The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-05-31

biSIL Il SESF q.
Ritual ....... Post Commander
Ritual continued Post Commander
Decoration Graves r.... o. d.
RITUAL ................... Chaplain
Music .... ~ Band
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address-Com-
rade Bruce Hartman, Battery I,
Sixth Artillery.
Oration-Sergt. Maj. Edward J. Will
son. Sixth Artillery.
Roll Call of Dead - Adjutant
Salute Post and Escort
Singing America ... Audience
Post Commanded. L. LaPierre
Adjutant-Jas. T. Copeland.
Officer of the Day-N. B. Emerson
Chaplain-R. Jay Greene.
The address of Sergt. Maj. Wilson
was well received. The speaker has
good delivery and his Grafton was
replete with beautiful word-pictures.
1t was as follows:
This gathering is one of the greatest
revelations to me, to think that nearly
5000 miles from the shores of the
United States the people gather to hon.
or the dead of that-Or, l should say,
this-nation, is one of the surest evil
dences of the stability of the Western
Republic. What thrill of patriotic
pride surgeS through ones veins when
we see these graves remembered. OF
all the days that are or have been set
apart by the different nations as hOl-
idays, none deserve more than this one
to be supported by all. The ObServ-
ance of the day ought not to be linn
lied to the New World, but to all corn
ers of the earth. A friend of mine re-
marked the other day that it was a
holy and wholesome thing to honor
the dead" To my mind there is no ac-
tiOn that shows a more refined and
cultivated nature than one that tends
to show that we still remember the
dead. Any people that can and will
find time to close the Office and shop
to do honor to the fallen soldier-yes.
and the living-will be thrice blessed.
Not to the dead alone, but to those few
that are left to us, we owe debt OF
gratitude. We have here the repre-
sentative of a union of survivors OF
that terrible struggle. No grander Or
ganization can exist. The object of
their existence being to perpetuate the
memories of the comrades who have
answered the last roll call, they are
nobly succeeding i'll their most laud-
able object.
No honor IN life, nor reverence in
death, is too great for the men that
left their homes nearly forty years ago
to take up arms in a great armed
struggle to preserve inviolate that
flag that is today the pride and protec-
ton of all lovers of liberty.
One year ago today | passed through
one of the smaller national cemeteries
of the United States. Here lie buried
10000 dead whose names were un-
known.
What a prolific cause of regret and
remorse when we think that 10000
homes waited and wondered at the de-
lay in the home coming of a father,
brother, or perhaps lover, and who
now lies in an unknown grave. Did
you ever think what it is to go down
to posterity without name? Nothing
to distinguish one, save a number.
/ can imagine no more apt simile
than to liken our national life to some
great upward incline fiecked with the
golden light of heaven, shaded here
and there by clouds of war, these
same dark spots serving but to en-
hance the beauty of the balance of our
pathway. Come with me if you will
and let us walk up this grade. Scarce
y
us, is a flagstaff, upon which floats the
stars at half mast. Here it is that
patriots of the new power to be, placed
their lives upon the altar of their
country. LHEingtOn, the gateway of
Western liberty, And upon it is
builded q mighty monument, whose
foundation is the blood of the first
pioneers OF liberty and freedom, and
whose top is covered with immortal
ity AS we continue our journey up
ward ard onward let us observe that
there has risen Phoenix-like, a great
new world power. Still passing on
and we reach a cemetery where lie
those of the Mexican war. And in
fancy | can see the veterans of that
looking with dimmed eyes up
on this old cemetery. 1t is but short
distance until a grand, nay infinite,
yet withal an inspiring picture is
presented to our gaze. Reaching out
to where the sky touches the earth,
is a perfect sea of marble slabs.
Again our fancy leads us backward,
until we see vast army gathered, go
ing out 10 battle. How strong they
look, how invincible they are, backed
I'D by the right, with Gods support.
For four long, bloody years we can
follow them through campaign after
campaign, Drawing battle and disease
that the Union might survive. Then
came peace. blessed peace And then,
as time goes on, we see this fighting
army becoming citizens and banding
together to keep alive the comrade-
ship of the tented field. 1t is solemn