Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1899-06-02
Decoration Day Exercises.

Jay was Jne annual decoration service at
Rockville cemetery, which was attended by
a large concourse of people from the town
and surrounding country, The program
OF exercises embraced the following: Deco
ration of graves; singing by quartette
prayer by Rev. T. H. Campbell; singing of
hymn; address by Philip D. Laird, Esq;
benediction by Rev. G. Dorsey White.
The ladies of the Cemetery Association
are to be congratulated upon the great i'm
provement made in the grounds.
The following is the address delivered by
Mr.. Laird on this OCCASION
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The beautiful custom of decorating the
graves of the dead-a custom in some form
as old as human feeling and affection-has
happily of late years received new and
wider recognition. What was the expression
of fresh and poignant personal sorrow for
loving companionship broken, has grown
into the dedication of day to the pious duty
of strewing over the beloved dust the tokens
of Springs new life, as emblems of the final
resurrection. If the new order had its origin
in the patriotic impulse to show a peorle's
appreciation of brave deeds and unsel6sh
sacrifice upon the field of battle, it exhibits
u patriotism not less ardent, and possibly
more enduring, when it lays a wreath upon
the graves Of those about whose names and
deeds the page Of history is silent, but who
bore the burden of daily toll with strong
christian earnestness, and
"ln common ways with common men,
Served their race and time,
90 hn fol ~ L. oko
or stood in the "ferce light that beats upon
a throne"
There sleep here some who occupied ex-
allied stations, but the homage you pay this
hour is born of the Preside virtues which
brought daily blessing, and the memory of
which is daily benediction.
They are our own dead, and the fact that
they rose to place and power adds nothing to
the character which remains the same what
ever may be the sphere of human activity
and therefor re the humblest who rest here are
as dear and as worthy of emulation as any
who bore proud titles. In an exquisite biog-
raphy of a friend, Emile Souvestre says:
awe have not 10 do here with one of those
personages whose passage leaves luminous
track in history but private life has its own
models Besides the public Pantheons des-
tined for national celebrities, which of US has
not his domestic Pantheon, where he de-
serves to preserve the memory of heroes bet
ter known, though more humble, who are, as
ii were, the holy patti ons Of our obscure
pilgrimage2 By the side of the great epic
of humanity, each of us writes his Had in
honor of some unknown Achilles. In truth
the Achilles are less rare than we suppose
and there are in the world, thank God, more
lofty souls than high renowns."
1t is this thought which supplies the real
significance of this and kindred occasions to
us The personal nearness of those who rest
beneath the shade here awakens blessed and
tender memories, and although the sense of
loneliness dwels with us and our "hearts
grow liquid" as we remember, we feel some
how that the old joint life is abiding in the
spirit world, and that somewhere, in God
good time, it will have deeper meaning, a
better and brighter fulfllment. Thackaray
puts into words the conviction which, ! am
sure, has forced itself time and again upon
every soul of man ''lf love lives through
all life and survives through all sorrow
and remains steadtast with US through all
changes and in all darkness of spirit burns
brightly and, if we die, deplOres US forever
and loves still equally; and exists with the
very last gasp and throb Of the faithful boz
sOm-whence it passes with the pure soul
bC1 Ohh uVnAhf ouiOiJ II quail bV
Though we who remain are separated from it,
is it not ours in heaven2 II we still love
those we lose, can we altogether lose those we
love2"
And all this makes il well for us to be here.
The tributes of flowers and tears which we
offer to'day can make no change in the dead
they may-and, if worthily offered, they
will--make blessed and enduring change in
us. A commercial age, absorbed in material
development, eager for gain, fertile in re-
sources keen and merciless in its rvalries,
needs every counterpoise which reverence
and affection can supply. When Burke said
that "a people who never look backwar to
their ancestors will never look forward to
their posterity," he uttered in clever aphor-
ism profound political truth. But it has
an individual as well as "A general applica-
ton, and is weighted with lesson TO men
as well as to mankind. II teaches US to re-
we're the dead whom we knew and loved in
our daily life, because from them may we
best learn how to meet the daily duties that
confront us aud to worthily bear our part in
the great onward march of the ages. Those
who lead may indeed exhibit splendid exam
pies of endurance and devotion in try ing sta
tons of responsibility, and the world does |
right in building monuments to their worth |
and genius; but there is little in the lives of |
the great, as we call them, that differs, ex-
cept in degree, from the Ii yes OF those in our |
own midst who have won our regard and |
confidence. If we would only study these
things as they deserve to be studied, search
ng out the substance instead of standing
,gape at the trappings, life would be an easier
problem for US, and full of light and JOY in
The place of the heartburnings that Cypress
md hamper us every hour.
cannot stop to amplify this idea, and have
alluded to it only TO emphasize the thought
which it seems to me, we ought to carry
away with us from this quiet Gods ere,
ind that u.s. that for most of US our best ex-
,mplars are those of our ow n flesh and blood,
who, their work well done, edo now rest
rom their labors." They were not perfect
Tor were the great whose niche IN the temple
If fame we covet They did not envy the
great, because they knew that honesty and
innocence are more far-reaching and endur-
ng in their influence than the plaudits which
ing for an hour and may be turned into
,urses on the morrow, and that whatever
nay be the genius of leadership, it is a futile,
mpotent thing without The support and CO.
operation of manly qualities inspired by the
owe of right and truth. They faced the duties
md dangers OF life more for others sake than
heir own, so forming the great phalanx Of
brave men and brave women VINO thOuRhOut
centuries have held the worlds Thermopeles
against every assault Of falsehood and wrong.
We may not doubt that for them, at the last,
hone hope which we cannot as yet under
,tand, and the reward that is reserved for the
aithful and true.
'Hark, how the sacred calm that broods
around
Bids every fierce tumultuous passion cease,
"a still small accents breathing from the
ground
A grateful earnest Of eternal peace"
FROM their lives as we knew them day by |
lay, from their passing away as we stood by
orrowtul while for them ineffable light |
cleaned beyond the dark valley, let us draw
he great comforting, encouraging, inspiring
essen, that we too may, il we will, exhibit
he same superb devotion to duty, that we
90 may press on with the calm persistency
# faith, and standing upon the last frail
md tottering edge of time, like them see the
dawn Of a daylight undying," and catch
adiant glimpse of the glory that rests for
ver upon the City OF God