The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-06
NO COPPERHEADS LIVE NOW
so SAYS REV. JOHN WRIGHT
IN AN ADDRESS
1t Rang With Patriotic Fervor at
the Annual Memorial Service of
AclSer Post of the G.. A. r., Which
Was Held Mt St. Pauls Church
Last Night-Other Posts Observed
Similarly.

war in which this nation has engaged,
and which is a war made for the right,
for liberty and for everything that is
ennobling, and that is victory, absolute
and unqualified, for the war is justi-
fed before the nations and before God.
We have right on cur side, and we
have the Lord on our side. We will
win, for we are single people with
but single patriotic impulse
When DR.. John Wright made the
period he put so much feeling into his
language that only the sacred charac-
ter of the place restrained the great
audience from giving vent to their feel
lngS in applause. The occasion was
the memorial service for the dead Of
Acker post, and the time last night at
ST. PauPs church.
Acker post attended the services in
body, and part Of the programme
was the memorial ritual of the G. A.
r., an impressive and beautiful cere-
monial. The comrades, under the COM
mand of Senior Vice Commander Pat
rick Henry, marched into the church
in a body, headed by the veterans
drum corps, and were seated close up
to the chancel rail The rest of the
body of the church was filled with peo-
pie, and the effect of the patriotic ut
terances of the reverend speaker was
so marked on the congregation that the
singing of America, which was Joined
In by all of those present, was as the
giving tongue to triumphal song.
The programme of exercises included
musical elaboration of the even song,
rendered by the surpliced choir with
that precision that marks the singing
at that church always. The prayers
and collects were particularly adapted
to the occasion, and the collect for aid
against perils was most fitting to the
time and the occasion:
Tighten our darkness, we beseech
Thee, o Lord, and by Thy great mercy
defend us from all the dangers and
perils of this night" Not a person in
the congregation but felt the weight
of the petition, with the fleets of the
nation in the dangers that beset them
in foreign seas.
The reading of this collect was fol-
lowed by the putting up Of the prayer
that has become a frequent part of
such exercises and which the Rt. Rev.
Bishop Whipple framed for use at such
a time as the present. That portion
OF the prayer which pleads, 1--WE ask
Thy protection for our soldiers and
sailors that they, armed by Thy de-
Tense, may be delivered from their enc
mics, and bring a just and righteous
peace to us and to those whom we de-
fend," brought an amen that was in
no sense perfunctory from the lips Of
the people in the church.
The choir sang, and the audience
joined in the chorus, 1.-The Star Span
gled Banner" and this was followed
by the address by DR.. Wright.
Particularly addressing the veterans,
DIR. Wright said, quoting Emerson:
g" The greatness of a nation is not
to be determined by the vastness of
its cities nor the extent of it's popula-
ton. but by the kind Of men that make
IT,"
He paid tribute to the men of the
Civil war who exposed their lives to
the end that the nation might live as
one people. He said:
1T was you, noble veterans Of the
Civil war, that kindled the fires Of pa
triotisIn in the national breast. But
for your devoted example, we would not
at this moment be the one people in
thought and spirit that we are, and all
honor is due to the men to whom we
owe the unity Of the American people
at this juncture.
There is at this time a peculiar sig
nificance attached to the observance
of Decoration day. The memories that
1t invokes are good for life of the coun-
try. There is a new war, a war in
which we are at one. Brother is no
longer arrayed against brother. The
men who go forth now to fight are
brothers in heart and in the highest
sense, and they represent a united peO-
pie. During the Civil war there were
copperheads in the North as we'll as In
the South; men who were so bitterly
opposed to the war that they walked
out into the street sooner than pass
beneath the shadow of the flag There
are no copperheads in the nation now
There were persons who were not in
sympathy with the war that Is going
on. Great statesmen, politicians, Of
ficials of high place, prelates of great
fame, even the pope Of Rome himself
tried to avoid the war, but it was in
evitable. We accepted the war because
we could not avoid it.
1--WE can bear criticism in this war
because any comparison that can be
made between this nation and the enc
my must be to our advantage. It is
war of humanity against inhumanity
Of light against darkness; of education
against ignorance; of progress against
non-progress. The Spaniard is as he
was ever. He has not progressed
There is legend that is told by the
Spanish themselves which illustrates
the national character and the national
| pride.
cit Is said that Adam came back tc
made in the thousands of years since
his death. He visited America and
there found things so changed that he
| could not but be entirely lost. He
went to England and found that prog
ress incomprehensible to him had been
! made. Then he went to Spain, and
| when he had observed the conditions
he remarked: All! here there is nc
change; everything Is as left it.
mis- htrf = Sc,
I'VE should be thankful for the mem.
cries that come to us in this memorial
celebration. The presence here Of the
veterans and the spirit they keep alive
is dear to the nation. There was never
so much pure patriotism as now, and
1t all comes as an inheritance of the
war Of thirty five years ago. The cost
OF the war Of the early sixties was
great in men and money, but what II
bought for the nation was cheap at the
price, for it made US indissolubly one
That war magnified the patriotism OIL
| the country, and we can see in the
| noble offers Of the women Of the Rec
Cross societies and others the renewa.
Of that patriotism.
This is a righteous war; and it Il
our right to pray for success for oul
arms and our duty to fight in this war
| The time has gone forever in which
the church might ostracise the patriot
The church Is with the army and navy
and our prayers go with our men a.
they go onward with the flag that /.
the emblem Of liberty and the hope q
the world"
At the close OF the address the con.
gregation sang America" standing
and then followed the memorial servic,
Of the G. A. r. 1t was very brief, bu
impressive.
Vice Commander Henry called thu
veterans to their feet and commanded:
Comrades, salute the dead"