Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1899-06-03
wA-KEENEY, KAN JUNE 8. 1899. /gf4l<>o4>t~S zI>t%

ministration or that administration,
on this line of policy. but it is a SIM
pie faGt that to-day we are paying for
the shot and the shell, the ambu-
4 lanceS, the cavalry horses the batter
les. the bombarded fortresses, the
sunken ships, the broken bones and
the digging OF grave trenches during
our four years of national martyrdom-
| There is a false sentiment abroad in
I this country to-day that Smooths over
that great sin, and in the honeyed
words associates the names of Lin
7 coin and Davis, the stars and stripes
with the stars and bars. and the blue
with the gray. | question the wis
I dom and deny the patriotism of such
a course. 1t is true that a brave
mans wrath stops with the tomb. and
we may afford flower and tear for
an erring brothers grave. but the
enormity of the treason and its Woe
/ full consequences must never be for
\ gotten. For own sake and the sake
4 of our children we will do well to re-
member why it was that the whole
nation was in travail, why the soil
/ Tapped up the blood of patriots from
/ bleeding Kansas to the battle-owept
! peninsula, why the banner of the
stars was replanted in seeded states
over windrowS Of union dead why
/ loyal homes were shaded IN gloom,
4 WHY LlDDN anu Atlu6TSOuN lII6 IcGk6u
I and Stenched and rotted with those
who starved and prayed and wept and
died in filth and wretchedneSS unpar-
7 alelled in the annals Of history, and
why it was that the murderOus Booth
/ put out in darkness the loftieSt intel
/ lecu and the grandeSt soul that ever
trod the footStool of God.
/ To remember all this is>not to keep
alive sectional strife. although this
! has been done But the recent war
( has seen n new spirit come-o -oyer-tR :.
south, that 1t is in fact new south.
/ and we have seen Wheeler and Hob
/ son and Bagley and FitZhugh Lee of
/ the old confederacy vie in deeds of
/ heroiSm with Dewey and Merritt and
/ Roosevelt and Funston of the north.
/ A generation has grown to maturity
since the great rebellion. Children
/ play by the doorYardS of parents
born since that cruel war cloud passed
I by. but who can say that these young
+ hearts might not vet live to ache and
break in the coming years for the
empty chair and the cold hearthStone.
( We may avert a repetition of these
I calamitieS. but we shall court and de-
serve them unless we strive to grow
in virtue and patriotism with each
I succeeding ceremony of decoration
/ day. As we travel the road to the
/ cemetery on this day. may our hearts
u
ashes of our nations dead to their
spirit home above, gathering nobler
ideas, higher resolves and Il loftier
patriotism.
And how shall l address you. We
veterans of the Grand Army OF the
Republic. Some of you had to tip-toe
your way into the army thirty-eight
years ago. but now the elastic spring
of your walk. as you proudly marched
away. is gone. you football is heavy.
the eXuberance of youthful spirits,
with which you swept up the heights
of Missionary Rigdge and guarded the
watches of the cannon-skaken Rapi-
dan is no longer Overfiowing.
| stood in the streets of your capitol
city a few weeks ago when the Grand
Army Post of Topeka( gave parade.
and reception to the new state COM
mander.) / rejoiced to see such a
gQodly number that could still re-
spond on short notice. There were
about 400 of them, old grand SireS.
and they marched up Kansas avenue
and tried to keep time to the music
There was the empty sleeve and the
halting step. the stopping gait and
tOttering cane. but at the sight my
heart throbbed. and l was not aSham-
ed of the moisture that dimmed my
eyes to see the past of the nation
marching by. Veterans of the mighty
past, / salute you. / salute you in
Utle ndIDO Ol your UeTO ledueFS, your
Grants, your Shermans. your LoganS,
and SheridanS, whose names are en-
blazoned forever on the scroll of his
tory / salute you in the name of the
young men of America who must take
your places, alas, too soon, i salute
you in the name of your brave sons
who at Santiago, San Juan, Malalos,
Caloocan. and Manila Bay have dem
onstrated that the old spirit of Bun
ker Hill and Lundy Lane and Shiloh
and Mobile Bay and Gettysburg is
still alive and fiourishing in the hearts
of the American people We pledge
you that we will remember your deeds
in story and in song, and will teach
our children and our chiIdren's chill
dren. down to the end of time, at
what cost liberty and union were
saved and perpetuated by the men of
1861
The civil war settled some things
which badly needed settling for the
good of the country and the world at
large 1t settled the doctrine of null
LITIGATION and secession 1t settled
that the union of states was not a
rope of sand: it demonstrated that
the union could not exist half slave