Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-05-31
HONOR 70 THE NATIONS DEAD
Memorial Day Observed Fittingly
Throughout the Land.

Union and Confederate Veterans
Join in Paying Tributes Of Love
and Honor to the Men Who Fell
on Both Sides in the Quarrel OF
Brothers Senator Thurston's
Notable Address at Arlington
Cemetery "A Fitting Tribute to
Heroes.
Washington, May 30.-In the cen
ter Of the field of 1.-The bivOuac of the
Dead the great Amphitheatre of the
national cemetery at Arlington, Pres
ident Mckinley and three ri his cab
met to-day joined 5000 other citizens
in doing honor to the patriotic dead.
Ceremonies were held simultaneously
in several parts Of the cemetery, but
the main ceremonies were H. the Am
phitheatre, close to the cid mansion.
The exercises embraced a number of
addresses, poems, singing and the GUS
tomary reading of orders. The feature
OF the ceremonies. however, was the
address Of Senator Thurston. of Ne
braska, who was introduced AS one al
ways ready to lend his aid to the cause
OF liberty and patriotism. His Grafton
was listened to most attentively by the
audience and prolonged applause greet
ed his reference to the absence of sec
tlonalism and to the presence <jf Adj
mlral Dewey in the harbor If Manila.
Senator Thurston said:
"Hlow sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest.
By fairy hands their knell is rung.
By forms unseen their dirge is sung"
Blessed are the dead whose memory
is perpetuated by the flower service of
grateful people, and how truly i'm
mortal are those who give their live
for liberty.
To have lived long, purposeless, neu-
trail years is nothing-to have lived a
few glorious hours to have bravely
faced the infinite, to have calmly met
the Master in humanity's cause is sub
lime.
Why mourn these dead of ours? They
sleep in the bosom of the land they
loved. Here where the ground shook
beneath the tramp of contending hosts
they are at rest
The sentinels no longer patrol the
banks of the Potomac. Grant and Lee
both lived to attest the goodness of a
God who preserved the union. And
over the river on the beauteous dome
of the nations capitol, serenely uplift-
ed toward the ethereal blue-kissed by
the sun of day, wooed by the stars of
night-tranquilly floats the unconquer-
ed flag of the greatest nation of the
earth.
Why mourn for those who slumber
hcir he Uyritf In
the grandest history of the ages. Be
fore them will reverently pass the pro-
cession of the centuries. And every
headstone roundabout, even those with
out a name, will be given honorable
place in the mighty monument that is
to commemorate the ennobling and up
lifting of the human race.
1t was Gods providence that kept
tie new world in all its virgin strength
and beauty until the restless races of
men had reached a civilization fit to be
transplanted here. 1t was Gods prov
idence that gave strength and courage
and victory to the little band of sturdy
patriots who wrought the mighty mir
acle of American independence 1t
spoke in every line of the declaration
Of independence, it inspired the pen Of
emancipation and the sword of Apo
mattoX Columbus, Washington, Lin
coin, Grant. Did chance select them
each for his glorious work so glorlously
performed? Let the fool answer how
lie will, I prefer to see the finger OF
SUPREME design. That finger may be, is
even now moving toward another man;
man who shall lead our triumphant
hosts to a glorious victory for liberty
and humanity, who shall wreak God
vengeance on wicked, cruel, merclless
Spain and drive from this hemisphere
the last vestige of tyranny and Oppres-
sion. And it may well be that some
sword sheathed in defeat by the Judg-
ment of God that liberty might be the
heritage of every American child, VIII
now by command Of Jehovah himself
lean from it's scabbard to give liberty
and self-government to the oppressed
and down trodden people OF the beau
tiful island of Cuba.
What an inspiring sight TO see those
who once fought against eacn otnef
now rallying under one flag, eXulting'
and rejoicing that the azure field OF
the union banner holds in equal honor
every star of Statehood, and singing
together the re-arranged music OF the
union-Yankee Doodle and Dlxie-the
favorite airs.
After a third of a century Of peace
and prosperity, all the children OF cur
common country kneel at the altar OF
a reunited faith. The blue and the
gray lie in eternal slumber side by side.
Heroes all, They fell face to face,
brother against brother, to eXplate a
nations sin. The lonely firesides and
the unknown graves; the memory OF
the loved, the yearning for the lost;
the desolated affairs and the broken
hopes are past recall. The wings OF
our weak protest beat in vain against
the iron bars OF fate.
But through the mingled tears that
fall alike upon the honored dead OF both
the North and South turn hopeful eyes
to that new future of prosperity and
mower, possible only in the shelter or
the dear old flag. To the conquerers
and the conquered, to the white and
the black. to the master and the siaVe
the result was Gods providence.
For the first time in our history on
decoration Day we are at war. once
more upon the soil of Old Virginia
tho bavonets are agleam. From day
to dav the boys in blue pass BY the
reveille. the bugle call is heard even
in this city of the silent dead. rms
time. thank Cod the war is not sec
tional. There are no brothers arrayed
AGAINST brcthers: no Americans against