The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-05-29
MEMORIAL DAY,

Tomorrow recurs the custom estab-
Iished after the war known as Decora-
ton or Memorial Day. Originally in
tended in commemoration of the sol
diers who fell in the war of 1S61-65,
when the graves of the fallen were dec
Drated with flowers, it has become a
day when all graves are decorated,
when the entire nation stops in its busy
round of work, it's devotion to pleasure
or business and thinks of it's dead,
thinks Of the victorious who have risen
60 fame and honors, whose names may
have become historical, and also thinks
OF those who have stumbled in the bat
tie, of life, of those to whom no fame
and no honors have come, and whose
names are but engraved on some sor-
rowing mothers, Widows or friends
heart.
Like all good customs it is one which
has gradually grown. From few pro-
cessions it has grown into a national
procession, and tomorrow there will be
the tramp of millions of feet marching
to thousands of cemeteries, from Maine
to Louisiana, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, and out in the midst of its blue
waters in the Hawaiian Islands, in soli-
tary Guam, in Luzon, at Pago-Pago. In
no place where flies the Stars and
Stripes will the day be forgotten.
The little band of veterans, survivors
of that war of nearly forty years ago.
grows smaller and smaller year by year.
as the plot, reserved for the burial of
the veterans grows year by year larger
But added to those who fell in the ear
Iier war, are now those who fell in
Cuba and Luzon, a glorious roll carry
ing on the traditions of the past, and
closing the century with the same hon
orable record which has ever marked
the deeds of the army and navy of the
United States.
But we must not look only on the mill
itary side of the day. There is the
domestic side. Memorial Day is no day
of lamentation, as a similar day was
used by the Jews. 1t has no somber
attributes. 1t is held at time when
even in the northern part of the Union,
the sun shines warm, the grass is green,
the blossoms are on tree and shrub, and
the air is laden with many sweet scents
of the early summer. 1t is well chos-
en- time, for it typifes the glorious hope
and realization of the resurrection. Had
IT been held in winter it would have had
gloomy surroundings; but it has, In
May. the surroundings of light sunlit
world, telling of life and gladness, not
of death and desolation.
And So when, tomorrow, kind hearts
and hands go forth to heap flowers
upon the graves of dear ones who have
gone before, or upon the last resting
place of the stranger who has found
rest beneath our tropic skies, the
thoughts about them will not be
gloomy. The memory of what was
good and kindly in them will come back
to us; the faults, mercifully, will be
forgotten. The heart of the mother, the
widow, the sister, will feel softened,
man yearn. perchance to join the spirit
that has reached it's happy home where
there is no hore sorrow, no more wrong;
where all is happiness, beauty, rever-
ence, and sinlessness; but it will be
chastened yearning, and though tear
may fall, it will not be the tear of
abandoned and bitter grief, but the tear
of resignation and of hope.
That such an opportunity for quiet
thought and for the commemoration Of
the dead should be given argues well
for the inner feelings of the race. With
out we are cold and impassive. We are
Unconditional to the casual observer, but
below the surface their is a we'll spring
of emotion and tenderness, which hide
It as we may breaks forth upon occas-
ions like this, and makes us kin in hui
mainly, kindness and reverence.
Looking upon the graves of those gem
erations who have gone before u.s. be-
lieving in the life immortal, which we
all hope for the words of the poet come
to us,
There is no death! What seems so
is transition;
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian
Whose portal we call DEATH
Such thoughts as these crowd around
Memorial Day. Thoughts holy, restful,
hopeful Good it is that once. year our
minds are turned to such solemn yet
elevating thought