The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-16
At the Business Session Omcers Were
Elected, Reports Heard and
New Members Added.
A BANQUET IN THE EVENING
LARGE ATTENDANCE At THE GER
MAN HOUSE EVENT.
Addresses of Interest Delivered by
Prominent Members-Oth-
err Matters.

was, as have been the former banquets Of
the Legioners. a magnificent affair. Covers
were laid for $50 guests. and there were no
vacant places. The banquet was served in
the large dancing hall and the long tables
looked very beautiful with their appoint
ment of cut glass and flowers. The menu
was long and well served, the guests thor
oughly enjoying the fine music of the or
chestra. which played while the banquet
was being served.
among the guests were the national Of
ficers of the Grand Army, Col. A. d. Shaw.
commander-in-chief. Col. ]. Corey Winans,
senior aid-de-camp. and Gems. E. H. Hob
son and j. H. Browning, both of Kentucky,
being the especial guests of honor. At the
conclusion of the dinner Admiral Brown,
POSTMASTER of the evening, introduced as
the first speaker Hon. VIII Cumback,
whom, he said, would do the honors for
the original Legioners.
THE FIRST SPEECH.
Mr.. Cumback said, in part:
I'VE have passed the eating and most of
the drinking of this delightful banquet and
have now come to the higher enjoyment of
the intellectual feast. How many courses
there may be in this portion / am not adj
vised, but l am put down for the first
course, and ii must be disposed of in ten
minutes. Like all first courses, / am but a
sort of an appetizer for the better things
that are to follow. 1 am the consomme or
the soup / think the latter. for ! feel like
1 am in Ii. But l have the consolation
that the Loyal Legion is not band of cold
oynics or heartless critics. l am not as
much embarrassed as If before a mis-
cellaneous audience.
Everything goes here. This is our an
nual banquet, our great feast, where We all
come up as did the children Of Israel to
celebrate the feast of the Passover. If the
blood on the door posts of the Israelites
caused the destroying angel TO pass over
and save the life of the first born from
death, so in like manner the blood of the
Union soldier on every battlefield in the
civil war forbade the demon of secession to
take away any member of the family of the
States OF the American Union.
ITO this feast We bring our wives and
daughters and female friends with u.s.
which lends charm and an inspiration to
the occasion which makes Ii joyful far
beyond our other banquets. With them
with us, unlike the Passover of the Jews,
IL is not feast Of unleavened bread and
bitter herbs We have the leaven of their
love and the sweetness of their approba-
ton, fo- nothing wins the heart of woman
more than true manly moral courage. We
need no emblemS at our passover to re-
mind US of the bitterness of oppression,
for when the American soldier slew seces-
sion he included slavery in the great
slaughter. so that the sunlight of universal
liberty Illuminated and made glorious and
respondent the stars and stripes of a free
and united Nation.
I'VE welcome our fair friends to our
banquet with heartiness and sincerity
that we cannot fully express. 1t is my in
tention at the very next business meeting
of our Loyal Legion to move to amend
the bylaws so that they may attend all
our banquets.
Herbert Spencer says that every aggre-
gate tends TO integrate and to differentiate
while Ii integrates.' You may not think So
/ am tormented with doubts myself on the
subject. There has been no agitation Of
the question, and consequently public senti-
ment has not crystallized as yet. No polit-
ical party has inscribed il on its banner
and pointed TO 1t with pride. This may be,
as some claim, the epoch of indignation,
yet / am not willing that our banqueting
table shall differentiate those we love most
and best. We may have in politics differen-
tial tariffs to befog and add mystery to
political creeds, but we will have nothing
but Indignation at our Loyal Legion BAN
quets. / fiatter myself that 1 have not
only made myself very clear but very
strong on this point.
I'm order to induce our ladies to attend
our banQuets / beg to say that their pres
cnce gives a higher tone to it in every
way. No man will do his best, will call to
his aid all his reserve force II there be
none but men to listen to him, except he is
a candidate for Office. The chief purpose
of a man If he be full pattern is to win
the approval of woman. On such occasions
as this and in such a presence the more
serious matters of war and statecraft are
not the only subjects we consider, but wit
and humor and good fellowship prevail, as
they ought to do at all banQuets
THE presence of fair visitors
sharpens our wit and brightens our humor.
They had some time ago a convention Of
questions discussed were dogmas and
creeds. / do not go much on such things.
/ believe with Ella Wheeler Wilcox when
she says:
so many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
While only the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs
UNUSUAL PROCEEDING.
''At this meeting some of the younger
and healthier members of the convocation
gave a humorous turn to the discussion
which gave rise to good deal Of merri-
ment. which was the cause of great offense
tc the dyspeptic and torpid liver delegates.
These administered most severe rebuke
to the humorists. The New York Evening
Post. in commenting on this phase Of the
convention. said: The growing tendency to
light up the professionally solemn debates
of theologians by the introduction Of a
laugh is by no means q bad thing. Often
the real deere verum in theology has come
from one quamquam ridentum.' In deere
verum the Loyal Legion is not excelled by
any existing organization. George Wash
ington when a boy may have been better
in that regard, he could not lie. But he
Is dead now. AS to quamquam, we are as
good as the best, and when Ii comes to rid
cntum, / will put our own Harry Adams of
this commandery- against the world. And
then there are others among US who are not
slow in this regard. The old soldier of our
civil war is the most interesting character
now living. He Is poem in himself. The
true American as he passes by finds him
self invoIuntarily whistling Yankee
Doodle or the Star Spangled Banner
and the more orthodox commences hum
ming the good old national hymn, My
Country tbs of Thee.
.'The civil war was to determine whether
the government of the people with Moth
ing but a citizen soldiery was strong
enough 10 stand the strain of rebellion
against its authority. When the civilized
world saw with wonder that the United
States came out of the conflict stronger
began to assert himself. and thrones have
been overthrown and kings and emperors
have been retired TO private life. and
despotism compelled to loosen its grip
$50 the American soldier was fighting
not only to save the Union, but for human
rights everywhere. Our victory was the
victory for humanity. and the death knell
the victors in the mighty conflict and
glorious triumph
"Since the close of the civil war, more
than third of a century. the survivors of
that great struggle for human rights have
been object lessons teaching the present
generation the sublime lessons OF self
sacrifice. of manly courage and true
v.nf <oH 81.