Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-06-01
Memorial Sunday.

Last Sunday afternoon members Of
Erastus Buck Post and auxiliary orgaui-
cations, the Relief Corps, Ladies' of the
&. 4. r.. and Sons of Veterans attended
service at the NJ. +. Church. Every
seat was occupied, The church was
nicely draped with flags and bunting
and potted plants and flowers added TO
the pretty effect. Some very appropri-
ate music was rendered for the occasion
by large choir which was greatly en-
joyed. Rev. +. j. Gale, the pastor, took
for his text the words found il Exodus
II, %: "What mean We 10y this service ~
Days set apart for the commemoraion
Of great events of their history is a
characteristic of all peoples in all ages of
the world. After a brief explanation OF
the observance of the Passover hy the
Jews, to which the text referred. the
preacher made an application of it to
the observance of Memorial Day. Nv hat
mean WE by this service ?" We do not
mean to glorify or justify war. War is
always an evil, and the only excuse for
it is when it is the lesser of two or more
unavoidable evils. We do not mean
hero worship. The American people are
not hero worshipers, except very briefly
and spasmodically. The men who sur
vived, and the men who stayed at home,
are all general characteristics. 1t was
not the men themselves, nor altogether
their deeds, which. we commemorate :;
it was their patriotism, their devotion to
the service of their country, that faith
fulness which has secured to us the last
ing blessing of an undivided country.
Nor do we mean by the annual ohseW-
ance of Memorial Day perpetuation Of
sectional animosites or triumph over
a fallen foe. A generation has passed
away and hot blood has cooled off, and
we can now recognize the fact that our
Southern brethren may have had just
as firm convictions that they were light
IS we had, and that their courage and
devotion to the right, as they saw 1t,
vas not inferior to our own. The fruit
Of this better spirit is already being
borne in the mingling of the blue and
the gray in some localities on Memorial
Day, and the mutual decoration of the
graves of fallen soldiers on either side
Memorial Day is rather the recognition
of the blessing to our own loved nation
which under Gods providence has come
out of the. bloody strife, and which those
who fell in it helped to win though they
were not permitted to enjoy. Not the
least of these blessings was the eradica
ton of great national sin, the sin o
slavery. This sin had grown into The
heart of the nation just as all sin grow
in the heart of man. The seed OF the
sill of slavery was sown here long belor'
tle war for independence; before th'
question of taxation without representa-
tion had arisen; even before the landin!
of the pilgrims from the Mayhower.
was sown in the year 1919, when
Dutch vessel landed at jamestown, Va
and exchanged twenty human being
for slip supplies. In little more tina
two hundred years this seed OF sin ha
crown to such huge proportions that
had to be washed out in the blood OF tn
nation. The whole sermon was alto
gether most interesting, instructive an
very appropriate to the occasion, it gay
ore f pleasure not only to those special
interested but to all present, and con
manded the closest attention An Ell
ioyable service was brought to close b
the singing of America.