Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-06-06
hattie and their daughters for the field

hattie and their daughters for the field
hospitals
The Christian dead OF our American
battlefields are intensely alive today
In the heavenly recognitions which
have been given 20 them. Impossible
Is 1t 10 suppose that God would allow
his servants who were to be found i'm
both armies and who died upon the
American bnttlefields TO go unreward-
| ed. In the beautiful sermon upon the
mount Christ pronounced a blessing on
those whose lives were full of tears
and heartaches. poverty and persecu-
| ton, SANDER and death Do not Christ's
! words apply TO those brave men? Did
| they not suffer enough? Were not their
wounds deep enough? Did not they
hunger enough and have homesickncss
enough? Did not many fair checked
boy under his blanket at night sob
himself to sleep. or, unable to sleep, keep
on crying, 'Oh. mother, mother, IL
! could only see mother," In one of the
national museums l saw Bible which
had saved soldiers life When the
young man left home, his mother gave
II TO him. In battle he was carrying it
In his coat pocket just over the heart.
flying bullet almost cut its way
through that Bible, hut It was stopped
Mt one of the leaves of the four gospels.
Did not many dying soldier have one
of these Bibles in his hand? Did he
not weep over ii when he was dying
Tar away from home? Can God forget
his Christian soldiers who died upon
4 In
The Bible describes the entrance into
heaven of mighty host marching
through the gates as before the review
Ing stand Of an earthly ruler. st. John
| IN apocalyptic vision cried out in rap
ture as he saw them, "Who are these
who are arrayed in white robes, and
whence came they?" There must have
been many seen by his prophetic eye
who came from our American battle
fields to whom the answer that he re-
eeived would apply. these are they
which came out of great tribuation
aud have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb"
An Incident of the Crimea,
When the English soldiers came baci.
from the Crimean war, all london
turned out to greet them. After they
lad marched past the reviewing stand
Queen Victoria and the prince consort
hrose to receive those heroes who were
TO be decorated with medals. AS each
soldier approached, the queen, with her
own hand, pinned the medal upon the
breast of the man she wished to honor
| Some Of those soldiers had an empty
| SlnnERs ~ M
had their heads bandaged. At last
there came litter. In it was carried
the physical wreck of man. Both of
his legs had been shot away. One of
his arms was gone. Ills body had sim
ply been riddled with bullets. Then
the queen, with tears In her eyes, babe
the bearers halt. She left her place
and descended the steps of her stand
to the side of the litter. She bent over
the poor veteran. On account of his
suferings the queen wished to honor
him more than any of the rest. So the
more the Christian dead ofsour Ameri-
can battlefields suffered the more Christ
has honorcd them. Therefore the more
are they alive today in the heavenly
reunions.
+ My fellow countrymen from the
north, the east and the south and the
west. this Memorial day let us 20 forth
to decorate with flowers the graves of
the American soldiers who died upon
the field OF battle because their glori-
Gus memories still live in our hearts.
Let us decorate all the graves alike:
let us put just as large a wreath upon
the grave of the unknown picket who
| ~ ct, T..
moonlight when doing sentinel duty as
upon the grave OF the most noted gen.
eral OF the war-Albert Sidney John.
ston. who fell at Shiloh; Leonldas Polk.
who fell mt Pine Mountain. Georgia
Jeb Stuart. the cavalry leader, who
fell in Virginia; John Fulton Reyn-
Odds, shot at Gettysburg; James Birds.
eye Mcpherson, killed at Atlanta, or
George Armstrong Custer. who was
scalped by the Indians short time
after tho close OF the civil war. receiv-
ing the same need OF honor aud the
same floral tribute ut the hands of
their countrymen rs the humble color
bearer who when the regiment was re-
treating rallied the men Just before he
was struck by bullet aud leaped up
into the air, crying, oh my God; I'm
gomez! and fell dead. Give n hero's
garland to the farmer boy who kissed
his mother for the last time under the
shadow of the apple tree when he went
forth to die
Greater love hath no man than this.
that a man lay down his life for his
friends" Every one OF the dead heroes
paid the greatest OF all sacrifices for
his country. They gave their lives in
order that others might live. And rs
we. one and all, fellow -countrymen,
from the north, the east the south and
the west, kncel down 10 place the
Memorial day flowers upon the graves
or the boys in blue and of the boys in
gray, may We swear before God by the
nltars or the dead that we will oppose
with infexible determination any one
who will ever again try TO stir up see
nonai strife. The civil war is dead.
BY the blood of our loved ones we
swear 1t. The civil war is deadi By
the northern regiments which followed
fltZ-Hugh Lee and Joe Wheeler and the
southern regiments that followed Law
ton and Merritt in the Spanish Amer.
lean war. when north and south fought
side by side, we know it.
The Lesson of Memorial Day.
Then, as we kneel on Memorial dav
by the affairs Of the dead soldiers who
fell upon our American battlefields.
may we consecrate anew our lives TO
our country's service. May we realize
that when we serve our Lord and Mas
ter best, then we serve best our nation.
May the sorrow and the sadness. the
sufferings and the deaths we this day
commemorate instiI in our hearts q
profound love of peace and a deeper
conservation to him whose name is the
Prince of Peace. Let us labor to so
disseminate the teachings OF Jesus that
war In the future shall become an i'm
possibility. Then shall be only gospel
peace. Then the American people will
not only love the Lord their God with
all their hQnrfs hnf fhau cb.u -.