The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-09-07
LIBERAL SENTIMENTS.
Comment on Commander Torrance's
 Appeal by Northern Paper.
MinneapOlis Journal.

MlnneapOll5 Journal. Never since Dr. B. F. Stephenson or ganized the first post of the Grand Army
 of the Republic at Dakotah, H., in 1866, has an order or appeal been issued by
 It's commander in-chief so significant. so
 full of the blessed grace of Christian
 charity, so beneficent in its influence, as
 the appeal made by Commander-in-Chief
 Torrance to the veterans of the order
 to aid the project initiated by Colonel
 Falkner, formerly an officer of the Sth
 Confederate Cavalry to establish home
 tor disabled Confederate Veterans in Chiffon County, Ala.
 '.I know of no surer or shorter way to a complete unification of this country in
 purpose and feeling says Judge Tor
 rance, than the highway of kindness, and believe it's extreme outposts should
 be held jointly by the surviving soldiers of the armies of Grant and Lee. .
 believe 1t is within the power of the surviving soldiers of the great war to
 make fraternity a national anthem. loy- atty a national creed, and charity na- tional virtue My comrades, as we grow older, our hearts become more gentle and
 tender and next to the comrade who stood
 by by eur side is the brave soldier who faced
 These are noble sentiments which.
 doubtless, find an echo in the hearts of
 the veterans addressed, those who fol- lowed the old flag through the fire of bat tie or were wasted by levers or punctured by bullets or torn by fragments of shells who can recall nights of agony on the battlefield. wounded and thirsting The G. A. R. was organized. on the basis of practical brotherhood of the sol diers who had fought for the Union, to protect and assist the disabled by wounds, sickness, old age or misfortune, to main tain the widows of those who died fight ing for the Union. and to support, care for and educate their children. This purpose has been nobly carried out The nation has provided pensions for the sol diers of the war for the Union on 3
 scale never before asss Of is the world ths seventeen poor Confederate hveterans in the little cottages in Alabama, presents the contrast of conditions. and his call
 In behalf of "the brave soldier who faced us is the bugle note to actualize the
 patriotic feeling which would substitute for bitterness "a perpetual contest of good
 will and patriotic devotion to a common country"
 Judge Torrance himself bears witness to the passing away of the bitterness engendered by the great war for the
 Union. The Spanish war bore witness to the change. Confederate veterans fell .1
 line of battle with the men who had fought for the Union. The sons of men
 who fell fighting under the stars and
 bars endured the hardships of the firing line and the dlfficult marches of our ar
 mics. Antasonism and antipathy based | on war memories are practically gone. Here and there in the South men like
 TiIlman are found who would perpetuate the rancor of 1865. These did not fignt
 with the veterans of the gray. The latter
 Judge Torrance found to be full of broth erly and kindly feeling toward the vet
 erans of the G. A. R. when he visited them on a recent tour of the Southern posts of the order he commands. "Let us help make their few remaining days comfortable" says Judge Torrance. And this will doubtless be done.
 When Charles XII, young and ippetu- ous, went into his first battle, he in quired of his staff: What strange noise
 Is that I hear?' Your Majesty" an
 swered General RenschiId. .it is the sound of musket balls" Then" ex- claimed Charles. this shal henceforth be my music" That is an experience not confined to kings. But there comes a
 time when to the veteran soldier that music, in which he once took delight and inspiration. is to his memory like the
 sobbing of minors of a funeral march. He is done with war He wants rest and peace. He has done his share of fighting among fiery coils of flame and wreathing battle smoke and shrieking iron hail and rivulets of blood and broken guns and gaping woundsl He wants the music of
 rest and peacel And the Union veteran
 says to him, Brother. we shall help you get these!''