The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-05-31

| OF blue at Corinth, at Shiloh, at
Charlottesville, at Chickamauga, at
Franklin and at Gettysburg. Drawer
| grander and truer soldiers than those
who SO unfalterngly followed the
leadership of Jackson, the Johnstons,
Longstreet, Bragg Hood, Early and
| Lee, never did honor to any country
or any cause. We of the Union army
believe that the cause of the Confeder-
acy was mistaken one, and that its
| triumph would have brought ultimate
disaster to the South as well as to the
| North. But we know that to err is
human, and that to forgive is divine
| Therefore, standing beneath the starry
flag or our reunited country, we stretch
| out the hand of fraternity and good Will
to those who wore the gray, and meet
| them upon the broad ground of a
common American brotherhood.
1t is eminently fitting that this should
| be SO, especially in the closing years
of the 10th century, when the men of
| the South and the man of the North
have been standing shoulder to should
| er beneath the stars and stripes
! and adding fresh luster to the
| American name in armed conflict with
foreign foe. I am proud and harry
| to believe that despite the angry chasm
| which once lay between us, the fayar-
| lite axiam of our order. "One Country
and One Flag now finds an echo in
every llOleSl southern neafC. w TN
| malice toward none, charity for
ALL" and in no spirit of self glorifica-
ton the members of Geo. G. Meade
| Post come to the observance of this
! day. Speaking for them, and for my
self as an individual member of the
| Grand Army, not an offensive COMPARE
| son would l make, not word would I
| utter to wound the feelings of any fair
minded man. The soldiers and sailors
| of the Union merely did their duty as
| they understood it. With the same I'M
| yielding determination that character
lied their opponents in gray, the boys
| in blue marched and toied and fought
| through all the vicissitudes of that cruel
| war. Alternately saddened by defeat
and cheered by victory, they pressed
| on through its ever-changing scenes
until high above the darkness and
| gloom of Bull Run, and Bulls Bluff,
and Manassas, and Fredericksburg rose
| the sun of AppomattoX-the symbol of
| final victory and peace. The principle
| of national unity was triumphant, the
| doctrine of state sovereignty was dead.
| Out of the roar, and din and carnage of
that terrible conflict has grown the
| beautiful ceremony of Memorial day.
| More than half million men had laid
! down their lives in the struggle. Twice
| that number have died since then Scat
| tered far and wide throughout the
| broad area of the Republic their hum
bic graves everywhere abound. In our
| great military cemeteries, bothNational
and Confederate, they lie, row after
| row, hundred after hundred and thou
sand after thousand. In the quiet dells
| of the South. in the peaceful church.
yards of New England and upon the
verdure-clad prairies of the West, their
little mounds appear. On the banks of
the lordly Potomac, by the waters of
the great lakes, amid the snowy peaks
of the Rocky mountains and beneath
| the somber shades of the Sierras'
waving pines, nay, in foreign lands as
| Well and even in the far-off crystal
depths of the ever-sounding sea, the
| soldiers and sailors of our civil war
are sleeping their last sleep and
awaiting the judgment day With the
disbanding of the armed forces upon
therestoration of peace, thousands of
| the battle -scarred veterans turned their
| faces to the West and became part
| Of that grand army of pioneers whose
| glory 1t has been to plant the banners
| of civilization upon every mountain
height and in every valley from the
SHOWS of British Columbia to the sun
shine. the orange blossom and the
| cactus of the Mexican frontier Many
of them aided in laying the foundations
of this splendid young commonwealth,
while some of them contributed, how
ever humbly, to the upbuilding and
development of your thriving and pro-
sressive city. OF these latter few
have ended the journey of this worlds
life. They have crossed the dark vale
which every human being must ira
verse, and their silent tents are spread
in the mysterious unknown that
lies beyond the shadow. Within the
cemetery upon the adjacent mountain
side and the other in the valley below,
they have been laid to their eternal
OCT l1yr -
Distinguished they may have been, or
commonplace and obscure, but what
ever their standing in society, whether
of high moral character or full of faults
and weakness, it is all the same for
the purpose of this ceremony. None of
| us is perfect, and with the same
charity that we hope to have extended
to us. We forget every shortcoming, re-
Numbering only that there was a time
when they were young and pure, when
their hearts beat high with hope and
ambition, when they We're actors in the
greatest national drama q may almost
say tragedy that ever held the stage
since history began.
Upon the lowly graves Of their dead
the members of the Grand Army of the
Republic annually lay the floral tokens
of their rememberance. Tenderly, rev.
erently, they have performed that
pleasing duty to-day. And meanwhile
InelT thoughts I'LL backward 10 the
days of long ago. Looking down
through the vista of third of a GEN.
fury they recall the time when this
great country now so peaceful and
happy Cat home at leasD was rocking
in the throes of internal strife, and
engaged in a life and death struggle
for its very existence; when brother
was arrayed against brother and
father against son, when for period
of four consecutive years upOn the bat
tlefield or in the hospital. the lives of
our young men were being extinguish-
ed at the average rate of nearly 400
day. And here, my friends, we have
the lessons that this simple ceremony
teaches and the duty of which 1t is
constant reminder. Every thought en-
gendered is eleVating, ennobling and
well calculated to fill the heart with the
tenderest emotions. AS a mere matter
of sentiment it * most exquisite con-
ception that in the beautiful spring
time, when the birds sing their sweet
Ii