so much clear gain, that your time of grief Is but short while the fame of your lost ones Is long, for the love of honor Is the only feeling that never grows old, and as age advances 1t is not the gain of treasure, as some assert, that can cheer the heart, but only the enjoyment of honor."
 Such were the golden words of this the oldest Memorial day address recorded. But it is n pain to complete the story. Soon after the city was crowded by fugi- tiyes, the dreadful plague came, and Peri cles and all his family died of it. Deprived of his clear leadership, the Athenians wasted their resources, and at the end of a long war were thoroughly suhjuRated and put under the sway of the infamous "thir- ty tyrunts." Yet 1t is wonderful what a clear idea this man, 430 D. C., had of what a republic ought to be.
 JOHN HENRY BEALE-