The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-05-31
Memorial Day.

village Churchyards, and IN unnum-
bered burial places where silent and
solemn magnifcence has blossomed IN
marble monument and mausoleum re-
pose the country's soldier dead. In
those sacred and voiceless necropo1i
are graves for 1898 United States
soldiers who died of wounds received
in the Civil War; graves of 44,238
brave men who fell in battle; graves of
14o.O43 heroes who died of disease con-
tracted while in the army; and scat
tered here and there on the prairie and
in the woodland, in the bosom of the
mountain and by the rivers sandy
margin are other graves, occupied by
the rank and file of thousands and tens
of thousands who survived their fallen
comrades little while and then fell on
rest. Besides, in the South and in the
North, more under magnolia blossoms
than beneath the whispering pines, are
graves, in number quite equal to the
perhaps half million enumerated
above, where are deposited the ashes
of valiant and splendid men who wore
the gray and lived and battled and
died, as their northern colleagues did,
for that, and for those things, which
appealed to them as an imperative duty
and just and holy cause-their homes,
their liberties, and their cherished in
stitutions.
The women of the Southland, during
the Civil War, annually decorated the
glaves of their soldier dead. In 1868
this unique and beautiful custom was
adopted -by~the whole country. In
1860 the Grand Army of the Republic,
through the general order of its Com
a1auder in Chief, Gen. John A. Logan,
set apart the thirtieth day Of May each
year as Decoration day. At length
Memorial day became an annual Sab
bath, the Holy day of the nation. This
day of greenest grass, of freshest Leaf,
when nature is rejuvenating, day o1
daisies, 1i1acs, lilies, this day of beauty
and blue sky and chorale of feathered
songsters, the veteran soldiers of this
Republic, and the people of metropolis
and village and rural district. will,
with banners dropping, and roll OF
nuff1ed drum, and funeral dirge, ad-
dress and prayer, while the wind signs
and the tears of grateful multitudes
flow, visit every cemetery and green
hil1ock where lies an American "war-
rior taking his rest", and cover every
unmonumented mound and every shaft
and mauso1eun with fragrant blossoms,
evergreen wreaths, and starry banners.
Those dear dead who fill the Nations
Metropolis we're mighty men; men of
destiny. The country required and
they fought, God commanded and they
offered themselves on the altar of sacri-
fee. Virtues more noble than those
that pertain to physical courage made
them great. That honored soldiery
were not blood-thirsty but brave. Not
warriors were they but heroes. From
plough and forge, from school and
counter, from all the n1arts of trade,
from the peaceful loving homes and
hearthstones of all America, those
vaIorous and gallant squadrons moved
to bloody batt1efe1ds for the defence of
principle and the maintenance of Re
publican integrity.
Their monument, the Nation itself, is
too so1id1y based and too g1oriously
constructed ever to crumble. That
which will decay tomorrow will be
''the bad and i'll, but truth and right
abide forever! And there is nothing
under the stars more pregnant with
immortality than virtuous, patriotic
phiianthropic, God-fearing and adoring
human soul!
This rich profusion and invalua bic
hbatiou of flowers which today {
great nation strews on the sepu1chers O
its heroes carries with it suggestion
of the inca1cu1able and even awful
price the United States has paid for it,
liberties. The monument on Bunker
Hill is eloquent with story of sin
cerity, heroism and sacrifice, the cos
of American independence. Those
1893 American ships that went to the
bottom, those 5000 sailors who perish
ed during the war of 1912, together
with the sanguinary struggle at New
Orleans, tell something of the fearful
price paid by this country for the priv
i1ege of the freedom of the seas. Tha
rush of more than million and {
half, perhaps two millions of men, the
flower and chiva1ry of the people, t.
the menacing Southland after a rebe
shot had been fired at the flag in 1861
nay that energy which put an ironclat
navy afoat more than matching the
navies of the world; that patriotism
that filled the gap when armies hat
been swept away; that tremendous