The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1900-08-30
THE BOOMING CANNON
RECiTALS OF CAMP AND BAT.
TILE INCIDENTS.
Survivors of the Rebellion Relate
Many Amusing and Startling Incl.
dents of Marches, Camp Life, Forag-
ing Experiences and Battle Scenes.

The veteran of the Civil War has al
ready become history. The great lead
erS of that strife have gone into the
Walhalla of heroes. The veteran is
crowded by both time and eternity. As
youth presses upon gray heads, so the
new army and navy are crOwding off
the old soldiers. And from the other
side the shades of those gone before
press in upon the verge of time.
To the eye of reason as well as of
sentiment. the veteran is the most pic
turcsque and significant figure in Amer
ca. He has been part of great events;
he has lived: he has done something;
most of us are commonplace and un-
heroic beside him.
The soldiers of &c are all gone-those
who shivered with Washington ut Val
ley Forge and received the sword of
Cornnwallis ut Yorktown. The men of
1872 are gone. who followed Scott and
bled mt Lundy's Lane The majority
of the men of the Mexican war who
stormed Chapultepec and captured
Santa Anna, are gone. n vast number
of those who followed Grant and Sher-
man and Sheridan are gone. and the
host is passing. Ten years will see
many more go; twenty years will see
the ranks reduced to small number;
thirty years will leave but very few,
if any.
Let us revere, honor and love these
men while they live, and not wait to do
them honor until they are all dead. We
would go far to see n soldier of the
Revolution, if one were upon the earth;
let us revere these heroes who are
alive
The veteran was part of a great
army. 1t was great in numbers-im-
mense, when compared with many
armies of the past 1t was great in the
scale of the war in which 1t was en-
gagged: the fighting extended over a
vast territory. 1t was great in the
cause in which it was enlisted, union
and liberty, and the principle that "a
mans man for all that"
The veterans deserve honor, because
they preserved the nation and freed
the slaves. The fathers of the Revolu-
tion gave us country in which there
is no king but God, and our veterans
preserved land in which there is no
master but the right. The veterans
made it possible for all the subsequent
events of our history to follow; we owe
to them our progress. Let us count
up our debt and pay it in honor, love
and gold. The veterans made possible
the events of the present. They made
it possible for the Sixth Massachusetts
Regiment. in the present war, to march
through Baltimore. garlanded with
roses. where in the COS their predeces-
sOrs had been mObbed. They made it
possible for us to behold so romantic a
circumstance as the presence Of Grants
grandson on the staff Of Virginia Lee.
They made it possible for our nation to
be powerful enough to extend strong
arm over weak Cuba, and to cast the
Spanish crown across the Atlantic.
1t is not necessary to attempt to re-
call all their deeds: they are cared for
by the muse of history, and their bat
tlefields have become holy ground.
We must pay these men; no treas
ures are too rich, no honors too great;
all the gold of the KlOndike, all the
pearls of all the seas could not reward
these herSes. If l had the ear Of the
Legislatures of our nation, would
suggest the adoption of Veterans
Salute" to be used whenever a soldier
of the Civil War is met: some signIfi-
cant hail ought to be given whenever a
bronze button appears
But these men are passing. More
than thirty years have gone since that
war closed. A new generation has been
born, arrived at maturity and taken up
much of the work of our nation.
Through all these years the veterans
have been silently dropping out Of the
ranks of the living; each year sees an
increasing number depart; though
many are left. yet relatively. to the
whole number. they are but few. Soon
the men who fought in the Civil War
will almost all have gone; and as time
goes on popular interest in these SOL
diers increases and ought to Increase.
When they came back from the war
the women and children received them
with shouts and crowned them with
flowers; but as they dropped back into
routine work enthusiasm died away.
But again popular enthusiasm on be-
half of the veteran has been awakened.
as we see them depart; and this is as II
should be.
The veteran is passing. After awhile
when but one is left, the nation will
devote itself to hOnoring the last man
who fought to save it; his pictures will
be everywhere, and public prints will
detail his life and words. When he Is
ready to depart, there will be a great
host to meet him on the other side:
there will be Grant and Sherman. and
the multitudes of soldiers who have
gone. Not only these, but the men Of
10 and Of '76 will be there; there will
be Washington and his companions. to !
take to their hearts the last veteran of |
the great Civil War.
But when they have all gone to the |
other side their work will remain. in |
a unified country, in freed race, and |
history will honor them for ever and |
ever. There is much of pathOs Just |
now in the sight Of the young faces
that have become our sOldiery, while |
the grizzled heads who have long been
looked upon as ''the soldiers" stand |
silently looking on. All hail to these |
heroes who for the time seem to be |
eclipsed, but whose place is eternal In
the heart of the natiOn.-New York |
Ledger.
Soldiers Scythe Still Hangs There.
Thirty-eight years ago young Angus
tus Bliss. of Warwick, quit cutting
brush on his fathers farm, hung his
scythe on 4 pine tree and went off to
war. The soldier boy never came back,
and the scythe has never been taken