The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-01-22
THE NATIONS DEAD.
Thy M,sso,,r; Vs.,

by Missouri Wclch Shiye.,
Ihe new. year begins In the ausn,c,o,.
.isht OF g newly concluded peace treaty.
put when the Nation addresses itself to
cool computation OF the cost OF the war
II viii be found that there IA nm e,u.,vs
something In the balance sheet Nh,
aigits may be there representing Win
grim precision the enormous expenditure-
even the death list--in unfeeling, unlyinR
nsures; but a true reckoning Of the price
paid for free Cuba, for Porto Rico far ~
philippines is beyond the breadth Of NOR.
tai grasp.
The value of human life is not trans.
latable into characters penciled by human
hand. Beyond the limits Of lime ana
space--behind the veil screening man from
his God-stands the Recorder. His mystic
scroll, ablaze with the names Of our deatb-
less dead, contains that which eludes Tho
touch OF Unite fingers
~ is no new tning for the price OF lib
cry 70 ne paid in blood, but there is a
perennial freshness in sense OF its cost,i-
ness. Yes, Dead in the cause Of llbcrty J,
Is an old, old message, the same that came
IN with the wars OF the human race to
pass out only with the dawn OF universal
peace--yet, in the light of the nineteenth
century, flashed across S,,uilern4 sci. a. & n.
fell upon the Nations heart with that
duil, sickening thtd known to all times
and tongues and zones. The guns Sc
Manila and Santiago have pointed out for
us new out-posts under tropical skies. In
strange waters; but they have defined even
more clearly that broad democracy of woe
which equals cot and palace, They
nave erased the parallel of sectionalism
tnat a generation ago was hardly an Inn
aginary one, and today, from the threshold
OF new year, in retrospect blended
with triumph and regret thank God! no
compass indicates the trend Of Nations
sorrow. for its slain. When the war note
wounded from all parts. al rlasses and
conditions of men became comrades In
arms. each carrying In his heart certain
ty OF the ultimate result from his coiin-
try'S standpoint, but an enduring doubt
as to his own destiny.
1t was suggested that soldiers reared In
the piping times OF peace might be found
wanting in the warlike virtues when put
to a crucial test. New made history tells
us that under the most desperate condi-
lions possible to nightmare of the hu-
man imagination, the CHASTITY gaps IN our
returning ranks were left by those who
unfalteringly made the supreme sacrifice.
Whether they met death under the fire OF
foe lurking In tangled ambuscade. or In
terrific charge about the heights OF San
tiago. when the din of battle mingled or
alternated with elemental strife In pesti-
lential Cuban or home camp or In pest
charged transport they are one and all the
Nations honored dead. Many persisted In
their pride for the glory of flag whose
colors should pale with shame In the at
ternath of victory; their dying eyes guzei
across the rivers brim from a two fold
strife--a fiercer strife with hunger, with
disease and weakness from privation and
exposure, than should grace the records
of great Nation battling for humanity.
Since it has come so close home to us
we finger more tenderly the classic pages
which reveal to us the antiquity OF hero
worship and the sapotheosis of the dead
soldier. Today, as never before 1t seems
peculiarly fitting that the master minds
of the ages. each in his chosen line. should
have dignified and glorifled his life work
by leaving to the world monuments COM
memorating those patriotic virtues whose
practice leads to glory or the grave.
The genius OF Simonides easily survives
in his peerless inscription. on the monu-
ment to Leonidas and his immortal three
hundred:
go Tell to Sparta. thou that passeth by.
That here, obedient TO her laws, We lie.
Tennyson, though dead. yet speaketh In
his "Charge of the Light Brigade To
American genius backed by An eiiean
patriotism we intrust the memories OF the
Nations dead.
Sculptor ana painter, musician, novelist
and poet will herein find subjects worthy
to be wrought by the most divinely gifted.
For the personally bereft the musician s
future dead march will contain trembling
iindertones from the volumes mournful
swell to harmonize with the pathetic calm
of waning grief; their dead will live-walk
these earthly hannts--yea even die again
lat the mysterious motion Of minds yet
10 be; upon the canvas OF God-given
genius. the prowess, the triumphs. the
martyrdom OF the American soldier VIII
live Immortality; marble now untouched
by light OF day will be chiseled into e3-
ouisite traceries and reared skyward bear.
ing graceful and grateful uttcrances o.
generations yet to be. II the Nations
graves are her stepping stones to higher
heights along the immense plateaus or
civilization. let her tread them gently.
lovingly: for they are not dead who sleep
beneath, but alive in "man's unconquor-