Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-06-06

such letters could have been written
10 other women. north and south, who
were called upon 20 suffer I'm the same
way and perhaps to make equally great
sacrifices:
Dear Madam-I have been shown I'm the
files OF the war department. a statement
of the adjutant general OF Massachusetts
that you are the mother of FIVE sons who
have died gIoriously upon the field OF bat
tic. L feel how weak and fruitiess must
be any words OF mine which should at
tempt to beguile you from loss so over
whelmfng. but cannot refrain from ten
dering TO you the consolation that may be
found In the thanks of the republic they
died to save. 1 pray that our Heavenly
Father may aSsuage the anguish of your
bereavement and leave YOU only the cher
fshed memory of the loved and the lost
the solemn pride that must be yours 10
have laid so costly sacrifice upon the
altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely
and respectfully.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
But, though the noble women OF the
north and south may have suffered
greatly, yet by their very sufferings
God was able TO heal the wounds, the
bleeding wounds, OF this nation. The
breaking hearts of the north reached
out toward the breaking hearts Of the
south, aud they found that in their
troubles they were sisters. Some of
the bereft mothers had sons fighting in
both armies. AS such n mother sat in
her family plot between the two graves
between the grave OF her boy in blue
and that Of her boy i'm gray-she prayed
that the past civil strife might be for
ever buried. she pleaded with earnest
prayer because her boys who died had
come from the same cradle and had
looked up into the eyes of the same
mother
When Bunker monument was being
dedicated. the crowd was so great that
by the pressing and pushing a panic
was threatened. The presiding officer
tried In vain 10 still the tumult Then
the orator Of the day arose, and Daniel
Webstcr's deep voice called out. "Stand
backr Some of the people cried, 1T is
impossible to stand backw Then Web
ster's flashing eye swept over the null
titude as be answered: Don't use that
word impossible in place like this.
Nothing is impossible at Bunker hill. -
Some pessimists said that the bitter.
ness Of the civil war would never end.
But. as Daniel Webster said in ref
erence TO Bunker hill. so nothing was
impossible in the suffering presence OF
broken hearted American womanhood.
Their common griefs and sorrows for
ever forbade men TO revive the horrors
Of our civil strife.
Our Consecrnfed Homes.
The dead of our American battle
fields are intensely alive today because
they have proved that the strength OF
this country is to be found in the multi
tudcS of fits consecrated homes and not
in the size Of Its standing armies When
the civil war broke out. there were not
enrolled upon the muster of the war
department more than $4,000 men, The
traveller could so up aud down the
length and breadth OF the land without
seeing an American soldier I'm uniform
except in few forts built for protec-
ton against the Indians and in places
like Governors island and Fort Sum-
ter. All Europe was shaking under the
tramp of the martial hosts which were
marshaled upon every frontier; vet in
America there were not enough soldiers
10 make respectable looking national
| awkward squad. But no sooner did
the bugle blast Of war sound than the
volunteers came from everywhere.
They came from the pine woods of
Maine and the Louisiana planta tons.
from among the California flowers and
the Alabama cottonfields. from the Da-
kota prairies and the Mississippi fat
boats. from the Pennsylvania mines
and the South Carolina tobacco fac
1 l.
sands. They came by the hundreds OF
thousands. They came by the million.
They came to prove for all time that
for this country, ut least. there is no
need OF great standing army.
| When war breaks out, 81 nation has to
use the ships which It has constructed
In times OF peace. Ii takes years 10
build floating lighting machine. But
what have said is true in reference to
standing army. This country, which
in few months could produce well
disciplined armies, as the army of the
south and the army OF the north, does
not need. save in times of war, TO call
the keenest brains, the strongest arms
and the brawniest bodies from the ayo.
cations OF peace and have the nation
grooming under the weight of useless
taxation. IL does not need TO have few
err merchants, fewer schooltea cheers,
fewer lawyers and ministers and me.
chanics and farmers in order TO have
more privates and lieutenants and cap
tains and majors and colonies and gen.
erals. If we have the right kind OF
homes, there will be officers and pri.
Yates ready 10 protect the country from
foreign foe whenever they are needed.
And what Kind OF fighting men did
these volunteers make? The very best
the world has ever scent When the
American civil war opened. the Euro.
pean monarchies looked upon It as n
war of mobs. These foreign nations
supposed it TO he disorganized mass.
But when the civil war was over and
Count Won Moitke. the great German
strategist, the general who brought to
successful issue the Austro- Prussian
war in 1866 and the Franco-G erman
war OF 1871, studied the campaign in
the south he said: 1.-THE American war
was not collection of struggling pyg.
mics. 1t was war OF giantsw
Deeds of HeroIsm.
An American never fights as well as
when he is civilian, taken out of the
ordinary walks of life, to fight for the
defense OF his own home and native
land. Where IN all the pages of his
tory can you find greater deeds of her.
oism than those exhibited in the south.
eln army? The reason / use this as
an illustration is because the southern
army. being the defeated army, had to
suffer more. That army fought until
it could fight no more. The Confed.
crate soldiers fought until they had no
shoes upon their feet; they fought when
they had no food in their stomachs:
they fought until their clothes were in
tatters, and the southern ladies had to
tear up their dresses to bandage up
their wounds; they fought until the
slightest wound, on account Of their
depleted physical system, would cause
death by gangrene; they fought until
they died.