Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-05-31

@A'' 'c uieu 10 make 1lltH IIOly, let us ul
| 10 make men free.
Veterans, as you close your eyes IN
on the present and in memory, review
the scenes of the past as they go il
procession before you, what feelings
must be awakened in you, how proud
~ may you stand before your fellow
| men and say-I am a soldier of tn,
Republic.
What panorama was your soldier
journey. Young men in the flush an{
VlSor OF life you offered your service.
10 your country, you parted from wife
from father and mother, from sister
pfother and loved ones; with tear;
ana faltering voice, you said goodbye
| TO many it was and to all it might be
| FOR the last time; but there was ne
| thought of turning back, your country
mad called you, you had heard the voice
and answered, here. and from that daI
until peace should come, you Offered
| yourselves in its service. OF the story
of your life at the front it is not fol
me to tell you, YOU were there and
know it. L have only been told of it
You know of the long and weary
marches, of the hunger and thirst, OF
y
| terrible carnage and strife which
swept away, like chaff before the wind
your brothers i'll arms: you have see.
| the enemies triumph for a while, but
you witnessed the final victory which
swept rebellion from our shores and
secured for us and for those who shall
come after, the priceless benefits OF
| liberty and freedom.
What return shall be made by a
grateful people for all this? If one III
ten of cur citizens gave his life, his
| strength or his health in the cause of
his country, What restitution shall the
nine make who did not make the sac
rifice? Shall all the sacrifices be by
the ones? Shall he go through life Il
cripple or suffering and III need? Was
not the hunger of Andersonville and
Libby enough and must he go hungry
in the midst of plenty?
Justice and humanity, demand, jus
tice and humanity to the soldier; a
grateful people demand more, and un-
til taps shall sound above the last
veteran of that war, until the last one
who was dependent on him shall have
passed away, so long shall a prosper
willingly. give of their abundance for
you and yours.
They tell us that some are pensioncd
who ought not to be. they say that
some who gave nothing are receiving
much. sfal.
This may be so, it may be that some
are receiving more than their just dues
in this life. and that many who deserve
the crumbs are receiving the loaf; the
rain falls alike upon the just and the
unjust and it would be a strange
teaching to deny the blessing to the
good for fear that the bad might par
ticipatc Nothing but the omniscience
of God can unerringly separate the
good from the bad
OF the part borne by the men from
Maine in the great war Of the Union.
You and we may Well be proud,
Heroicaly they fought ana fell From
the first. Bull Run to Appomattocks
through those four long years. Maine
men We're found among the foremost
in the fight. In the great battles #
Bull Rum characteristics. Spottsyl-
Vania, Rappahannock. Gettysburg.
Nicksburg, Antietam, the Wilderness.
and many others. they bore conspic-
uous parts. Seventy thousand of the
sons of Maine answered their country 5
call and your comrades sleep on many
southern fields. No memorial words Of
ours can add To their fame. a nation
purified and saved. is a memorial more
lasting than granite. purer than mar
Bile. When the battle Waged fercest
where the carnage was most terrible.
( - /,
future generations shall stand upon
the field Of Gettysburg ana look upon
the monuments which mark the pivot
al points of that great battle. and
shall see the one which points out the
high water mark of the rebellion. they
will find the name of a Maine regiment
engraved thereon, and will know that
there the waves of rebellion Were
broken and hurled back as the waves
of the ocean are broken in spray upon
our rock bound coast.
| Veterans, your fellow citizens can
show their appreciation Of your SER
vices for our common country by tell
/ ing Of your deeds to posterity and by
| keeping bright the record Of your
sacrifices.
| Men in the past have attempted in
many ways to perpetuate their names
and memories. Lofty monuments and
| costly temples of marble and stone
! have been erected intended to impress
! upon future generations their greatness
! and their power. what has survived !
| their names only, the marble and thG
stone will soon crumble and become As
! the dust of the earth to be blown
about by every passing breeze.
No deed of those for whom they
were erected commands our admra-
| ton. no sacrifice for their fellow being
claims our homage.
The seven wonders of the world Will
! crumble and decay, vast cities become
| the homes for the beasts of the field
| and still the deeds and the sacrifices
| of the benefactors of the human race
will live forever.
II met Traveller from an antique land,
! Who said: Two vast and trunkleSs legs
Of stone
| Stand In the desert. Near them on The
| sand,
Half sunk. a shattered visage Hes who's
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold com
| Tell that it's sculptor we'll those passions
read,
Which Yet survive, stamped on those life
less things.
The hand that Knocked them and the
heart that fed: