The Iola register., 1902-06-06
The Day Fittingly Observed here and
the Ceremonies Witnessed by a
Large Crowd.

but seldom has the ceremony been
was that of Friday. In the first
place the day was appropriate, not so
warm as is often the case, clouds OBJ
securing the sun.
All the stores closed at II o clock
and long before that time people be-
gan coming into town. The parade
formed on the public square and
headed by the band marched to the
cemetery. In the line numerous
orders of the city we're represented.
The place OF honor was accorded to
the veterans of the Civil War, the
gray-haired survivors of the might
lest contest the world ever witnessed.
The young men of the Spanish h-Amer-
dean war, the Uniform Rank knights
of Pythias. the Woodmen, the lad les
of the Women's Relief Corps, little
girls, carrying boquets and wreaths,
and all around the crowd.
The band playing funeral march,
Head the procession, which extended
almost from the park to the cemetery.
There the usual short but infinitely
solemn ceremonies were held. The
thinning ranks of the gray headed
warriors stood about and could not
help but think that the time was rap
idly coming when the last of the great
army would have passed away, and
wonder If their children will lbe as
careful to observe Memorial Day as
have always been the former comrades
of the dead. The prayer, the .volley
fired by the squad of veterans, the
solemn words and the scattering of
flowers on the graves which had
previously been marked to indicate
where q soldier was buried, occupied
considerable time. There were q
thousand people or more at the GEM
etery and the graves were covered
with flowers. Then the procession
returned to the public park for the
ceremonies to be held there.
During the two hours that inter-
Vened between the first forming of the
procession and its return, the Park
had been gradually filling with people
so that when eX-Commander Shuey,
r with Judge c. B. Graves, of Emporia.
the orator of the day arrived at the
platform he faced an audience of
nearly, il not quite, 2jOO people.
The writer of this can remember well
when the greater part OF an lola
audience on Decoration Day was
made up of old soldiers. But the "old
boys are sadly in the minority now,
Forty years have thinned their raj ks
and whitened the heads of those who
remain.
After an opening song by male
quartet and an invocation by Rev.
Weimer, Mr.. Shuey read the order of
the day and introduced Mr.. II, M.
Miller who read most impressiveiy y
the immortal Decoration Day address
OF Abraham Lincoln. After another
song by the quartet the orator of the
day was introduced and was cordially
received.
Judge Graves was soldier in the
Ninth Kansas Calvary, and as one
battalion of that regiment was en-.
listed at lola, there are a number o
men still here who served with him
and these men were on the platform
particularly interested and sympa
thetic listeners to the Grafton of theil
old and well-loved comrade. Tht
orator began by presenting The
reasons why Memorial Day should b,
celebrated, showing that the graves o
the fallen soldiers were decorated
not as a personal tribute to thei
courage, or their character, but as 1
tribute to their patriotism and to tn,
cause for which they gave or Offered
their lives. He then asked the ques
tion whether the graves of those whC
wore the Gray should be decorated a
yell as the graves of those who wor,
the blue No Union Soldier, he said
Will attempt to discredit the valor o
the ex-Confederates. To do that is +,
discredit themselves. They wer
brave, and they made unparalleled sac
rifces to support their cause. The.
could not have fought as they did
they had not believed that their caus
was just. From their standpoint the
were defending their homes from in
uasion and fighting for the right t.
IssaVe the Union which right a grea
political party had always maintaine
they bad. OUR cause was right an
always will be right; their cause wa
wrong, and they themselves know
now and admit it. But they though