The times., 1901-05-27
MAN OF GRANITE And iron
John Browns Memory Revered by
the Union Veteran Legion.


memorial services held there yesterday
morning by Union Veteran Legion, En-
campment No III, assisted by Encamp-
ment No %. and the Ladies Auxiliary
No. o.
The veterans of the two encampments
formed at the corner of X and Thirteenth
Streets, and promptly at IL o'clock march
ed to the church and filed into the seats
reserved for them.
Within the chancel, empty chairs,
draped with black. each representing a
member of the order who died during the
past year, were arranged Seated behind
these were Col ]. F. Allison. Lieut.. Col.
George McCutcheon, Major Fred r.
Sparks, Chaplain II. n. Couden, also
chaplain of the House of Representatives..
and Capt w r. Hitler, officer of the day,
the officers of the encampment. Mrs.
Sarah Z. Rittman, President of the Ladies
! Auxiliary No. 80, and Mrs. Mary E. S.
| Davis Senior Vice President
| The services were inaugurated with as
| sembly call. sounded by the bugler. The
! opening ceremony consisted of ritual
| questions and responses by the colonel
and the officers of the encampment. and
| concluded with prayer by the blind chap
lin. Mr.. Couden.
The roll of honor, giving the names and
services OF the dead, was read by the
| adjutant, and at the conclusion of each
name the drum beat -'reveIIle."
| Mrs. Mary &. S. Davis then crowned a
vacant chair, dedicated to the memory of
| loyal women of the war and made a brief
address.
| The lieutenant colonel then crowned the
three vacant chairs representing those of
Encampment % who had died during the
past year.
The roll Of honor includes the names of
| James II. Dodge. late captain. Ninth Bat
| terry, Wisconsin Light Artillery; Cor
nelius w. Okey, late private. Company c,
Sixth Wisconsin Infantry, and Francis H.
Allen, late sergeant, Company l, Fourth
! Wisconsin Cavalry.
brief address in honor of the deceased
| comrades was made by William Wilson,
Past Colonel of Encampment No Ill, and
Mrs. Pittman. President of the Ladies'
Auxiliary No. 81, also spoke.
John Brown and Men of the Granite
and Iron" was the subject of the sermon
delivered by the pastor, Rev. John Van
Schaick. jr.
The musical programme consisted of a
| soprano solo. The Holy City by Mrs.
Morgan D. Lewis; choruses, THE Vacant
| Chair" and "Tenting on the Old Camp
| Ground by the choir; solo, open the
Gates" vocalized by Miss Eta II. Austin
and the hymn, America" sung by the
| entire congregation.
Benediction was pronounced by Chap
| lain Couden. and the exercises closed
with the sounding of taps by the bugler
A brief sketch of the sermon delivered
by Mr.. Van Schaick is as follows:
With veterans all around US. with
historians who were on the sDo.. with
saF.r, H. III.
the virtues Of the deceased, the question
might naturally arise. why has one Of
an entirely different generation attempted
to gather I'd memories of the past and
speak word for the present? There is
only one reason why 1t is proper 1t is
because he who receives ought TO thank
him who gives-because he who inherits
should express gratitude TO him who
bequeaths.
Our opportunities are broader, our
liberties safer, our history richer be-
cause of what you and your comrades
suffered forty years ago. There is one
great truth that ! want to emphasize and
make plain today-that this country loves
and hOuOrs the veterans Of the civil war
for one reason above all others-the thing
for which the world honors any man or
woman who earns it-and that is fidelity
loyalty to the right as God gives one
TO see the right.
Such a man was John Brown What
ever l say in his praise I say of all the men
of civil war days before and since, who
were driven forward by like impulses,
and who were willing to lay down their
lives If need be in obedience to the inner
voice.
John Brown commanded no armies.
worked through no party, amassed no
fortune, dictated no laws. He failed in
much that he attempted. He died in
shame And yet there is no one in our
history whose name is more honored,
whose influence is broader than that of
this gaunt, grizzled man Of the granite
and the iron
what Is the secret2 Certainly it Is not
"a be found in the external facts of his
career He was a country postmaster in
Pennsylvania, a small farmer in Ohio and
New York, a wool merchant back and
forth throughout the Great West. lie
was guerrilla fighter in Kansas. He
was an uninfiUentiaI abolitiOnist. He was
a leader in the most hopeless, foolish IN
surrectiOn ever planned
what is there in this for the historian?
Few at the time he died, thought there
was anything. He is misguided, mis-
taken fanatic said the North. He is an
insane, vindictive outlaw said the South.
But today. just tributes to the memory Df
John Brown are appearing North AID
South and there is just one reason for the
love which people bear him. 1t is be-
cause enemies and -Briends have come to
see that he was actuated by one princi-
pie. guided by one voice, conscience.
"A man may be mistaken as TO methods
wrong as to results; he may injure US
severely, yet who is there Of us who does
not admire the man absolutely sincere,
absolutely in earnest, willing TO die in
his tracks, il need be- for that which he
believes to be right.
That is the Puritan spirit. The spirit
that sent the Pilgrims across the Atlantic
in the MayfOwer, John Brown inherited
from his rugged, indomitable forcfathers
in that little band.
There came q day in the history of
this man when the iron Of slavery en-
tered his soul; when he gathered his
family together. took down the old Bible
invoked the Divine blessing. actuated, as
he thought, by the Holy Spirit, pledged
them all to eternal hatred of human
bondage. That pledge was never broken.
When Kansas was in the throes Of civil
war. Brown was there. leader in the
fight. That old man slept on the pTairies
and in gUlches, fought against overwhelm-
ing odds; though burning up with fever,
he kept in the saddle by day and by night,
and by sheer force Of iron will beat his
enemies down.
..Tn thfe yresapca 60 {e cergafpIy- ,ppacas