The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-07-05

Declaration of Independence. "a Thousand
Years My Own Columbia" was sung by
Prof Belcher, accompanied by the choir
and band, after which Mr.. Charles E. Merri-
field recited an original poem. 1t was called
THE Boys of Fifty Years Ago." one verse
of which was as follows:
We have guns of such excellent make
They could a city almost like an earthquake.
But for dealing death IN its greatest sum
I'm told that Maxim has reached the maximum;
Why. old Vesuvius with his awful crater.
Is not so terribly much greater
Than our little Vesuvius down near the equator
II you had felt the shock.
when of her she Is struck mountain of rock,
You would surely think she was chip off of the
old block.
Such ship as bears proud Indana's name.
And guards upon the our Nations fame,
With stars and stripes and Union Jack unfurled.
Could fifty years ago have sunk the navies OF the
world.
And thus we might go on ad iibitum.
And tell how could the enemy destroy. If We
could only hit em.
MIR. HANNAS GRAFTON.
The Grafton of the day was then deliv-
cred by ex-Lieutenant Governor Thomas
Hanna.
1T is our duty to commemorate the menu
DRY of the soldiers who have died; too many
words of honor and songs of praise cannot
be uttered. but the Republic Is now under
greater obligation TO the living soldiers we
cannot do the dead any good; hundreds and
thousands of the soldiers of the war for the
Union and of the Spanish-Americ war
are with US, and our government Is llDeral
to the invalid and crippled soldiers, TO the
widow and the orphan, but not too liberal
"A guarantee of employment by. the En-
glish government Is a discharge from its
army and the same with the French soldier.
The Confederate soldiers are royalty
treated by the States that seeded from
the Union. Soldiers homes have been
erected for the weak and feeble and the
States have burdened themselves with taxes
to pension the disabled and all the offices
Ind uritn fhn
there are any living to choose from We
sometimes are driven to the conclusion that
the great commercial North think that the
sions they receive and that they should not
claim priority over civilian in seeking an
office Much complaint has been made when
Marching through Georgia played by
the band at convention where the soldier
was candidate against a civilian. Indiana
chosen. These things should not be; our
duty to the living soldier should not be over
looked, lest that 1t may be truthfully said:
That God and the soldier all men adore,
In time of trouble and no more;
That when the trouble is over. and all
things righted,
God is forgotten and the old soldier
sighted
thropist of our age, said: In conclusion
TREMENDOUSLY, lest l assume too much, let me
hasten to commend to the careful consider
alton of your noble, generous people, alike
the soldier, who has given his strength the
prisoner, who has sacrificed hiD health, the
widow. who has offered up her husband, the
orphan, who only knows that his father
went out to battle and comes no more
forever, and the lonely distant grave of the
martyr, who sleeps alone in a strangers SOIL
that freedom, peace might come to ours
1t has been discovered by the explorers of
the ruins OF the old fated city Of POmpeii.
inundated by burning lava, that the sentinel
that guarded the gates of that city died at
his post Explorers have recently discovered
a mold in the lava of the faithful soldier
and sentinel that died at his post and 1t
now appears that the lovers Of art are en-
abled to have cast life size statue of the
most heroic and faithful sentinel of ancient
times, and that the art galleries of the world
can be adorned Herewith. My friends, we
are unable to have cast life-szed statues of
best; We have one monument in Indiana
to those silent victors, but we can have con-
structed on the planes of our affections and
in the art galleries of our hearts their
statues, more lasting than brass and more
enduring than marble to the purpose and
pie. for the people and by the people shall
not perish from the EARTH.
The singing of America" by the entire
audience. led by the band and choir, closed
the exercises.
The morning was given over entirely to
family reunions and a concert by the /. o.
r. NJ. Band. Almost every one in the great
crowd had a revolver or noise producer of
some kind. and the din was indescribable
The voices of the speakers could be heard
but short distance from the stand and a
line of policemen were stationed around the
stand to preserve a small space in which
noise was prohibited.