The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-09
union VETERAN LEGION
SERVICES HELD AT MEMORIAL PRES
BYTERIAN CHURCH.
Ten Vacant Chairs Silent Witnesses
to the Death Of Members-Rev. +.
o. Billiards. Sermon.

At the Memorial Presbyterian Church
last night the Rev. F. o. Ballard preached
to the members of Union Veteran Legion,
No. so, upon the events of the civil
His address was preceded by the reading
of the roll of honor by Adjutant B. W.
Sullivan and ritualistic address by Col.
b. A. Richardson. Several patriotic songs
were sung and after this the Rev. +. o.
Ballard delivered a panegyric on the dead
of the Union army.
The sermon was eulogistic Of the Union
Veteran Legion. In front of the preacher
ten vacant chairs were arranged comment
Grating the absent members OF the Legion.
He said they were indicative of a senti-
ment which the future of the Nation
depended-fdelity TO country. This fdel-
ity was illustrated, he said. by the action
of Massachusetts in keeping Charles Sum-
ners seat vacant while he recovered from
the wounds inflicted by Preston s. Brooks
in the Senate.
In addressing those present he said:
How different it is all now You have
not trained yet to your goal You have not
yet won your crown. Your guardian angel
has his garrison yet to keep.
yet L must not forget there are Junior
citizens of this Republic here tonight.
Do you understand that every member of
the Union Veteran Legion must have
served two years or longer or must have
been discharged for wounds received in the
line of duty? These were the men who
stood by the government in the dark days:
when the evening asked the morning if
there would be any government to stand
by. The young men OF the Nation do not
hot ell
the life of the Nation hung in 1865. Then
the American Republic was at stake The
experiment of free institutions was at
stake; the liberty of the world, the posi-
bility of a government of the people, by
the people and for the people was in jeop-
ardy. The death of the Union implied a
century of retrogression for the cause of
humanity. Deep and soul rending was the
ceaseless anxiety of freedoms sons during
these times
lit has been estimated that the natural
expectancy of life for the average was
shortened ten years by the exposures and
deprivatlons OF the camp during the civil
war. Those who persisted are those whom
we honor tonight, and again l say that
the day may never dawn when young
America shall forget to hold in sacred
reverence the memory of every fallen and
the living person of every survivor gath
cred here, or every hero of the war of the
rebellion.
OIA6h1 BANNER hESHECIED.
eff the starry banner of Republic is
respected by the world as it floats from
ocean to ocean and island to island and in
every wind under heaven it is due to the
devotion of the heroes of 1916 When a
moment involved eternity and the propo-
sition was being fought out whether there
| should exist on this continent a confeder-
acy Of the North, a. confederacy OF the
South, a confederacy of the Mississippi
valley, and 1 know not how many other
| jealous and insignificant, petty sovereign
| ties-the scorn and contempt of the world
| or whether there should be a grand and
| glorious confederacy of all the States of
America-one and indissoluble, the hope of
mankind say those were the men who
| were steadfast to the Union principles and
| who accomplished it's permanency.
THE Union preserved was not for our
| ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 1t was not that we might
| after a spasm of moral effort. relax into
| the sloth of luxury, the strife for emf
| hence, the race for riches. 1t was the will
of heaven that we continue the Nation un-
/ broken to teach the world a lesson in hu-
man freedom.
'In America there are to be no masters
| who govern of their own right, for their
own interests. their own will We must be
/ jealous of our watch that there be none.
! What would Ii have availed though the
| men Of 1861 broke the letters of 100000 slaves
| of the States had not We passed into sue
| cesses that allowed by their victory that
| the letters of industrial slavery on 5000, 900
| not in one section, but everywhere. to be
| broken? Whenever the few control the
| means of subsistence, the opportunity 10
| labor, a few dictate the making of laws
| and their enforcement, then is liberty men
| aced.
For my part have unwavering faith in
| the Republic of America, because 1 believe
in the providence of God and the progress
| of humanity. l will not believe that lib
| erty is a transient gift. / have faith in the
| powerful and loyal heart of America
| which clings fast TO liberty, and sooner or
| later must right wrongs and uproot evils