The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-06-03

Jordan. but ye shall go over and possess that
good land Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye
forget the covenant or the Lord your God
Deut. 4:22-23.
Memorial day In this year 1898 comes to
us In time OF war. We are sending our
brave sons once more to the experiences of
camp life, and to possible death on fields of
battle. 1t is at once both easy and difficult
to observe the day. 1t is easy to get the
attention of people fixed upon the ma
tion and its we'll being. But out of the con-
ditions and the high enthusiasm of the
present 1t may be difficult to recall the brave
boys both living and dead who marched to
martial music to the country's defense in
the days from 81 to '65. We are so much
taken up with the present that we may tail
| to give fitting recognition to these heroes OF
the past. And then l sometimes wonder
just what are the thoughts and feelings
war of the rebellion. In fact during this
past week while away from home l have
tried TO get at the feelings of the old sol.
dier. Wherever have met him have put
to him many questions There is a chance
| for him to become jealous hearted IL he Is
inclined to be. Hitherto he has stood some
what alone in the admiration and affections
of great people. But 1t now seems that
he is to be called to divide honOrs with
younger men who are going to new war
and with foreign foe. The old soldier
must stand aside. He Is too old for one
thing. And besides were his age not a him
drance the government has become so par
ticular about little things that he could not
hope to pass the examination. The stiffness
in his joints, or the conspicuous absence of
some of his teeth, or some infirmity left In
his body by some enemies bullets or the
privations and hardships he has passed
shut him out And again he is told that all
his knowledge of warfare, all his old tactics
is out of date. 1t was good enough for his
day but 1t will not do for this. The science
of modern warfare is an altogether different
thing today from that he learned. Instead
of shouldering his old musket and lining up
to obey orders and to shoot when brought
face to face with the enemy, he is told that
he must know how to manage some modern
machine of warfare that must be fred ac-
cording to some obstruse principles of
mathematics, so as to land shell at a given
spot, fixed upon by powerful field glass.
His old skill at gunnery amounts to nothing
now. However brave at heart he may be,
he is told that he needs some new tangled
notions in his head before he would be fit
for anything now. And l tell you it's no
small thing, this. 1t is no easy thing to
bear. We have had to sweep through this
country wave of patriotic feeling the like
of which for one never knew before. The
fires of patriotism have been kindled on the
altars of the millions of loyal American
hearts. But do no man dishOnOr when
burn quite so brightly on any other heart as
on that of an old soldier. He once suffered
and sacrificed tor his country, and the new
flame of patriotic feeling in his soul finds
an old one to be united with it, that they
both may burn the brighter. But just here
he Is met with a prohibition. He is told
that he can feel patriotic to his hearts con-
tent but he cannot go to war. The patriot
ism in his breast is denied its completion on
the field of active service. 1t is good deal
as if father were shown child in distress
but forbidden to go to the rescue. He has
still strong arms and a brave heart and he
holds a peculiar relationship of love and
tenderness to that child, but no, he must
stand by and permit others to go to the
rescue. This my old soldier is your trial
today. There is a situation here in the
text somewhat like it. Moses, the leader
of Gods people In all their wilderness
waaderings, has come up to the promised
land with them but he cannot 20 over.
After getting glimpse of the land he must
go up there into the solitude of the mount
and there die. He must be buried, no man
knows where, by the hand of God. Like
many soldier sleeping in southern soil
no loyal countryman with loving hands can
ever return to decorate his grave, for they
know not where il Is. | must die here in
this land, he says, / must no. go over Jor
dan, but ye shall go over and possess thai
good land. The younger Joshua shall bt
the leader of younger generation of men
They are to march without me about the
] walls of Jericho and up the heights of All
and am TO die here.
But as If he would perpetuate his influ
ence among them and give to them tina
: which was better even than his own per
sonal presence, he admonshed them tina
they take heed to themselveslthat they for
get not the covenant of the Lord their God
Like Moses of old you old veterans of the
war of the rebellion have something to con
tribute to the generation that. is taking III
; the tasks you lay down. The war that yol
: waged on behalf of country, of humanity
and of God, has its lessons for the men o.
today. We shall never be able to forge
you If we would.