The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1899-06-02
Decoration Day Grafton.


ed by the army and navy, demand
ing the freedom Of Cuba and an
immediate evacuation of the Span
ish forces from that island-an ul-
timatum the naughty pride OF
Spain forbade to hear.
Then came the declaration of war
and the call to arms on the 21st of
April, little more than year ago.
Never was war declared against a
foreign foe by a nation less pre-
pared for war. But Uncle Sam
astonished himself and amazed the
nations at large. In nine months
he wiped two whole fleets off the
face of the deep without the loss OF
vessel or damage to ship, with
only ten men killed in the trans
action; changed the geography of
two oceans, and the diplomatic as
pect Of the world, and became the
political guardian of some fifteen
millions of wards incapable of self
government that he must save from
themselves as we'll as the avarice of
the European powers, and tecah
the accomplishments of civiliza.
ton.
Then amid the sad memories of
the day and hour what patriotci
heart does not glow with joy at the
thought, that no matter what the
purchase price of our independence
the cost of protection from foreign
foes and the rivers of gore that
flowed to maintain the union, the
same Stars and Bars, the banner of
our infant days, still proudly float
over a united, peaceful and happy
nation, undiminished by n single
rood in territory, but ever growing
in dimensions and influence; from
whose map the Mason and Dixon
line has been forever erased and
which no longer knows a North or
South, a part free Oh a part slave.
It has we'll been worth the cost of
the blood and treasure of the recent
Spanish American war to see blue
and gray with their sons marching
side by side to victory in Cuba or
the Philippines, and to see IL Dewey
FROM Vermont and II Hobson from
the mother of secession vieing with
each other to prove their loyal de-
votion to Old Glory.
Boys, shall l say it? Forever
hence the bloody shirt is a dis
honored rag. How fitting then
that as II nation we should pause
and take a day off from the pur-
suits of business to pay tribute to
the memory of the dead heroes,
whose valor and blood purchased
the blessings of peace which we
now enjoy. Long may their men,
cries live, tenderly cherished III our
hearts, and long may we treasure
the memory of these their comrades
in arms who were no less brave
but more fortunate in the chances
of war. Let 20 American citizen
become so absorbed in the worship
of Mammon as to forget the debtof
gratitude that he owes to the noble
defenders of the nation living or
dead. Noeulogy can be framed by
human tongue that will do justice
to the American volunteer. A man
of peace, he loves the quiet of his
own hearthstone better than the
camp fire or the bivouac, and
fights only when battle
is thrust upon him.
No lust for booty, ambition for
martial glory or love of conquest
ever took an American soldier into
single campaign; no hireling he
who fights for pay or follows war
as vacation. A man of princi. lie
he fights only from principle, an
mated by II principle to maintain
a principle, and fighting thus from
the raw recruit for the first time
under fire or the grizzled veteran of
many battles on land or sea, he
stands without peer in the mar