The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-05-31
MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVATIONS.

" Len the custom O. s-reElng low
ers on the graves Of soldiers origin
ated, following the civil war. the day
vas known as Decoration Dzy. II
vas al first observed BIZ the lately
returned soldiers who wished to honor
the memory Of their fallen comrzdss
without any special organization. 1
90 not remember how old / was when
| Witnessed the first Decoration Dzy.
but | could not have been more THAI
ten or twelve. Il vas in q little toxin
IN the State OF Ohio where the people
had been intensely in earnest during
the civil war. The town. OF town
ship, did not contain population Of
over $500 in 1850. and yet in the four
years Of the war that little town sent.
all told. more than three hundred men
TO the front AS an instance of the
feeling OF me people | remember one
family named Livingston. one OF those
old pioneer families with many chill
dren. Upon the occasion of g public
meeting during the Presidential cam
paign Of 1864 the mother arose and
said she had sent eleven sons TO bat
tie for their country, four Of whom
had at that time given up their lives
and her greatest regret was that she
did not have eleven more sons 10
offer upon her country's altar.
Among my earliest reeollections as
child was a soldiers burial, accord
ed to an uncle. who had been fur
Laughed that he might die ar home
There were enough discharged men
and those on furlough to make up a
little firing squad. and / will never for
get the impression upon my childish
mind as the squad fired the three vol
leys over the grave of their departed
comrade. 1t created in my mind a
feeling that il was noble and grand
to die for ones country That above
all else in this world were our country
and our flag.
The soldiers who returned home in
| 1866 were mostly young men, the
great majority being under % years
of age. But how weak and tottering
and bent the most OF them are now.
could not but moralize over this
fact as | watched the Grand Army
veterans riding back to their hall
yesterday from the exercises in Nuu-
anu cemetery. There were few, if
any. in the carriages who could have
stood it to have marched back to their
hall. OF course they would not admit
it, il asked to perform the task, but
the boys" are no longer filed with
the energy and exuberance of youth.
1T will be forty years this fall since
| enlisted in the army" said one of the
boys to me in the street car as We
were riding down town just before the
parade started. Il ofttimes think
would like to go back to the old Mas
sachusetts town where We enlisted
and particularly to be there when the
regimental reunion is held. But there
isn't many of the boys left" he add
ed with a sigh I'VE went out in 1861
over a thousand strong and there
were 225 men left in the regiment
when we were discharged four years
later. How many there are now | do
not know but surely not many" And
the veteran was thinking of the old
days and seeing. in his minds eye.
the boys as they bid each other good
| W OdSh III the OiO Day OidlC.
Some one Numbered yesterday in
compelling the guardsmen to march
too fast Whether it was the fault
OF the Marshal of the Day or OF Cap
tain Berger, | do not know, but who
ever had charge should have seen to
it that slower music was played than
was. The day was insufferably hot
and sultry and yet the band played
fast quicksteps both marching out to
the cemetery and coming back to
town. Some of the guardsmen were
completely exhausted when they
reached the cemetery from their rapid
march up Nuuanu avenue hill. On
such a sultry day as yesterday 90
steps to the minute would have been
fast time. but instead of that they
were swung along at a rate of 12C
TO $50 steps to the minute, and it was
awful on the men. 1t was the same
way coming back and noticed mum
Der of men, when the regiment stop
ped on Fort street, looking as though
they were ready to drop from exhaus
ton. Such rapid marching would dc
in colder country, but it is out OF
place in Honolulu, particularly or
such sultry day as yesterday was.
There was peculiar thing occurret
as the National Guard and the Grand
Army veterans were returning dowr
Hotel and King. and lined up alons
the west side of the street, together
with the band while the Grand Army
veterans drove by. As the carriages
bearing the veterans reached the LET
of the line at Hotel street the band
struck up Way Down South in Dix
ie." How incongruous it seemed t.
one raised where Dixie" would hard
" have been allowed to be played
thirty years ago or even twenty year;
ago But the bitterness of the civil
war is, thank God. thing Of the pas
and the old boys" swung their hat.
to Dixie" as blithely as though tn,
band had been playing "Marchin,
Through Georgia"
And speaking OF this latter piec'
: OF music what fayorite with the oil
soldiers it has always been. Their
is q rhythm and swing to it tha
makes the old. and decrepit. and IN