The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-01
REV. FIR. HARTIGAN.
Eloquent Address at St,
Johns Cemetery Tues
day Morning.

The address of Rev. William F. Har-
tigan, of st. Anne's church. at St.
Johns cemetery Tuesday morning at
the memorial exercises is worthy of
publication in full and is given below:
We are gathered here today within
the precinct of this hallowed place, to
pay a tribute of respect and love to the
memory of our departed heroic dead.
Today, is the saddest, the tenderest,
the hottest, Of all those days of the year
which our beloved nation has set apart
for the respect and remembrance of
her soldier-dead.
Well has it been called by some ore,
the nation S holy day instead of the ma
tons holiday, and aptly might it be so
called if reverent and endearing senti-
ments of love, affection and religion,
which encircling round its sacred char
aCter could make it such.
Originally it was set apart from
the other days Of the year by a CRATE
full and mOurnful people, to do honor
to the memory of those fallen heroes Of
81 and IS, who endangered their lives
for the protection and preservation of
our beloved union.
But times have changed since then,
and the Memorial day of our fathers of
late years has taken a wider and a
deeper significance, for it is today not
only the custom for those who
have lost near and dear ones,
and this bereavement is almost
universal, to Wend their way on this
day from early dawn to closing in of
night, to the neighboring verdant val
leys the shady hillsides and sequestered
spots, called graveyards and cemeteries,
Of our country, and those having laid
their tribute of love and affection upon
the sacred resting places of their be-
loved dead to kneel in humble prayer,
and while they recall those loved ones
of by-gone Gays, beseech the common
Father of us all. to grant eternal rest
to their departed souls.
This day then, has become more re-
ligious in its object and in its character
and nature, for like the Catholic church
she too, in her love and remembrance,
must follow her beloved to the shores
OF the distant land in feeling thought
and loving prayer. But this day loses
none of it's patriotic character, as it
grows deeply more religious. For 1t is
etill and always will be the same old
revered Memorial day of our fathers,
tbs chosen anniversary day of our ma
tons heroic dead, when north and
south, east and west join hands in
common, to dc honor to the memory Of
the men who sleep.
Beneath the northern and the south
Beneath l-it the flowers and verdure Of
another spring,
Brave heroes of q past but living time,
Around your memory our hearts will
ever cling.
Under the sod and under the dew,
Awaiting the judgment day,
Under the laurels the Blue
Under the roses the Gray
AS look out today over the wide ex-
panse of this field of God, 1 see along
its undulatory surface of graves many
a mound of earth which tells me OF
sadder days, Of distant past but living
glory. I see here and there unfurled tC
the breeze the emblem of our country
rights, her freedom and her liberty
softly waving in the breeze of this hal
lowed day, in mourntul rhythm over lhe
dear ones who have gone, but IN eXult-
ant 10Y over the victories she has won
For here sleep those who to their coun-
try gave
Their strength, their life, their all.
That they her liberty and rights might
save
From a conquered nations fall
1 speak now Of the heroes of the civil
war brave and intrepid men, some OF
whose bones have lain here for nearly
40 years.
They forsOok their home and friends
they stepped from the arena of human
strife and toll, and took their place OF
the battle fields of their country, tina
they might defend her honor, that they
might place her high up among the ma
tions of the earth in justice, liberty
and right.
For this they crimsOned the southern
plains with their blood, for this they
struggled, fought, won and died, anC
for this today some Of them sleep here
in Gods holy acre awaiting the judg
ment day, enshrined in the hearts o.
their friends, their countrymen anC
their nation.
1t is true they were not with us IL
body when the dreadful sound of wal
broke over our peaceful hills and val
leyS more than q year ago, but they
We're with us in spirit, and their pas
but living glory, their dauntless, valian
patriotism, their sacred and willing sac
rifice which they made at the foot o.
their country's altar, animated thei
sons, their representatives, their coun
trymen with that heroic spirit that en-
ables men to lay down the Implement
Of labor and take UP the implements d
their country's rights and honor. TIT
country that does not hold in memor
lam with dearest reverence the memor!
and love of her departed heroes is dead il
power, might, glory and greatness, fol
her departed heroes are but the chry
sails from which spring her future
strength her future power anC
her future glory. The spiri
Of the Ninth, the Twenty-frst
the Twenty fifth. the Thirty-sixthi regi
ments, and others which 1 have pot a
hand now, but none the less reYereC
and loved today, those three imntOrta
heroes which 1 choose from the galaxy
Of brave ones-I refer to DAILY, McCoa'