The Newtown bee., 1899-06-02
man and Amos Camp attended the races
in Danbury, Decoration day.
Memorial Day Observances.

BRIEF ADDRESSES MADE--THE GRAVE
DECORATED.
Brief exercises were held In the New
| town and st Roses cemeteries on Deco
ration day in honor of the veterans pass
ed away. At the Newtown cemetery Rev
Mr. Linsley spoke eloquently, and We
wish we could reproduce his exact words
In substance he said:
Comrades, fellow citizens, ladies anG
gentlemen: We, the living, are met to-
gether here to hold for brief space
communion with our soldier dead. Some
of us fought with them side by side In
our Civil war. Others watched with keen.
est interest the outcome of the conflict
And all of us are now enjoying alike the
fruits of victory.
Whose name shall we invoke as we are
gathered here? Upon whom shall we
call to consecrat e ourselves as we keep
to-day the memorial of our soldier dead
1t is upon thee, o Liberty, that we call
in this sacred houri 1t is In thy name
that the war was fought, and we invoke
thee now and here.
The Declaration of Independence as
serted liberty to be one of the lnalienable
rights of man. Liberty is one of those
gifts of God belonging to every individ-
ual by virtue of his birth. Liberty is
one OF those natural enoowments which
inhere in the very existence Of every man.
And yet, as we glance hastily over the
record Of the past we find that in almost
every nat1on-ancient medieval and
modern--Liberty, the inalienable, God
given, natural right of man, has been de.
MED to most men. And, finally, it was
in this glorious land of America that the
seeds of true liberty were sown and
brought forth most abundant fruit.
But even here there was no exception.
The man whose skin was black, through
no fault of his own, who shared with us
this common humanity OF ours, was de.
MED the liberty which of right was his.
To give him that liberty you, comrades,
went to war, and to preserve the union
and to bring into reality that saying of
the great Daniel Webster, "Liberty and
Union, now and forever, one and insep-
arable."
Now IS years have passed since you
came back. And how great the contrast
1t is like the contrast we see here to-day
between this bright and glorious sur
shine and the dali clouds and gloom Of
yesterday.
During these wears which have passed
many and difficult problems have claim
ed the couptry's neutrality-suspicious., |
civil, political and social, which have
been as hard to solve as the very con.
lens are not settled. And now it is well |
to turn our whole attention to the pres
ent with its duties and its dangers. And |
fret, permit me to say that one duty is |
to be generous TO the conquered.
We can afford to be generous to the |
conquered. am sure you will allow me |
to say that l have ALWAYS felt great sym
pathy for the South. Myself, by birth |
and training, a Unionist, through and |
and through, have always felt great pity |
and sympathy for the South.
Let me say that many of them, most |
OF them, were sincere in their mista ken
view, and now that the Issue has shown
them in the wrong, we can afford to be
generous to them, and work with them
side by side in pursuits of peace.
remember very well one most striking
scene OF which have recently read in our
more recent war with Spain. In that
great naval battle Off Sal tiago when the
Spanish ships were beached and Spanish
men were perishing, the heroic American
marines showed this generosity TO those
against whom moment before they were
firing their destructive guns.
''Those men are dying" shouted one
captain, and American heroes risked
their lives to save Spanish enemies.
And there are dangers still in the time
Of peace. There is danger of men fall
Ing back into political bondage-the
danger that men who WELD the power OF
The franchise will sink into a slavery
This is danger not only to the nation
as whole, not only to great cities, but,
believe you will agree with me, thai
even small towns on our New England
hills are not altogether free from this
danger in political affairs.
a md fhnrn 10 ka do 80 10 |
Every true soldier must be arrayed on the
side OF law and order as he follows the
pursuits of peace.
Finally, In closing, [ want to speak q
word of encouragement to you, my con-
rades. There are those who would try to
dissuade you from keeping up this COM
custom of observing the annual
day. Heed them not. They
attempt to say you are ndulging in mere
sentiment. So you are INDUCING ip senti-
ment, but l want to say that true senti-
ment is thing that helps to make life
sweet and is truly heroic.
1t might be said that fathers love for
his child by which he would risk very life
itself to save his cffspring from danger Or
death is mere sentiment, that q husbands
devotion to his wife is merely sentiment,
that the true patriotism that induced you
TO fight in your eountry's cause ia mere
sentiment. So be it. And yet these are
some of the noblest things in life.
In the recent destructive fire in
the Windsor hotel in New York the
elevator man refused to be drawn
ger, and insisted upon making one more trip
to save some more women and children, but
was shut mp IN the shaft by the raging flames
CAN it sentiment if you will. But it was
truly heroic thing.
So let this sentiment of keeping this day
sacred memorial OF your soldier dead en- 9ure.
Every recurring year finds the number of
your dead increased, and the number OF the
living veterans fewer.
But the fewer you become, prove yourselves
the more faithful in this noble work. Let |
the beautiful flowers of Gods own creation
be reverently laid upon the graves, and let |
the Stars and Stripes, the emblem of rue |
liberty, wave in the blue OF heaven, as you
your heroic dead.
AT st Roses cemetery Father Smith de. |
livered an excellent but short address. |
The graves Of the veterans throughout |
the towns were all decorated.
A we'll known citizen, interested some
what in real estate, so the boys say, got |
locked in his own house in curious
way. He went up stairs and passed in
to large closet which had q snap lock |
upon it. The door blew together with a |
bang and our Sandy Hook friend found |
himself imprisoned. He shouted and |
pounded to no avail. Finally friend. |
who had been with him short time pre- |
viously, went to look him up, heard the
noise and found the citizen perspiring |
and glad TO be released. The friend
promised not to speak of the incident,
and of course did not.
Frederick Eckart and Miss Agnes Cor
don Of Bridgeport spent Decoration day
with John Ell. Costello.
Mrs w. L. Allen and children of Brook
lYn arrived in town at their summer home