The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1898-06-03
Memory of the Veterans Honored
Continued from First Page.
THE ADDRESS OF MRS. KNAPP.


given them to gladden. the 6ld soldier in
his last days. No thanks are asked for
what they do, except the permission to
continue their work while there is an old
soldier living. This the corps is deter
mined to do.
No government can fail, a majority of
whose people work for it's welfare. True
patriotism is complete conservation to
country; the surrender OF bright pros
poets to the welfare and demands of
ones country. A brief reflection will
show that it is unnecessary to attempt
to prove that the men OF the Grand Army
were patriots and We're men who worked
for the welfare of their country The
soldiers love of county and OF his COM
rades was forged into him in the furnace
OF battle, ard starved into him in the
cruel pen at Andersonville. Unselfsh
love characterizes the Relief Corps today
as it did the same women in the days OF
the rebellion. Many women went into
the hospitals and were there angels of
mercy; some went into the battlefields
and did heroic work. Through their
efforts many soldiers dying moments
were made brighter and calmer. Now
today the women OF the Relief Corps are
just as heroic doing deeds of kindness
and mercy; making the very best use OF
their opportunities.
The whole country glories in the Grand
Army and in that large band OF 400, 900
veterans who saved the nation. Once
each year they delight to honor the
brave men OF the nation with tributes of
word or garlands. Their eagerness to
show their respect does not lessen with
the increasing years, but the whole coun-
try, with the w. r. c., will still feel it an
honor to show their regard for the boys
in blue when the last one shall have en-
camped on the other shore.
REV. c. v. NoRrHRoP's ADDRESS.
Another year has come and gone,
bringing us, not as sectarians and parti-
sans, but as Christians and patriots, to
pay our annual tribute of quenchless love
to the memory of those noble men OF our
nation, and especially OF our own COM
munity who went down in the days of
battle or persisted in the pen or died in
the hospital, for that cause whose prin-
cipal events have been indicated as true
and righteous.
But we meet on this occasion as we
have never met before. Sncelast Memoir
ial Day taps has sounded and many
lights have gone out and we meet to
commemorate their death as well as
those who went down in the days OF 81
'65; but while we do so, and strew flow
ers over their graves we will not forget
to remember the Maine,' and the gallant
26S citizens and sailors who went down
with her. They were asleep in friendly
harbor they were not challenged to try
their courage. They were not whipped
in honorable battle, but choked, burned,
strangled and drowned without chance
to die, fighting for life, without a mo-
ment to say prayer. In the twinkling
of an eye they stood in the presence of
their Maker. Shall we forget them ?
No Not so long as memory serves us |!
But we are reminded also of still others
gone. Since the men responded to the
call OF our noble president a month ago,
volunteers of this grand old common
wealth-followers of the grand old flag
have gone to flames eternal camping
ground, in these first weeks OF the war
with Spain. Some have been struck
down by ailments contracted in camp
and denied the privilege Of standing
shoulder to shoulder with their brother
in an advance against the foe they did
their duty nobly and promptly as citi-
zens and soldiers by responding to their
country's call. So many newly made
graves to be moistened with the tears
and garlanded with flowers upon this
memorial day.
lie DlTUu tuu TtsuTTtCUlOu vi OuT III
vine Lord are first and last, always in
mourning OF the Christian and the pa
triot and next to these great and far
reaching events, come the principles and
cause ior which our friends and kindred
dared to die, and for which they risked
their lives.
Some people think that soldiers are
chiefly renowned for courage, but that is
one of the cheapest and commonest quail
ties; we share that with the brutes.
Wild beasts never scatter flowers
over their slain comrades: Why? Be
cause there are no ideas behind their war
fares. Our race has ideas, and because
ideas are mortal they be true, we build
monuments to them. We know that the
solid shaft and the white marble are
things by which we designate the last
resting place of the departed; and the
wreath we form and the garands we
blend are proper insignia of deep regard
and high esteem for the dead. But there
is deeper signigfcance to all this pres
ence than that. The upright shaft and