The National tribune., 1901-05-23
MEMORIAL DAY.
An Appeal for Proper Observance of tn
Sacred Occasion by Lincoln Post.

An Appear 1Or Proper observance OF tht
Sacred Occasion by Lincoln Post.
| EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The des
ecratiOn of Memorial Day has been grow
ing in the West for several years until il
has reached point when the old sol
| diers feel that the rising generation are
likely to lose sight of the purposes fol
which the day was set apart: also some
thing of the same sentiment pervades the
East. We see by the daily press that the
day is generally observed throughout the
East as a festival day, and we think il
probable that the sentiment of the fol
lowing address will meet the appreciation
of your readers everywhere:
To the Public:
Fellow Christians, Patriots and Coun-
trymen-Aliow us with kindly pleadings
to recall to your minds the fact that at
the instance of the surviving soldiers of
the civil war, the Both day of May, called
Memorial Day" was set apart as the
anniversary of the death of Union sol
dIers, to be observed with appropriate
ceremonies.
The grateful people of a Republic,
through its Congress, made this day a
legal holiday in order that the surviving
comrades, families and relatives of de-
ceased soldiers and patriotic citizens with
their families might be free to participate
IN professions and the solemn ceremonies
of the one day dedicated to our heroic
dead.
Memorial Day, therefore. is a Hallow-
ed National Holiday, exclusively provid-
ed that grateful people may extend
more tenderiy and universally its right
eous remembrance to its noble dead, thus
recognizing that our National splendor
has its root in soldiers grave.
Through the thoughtlessness of youth,
the greed of gain and the pleasures of de-
bauch, Memorial Day is being more and
mare changed from its original intent and
devoted to base purposes. To such an
extent has it been prostituted, that its
hallowed friendships, its reverence for the
dead and the sanctity of the graves it
honOrs have been so disregarded and dis
honored that a Federal degeneracy of
patriotism is imminent together with the
loss of all sense of sacFedness of human
feelings and sacrifices.
Races of all kinds, ball games, thea
ters, card parties, dances, banquets and
the like on this National funeral day are
as great an Offense against good taste and
patriotism as for children, or other mem
bers Of household, to turn from the fun
eral Grafton and grave of a dead father
to similar revelries.
The boys ought to stop playing while
the fathers funeral is taking place. and
not make a gala day OF an occasion, when
even the leaves sing a requiem and the
flowers yield their choicest perfume for
the Nations dead. A Republic which
does not frOwn upon its citizens, whether
Chief Magistrate, tramp, or vagabond,
who prostitutes things sacred and holy,
will soon fall by reason of the weakness
caused by its own moral corruption
The use of Memorial Day as q day of
revelry is an affront to the living soldier
and to the widows and orphans of the
dead, whose virtues we rehearse as we
uphold the cause to which they gave the
fullest measure of their devotion, when on
that day we decorate their tombs, remem-
berng that our liberty tree draws its life
from hearts that once were happy with
us in our country's service.
We feel that a patriotic public. TO saw
the least, should refrain from countenanc-
ing, by either presence or words, such
prostitution and desecration of patriot
ism, death and the grave, and we are
that the liberation of such in
vasion indicates and entails the degener-
acy of our country, and is q menace to
its liberties and perpetuity
The public should respect the rights of
that solemn procession, which, with sup
pressed weeping, breaking hearts and sad
is marching all day long to our
countrys cemeteries to honor our heroic
dead.
Unless the Sacredness of Memorial Day
can be maintained it were better that it
were stricken from the calendar as Ma
tional holiday.
For these reasons we, a remnant of
those who in the dark and bloody days
from 1861 to 1865 stood shoulder to shouI-
der and touched elbows on the firing line.
Or were wasted by wounds, disease or hor-
rors of prison pen, that a Government
of the people, by the people and for the |
people might Lot perish from the earth"
appeal to the press, the pulpit, and the |
patriot to assist us in stemming the tide |
Of desecration of the day dedicated to the |
of our Nations dead, to the end |
that the purposes of Memorial Day may |
be maintained and the youth of our coun- |
try educated in all those heroic virtues |
that shall qualify them for the exalted |
iuties of American citizenship.
We, therefore. request all Posts of the |
G. A. r., Department of Kansas. to |
adopt this memorial, the newspapers OF |
he State to publish it. the teachers of |
all our schools and colleges to cause it
o be read before their schools. and the
christian ministers of the State to read
t to their congregations. and we earn
,stly hope that young and old will for all
ime refuse to be partakers in or patrons
II dissertations of Memorial Day.
Adopted by unanimous vote of Lin
'oln Post No. 1, Grand Army of the
at Topeka, Kan, May 4. 1901,
j. NJ. Milen; J. G.. Wood, Commander.