Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1901-09-25

out of the gates of the city OF Canton
to the last resting place OF the i'm
mortal dead; and upon that casket
you will find the NEST beautiful flow
era that our land can produce, placed
there, perhaps, some OF them, by
those who have In the past said bit
ter things against the dead In the
heat OF argument; how gladly would
they now withdraw those harsh
wordsl But you know that the man
against whom they were spoken Is
cold in death, and he cannot hear, he
cannot understand. Let us try to
remember that all human beings are
sensitive; that there is no man so
hardened but when his character is
assailed will feel hurt; and / can
imagine the sensitive soul OF our la
mented president writing under the
shame and theignominy heaped upon
him in the years gone by. All, we
did not mean those words. We would
not have spoken them II we had only
thought for u moment. But we did
not think; we were careless. You
remember the story OF the dying
mother. at whose bedside knelt her
weeping son, and he said to her;
"Oh, mother. | cannot let you go; L
love you so much!' The mother
turned her face toward him and said:
why, John, you never told me this
before!"
Today we are gathered because our
hearts are breaking; because the
tears will fall; because we loved our
president. But we told him so!
Our words would indicate anything
but friendship; we never told him sol
There Is the shame; there is the story.
Now, say that we ought to re.
spect a noble soul and q pure char
acter. Let us bear this lesson in mind
as it comes home to us, and some day
in the very near future we will have
occasion to put into practice this sim
pie thought.
And then the second lesson, and
that is that the death of our mar
tyred president has planted more
deeply our love for the American in
situations. His death has accom-
plished something! But how? State
ments were recently made something
like this: That the death Of Lincoln
and the death OF Garfield have accom-
plished nothing; no good has flowed
from their suffering and from their
taking away. Well, take exception
to such statements and | maintain
that that man Is blind who has read
history, or who thinks he has read
history, and not found this to be a
fact: That the death OF Abraham
Lincoln first planted those seeds
which finally bore fruit in the unity
OF this great empire. When that man
was struck down the best minds and
hearts Of the south rebelled against
such a crime, and the seeds OF love
were started and they grew. And
when Garfield was taken away, tell
me, where was the flag at hali-mast
in New York, and In Chicago and
in San Francisco? tell you the flag
was draped In Charleston, and In
Richmond and in New Orleans. Sim
ply because that seed planted by the
martyred Lincoln had grown and
developed and had born fruit. And,
friends, where today is the flag In
mourning? All, let me ask a ques-
ton more easy to answer: Where In
the wide world today ia the American
flag not In mourning? Do not say
that the death of agoOd man accom-
plishes nothing. l do not say that
God struck down these men because
1t was His will, or permitted them to
be struck down because 1t was His
will; / do not say that. But Idosay
that out OF these deaths there has
flowed. and will flow, good, and the
generations that follow us will reap.
You remember the saying that 1.-THE
blood of the martyrs is the seed OF
the church." l tell you that the
blood Of our martyred presidents In
the seed Of nj government, II we
love that government and believe
that 1t shall be maintained.
And then a third lesson: Not only
should we reverence the noble man,
not only has the death OF the presi-
dent deepened that love we have for
the American institutions, but the
death OF the president has given to
us a knO Wedge Of the way OF escape
from a terrible danger. There has
been growing and developing within
our borders a great menace to those
institutions that we love; IL has been
hidden; 1t has been subtle; 1t could
not be seen, and few men knew Of its
existence; hut the death OF the presi-
dent has caused the people Of this
nation to rise up and say. ''This
menace tOour liberties shall he rooted
up-destroyed." All, but you say.
"Such a price for this knowledge"
1t may he so, yet l do not know OF
any great work done In the world
that did not demand a greatsacrifce.
While preparing this address Icould
not help but think OF a certain small
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