The herald., 1897-05-30

III thirty -HNc Out vi Tic lOl ~ -hN Z
states of the Union this is legally recog-
nized as Memorial Day. Everywhere
the day is practically considered legal
holiday, but only in the number of sta tes
mentioned is it so by law. Most persons
consider it what is known as national
holiday. Surprising as the fact may
seem, there is no such thing as ma
tional holiday. There is no provision
in the constitution of the United States
which permits such a thing. Congress
has from time to time recognized GER
tain special days for business purposes,
but not even the Presidents proclama-
tion of fast day makes it legal holi-
day in any state unless the legislature
of that state has so signified by legal
action.
1t needs no Presidents proclamation,
no legislative action to make the United
States obseve Memorial Day. The des-
cendants of 2.7SS,304 soldiers who con-
etituted the Federal armies which,
fought from 1861 to 1866 need no re-
minder to perform what they consider a
sacred duty. The 0,610 members of
the Grand Army Of the Republic, who
followed the fate of the Stars and
Stripes-some of them from Fort Sum-
ter to AppomattoXTdo not require ad :
monition to honor the comrades whom
wounds or disease has taken from
among them Thus it is that at least
from Mason's and Dixon's line to the
boundaries of the Queens dominions.
every cemetery where soldier lies will
witness the advent of flowers today.
There is another event which has
gradually been blended with the day
set aside for decorating the graves of
men who wore the blue. 1t is the time
when those who loved the men who wore
the gray remember their own dead. the
men who fought honestly and bravely
for the cause they believed to be right
The grave knows neither friend nor foe.
Both rest.
"Under the sod and the dew,
u Waiting the judgment day,
"Under the roses the Blue.
"Under the willows the Gray"
There are far fewer of the gray to
remember than of the blue, for the tota!
of those who fought for the Southern
Confederacy is placed at 100000. The
graves WHICH are ueCOIdleu lOudy IlOt
only contain all that is mortal of men
who perished on the battlefield but OF
hundreds of those who were taken from
the cares of this world years after the
SOUNDS of strife had ceased 1t is the
principle of the Grand Army ofthe Re
public. as we'll as of the Confederate as
sociations,- thai any member thereof
shall be honored in death with the same
tribute that is paid to the comrades
whom death claimed during the war.
The origin of Decora ton day lies with
the origin of the Grand Army of the Re-
public, in 1866, the year following the
close of the war. The first poet thereof
was organized at Decatur, ILL.,. April G.
1866 In May of that year the ceremony
of ting graves of the soldier dead
was carried out to limited extent but
the movement was not given full force
until the meeting of the first National
encampment at indianapolis November
20, 1866. Here Decoration day may be
said to have been really given birth. OBJ
served. in a small way at first, it has
gradually grown in extent and honor un-
til now there is but one day in the calen-
dar with which it ranks equally with in
patriotic mindS-July 4th.
The United States government is err