The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-06-05

Memorial Day has been made q holt
day. There are holidays that should
be holy days. 1t was not the purpose
in making Memorial Day day of rest
from the customary occupations OF life
to create a new occasion for sports aud
games and revelry. The object was TO
honor the memory of the soldiers who
died TO save their country from destruc-
ton, and to give all the people the op-
portunity to "pay the deep reverence,
the homage of mems hearts" to the
dead patriots Memorial Day is not
necessarily a funeresl occasion, day
for tears aud mourning. II is a day for
patriotic exaltation, Tor glad review of
the past, Tor high and joyful celebra-
ton OF the deeds aud virtues of the
men, in all RACKS and conditions of the
national service, who made and pre-
served US q naJion"; it 10 a day for
considering the great obj5ci Of the
awful sacrifices Of lie IN the civil war,
the nature and value of a possess on
which cost 80 much in blood, treasure
and suffering. Ii is a day for discover
ing and prac.iciug the duties Of citizen
ship 10 a government for whose crea-
ton the War of the Revolution was
fought, for whose preservation the
greatest war in all time was waged for
four years; it is a day for taking seri-
Gus thought "that these dead shall not
have died in vain"
There are enough days for the other
affairs and diversions Of life Cannot
this people on one holiday Of the whole
year forego the sports and games and di-
versions to which all the rest Of the holi-
day calendar is open? Are the oppor-
tunities for ball games and horse rae
ing, for tumult and reVelry, so iufre-
quent that special effort must be made
to intrude them on day dedicated to
the memory of men who died in battle,
in prison pen, in hospital, who suffered
wounds and manning and hardship in
a thousand distressing ways, that sue
ceeding generations might enjoy the
abundant blessings of this free govern
ment? 1t is an ungrateful people, a
thoughtless, reckless, uncaring class,
that cannot forego for one holiday in
the year the festivity that is desecra-
ton.
Some States have been moved TO
enact laws prohibiting and Furnishing
this dissertation Of Memorial Day, but
people cannot be made decorous and
patriotic by law. The national en-
campment, at its last assembling, con-
sidered the proposition to change Me-
mortal Day to the Sunday now desig-
mated as Memorial Sunday, as an eff
feCtive means of preserving the occa-
sion from needless abuse or wanton
indignity, but il was not done because
of tender regard for the memory of
brave Logan, the "Bald Eagle" of the
Union armies, who was commander in
chief of the Grand Army when the day
was established which gave the beauti-
full suggestion substantial and grateful
existence. Another objection exists in
the circumstance that the change
would deprive the people of their only
spring holiday. 70 save the day the
people should observe it forever in its
original spirit. Dissertation or sacri-
lege should not mar the day. No more
than on the Sabbath should festivities
inconsistent with it's sacred purpose be
countenanced. Ii the people will not
protect the day from improper and
specially planned and advertised pro-
ceedings, the time will come when the
Grand Army may-and ought to-take
the remedy into its own hands and az
sign these Memorial observances to
Sunday.
le