The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-16
ADDRESS BY WATTERSON
KENTUCKY EDITOR SPEAKS AT BAT.
TLEGROUND EXERCISES.
Brilliant EuIOgium of Heroes in
Homespun"-Great Crowd Attends
the Annual Memorial Day.


Watterson charmed assemblage of 1850
people at Battle Ground, this afternoon.
with his address on Heroes in Home
spun." the occasion being the annual dec
grafton Of the graves OF those who fell in
effecting the defeat of Tecumseh's bands in
1907. Except for the intense heat-to-day
being the hottest of the year-the crowd
would have been more than doubled. The
exercises were opened with vocal and in
the Rev. H, 5. White, OF the Methodist
Church at Battle Ground, and brief re-
marks by Job Sims, president of the Me-
mortal Association, who reviewed the his
tory or the organization, made eleven
years ago 10 honor the dead and secure
some hitting tribute to their service. He
alluded 10 the bill pending in Congress for
$4,000 TO build monument to the pioneer
heroes, and made the declaration that If ii
Is not secured this session the association
VIII keep pressing the matter until IL sue
ceedS. After abiding TO the relatively short
yet seemingly. in the light of progress, long
period since the battle of Tippecanoe, Mr..
Watterson said in part:
There were giants in those days; and
there was need that there should be. No
vestibuled trains, nor palace coaches
waited 10 fetch them hither; no noisy pro-
cesslon, with banners waving and brass
bands playing marched forth to honor their
arrival. They jOurneyed for the most part
afoot They picked their way through
tracklesS canebrake and wooded waste,
across swift-running bridgeless streams
their hint-locks their commissariat. They
had quilted what they regarded as the
OvercrOwded centers of the populous East
to seek the lonely but roomier wilds of the
far West. keenly alive TO the idea of bet
tering their condition, having a fine sense
of pure air and arabic land; il may be for
town sites; but their hearts beat true to
the principles of civil and religious liberty,
and they brought with them two accour-
terments of priceless value; the new-made
Constitution of their country and the we'll
worn family Bible; for they were God
fearing, Christian soldiers; heroes in home
spun as chivalric and undoubting as mailed
knights OF the cross; hating with holy hate
the Indians aid the British: revering the
memory of the patriots and sages who had
warm with the blood of the revolution, the
echoes of Lexington and Bunker Hill. of
Kings Mountain and Yorktown still ring
ing in their ears.
has been laid broader. larger lines. We
live in an age OF miracles. We gather the
fruit Of the tree which these. our fore
fathers. planted From the ashes Of their
camphres rise the schoolhouse and the
courthouse. The church marks the spot
where the blockhouse stood The war
whoop of the savage is succeeded by the
neigh OF the iron horse, the CLEAN of the
tomahawk by the flare of the electric lamp
Danger OF the kind that was their daily,
hourly companion Is 10 us unknown. Pri-
walton such as they sustained assails not
honest toll, however humble Wealth and
]
merit of its due. Entail no longer usurps
the present and puts its mortgage on the
future. Opportunity and peace and order
ana law are the portion OF the poorest
| Struck by the wizard hand of progress
| the sleeping beauty, solitude, has awakened
metropolis; touched by the finger of
modern invention. the prairie and the fer
est, as by enchantment, have revealed their
secrets and poured their riches into the
lap Of labor. Upon the loose cobble stones
Of what was but huddle of small PROV
inces, each claiming for itself a squalid
sovereignty and held together by a rope OF
sand, rises proudly, grandly. securely
Nation built upon the firm foundations of
an indissoluble compact of States, cement
ed forever by the blood OF a patriotic
brave, homogeneous people. The bucoIc
Republic OF Washington and Franklin the
sylvan idyl of JeffersOn--the government
which equally at home and abroad had
! from the first 10 fight for its existence-is
ton Of Americans these things have come
without any effort of their own: as a rich
| Inheritance. which FOR good or for evil
they are but beginning 10 administer and
| enjoy. | pray them well 20 weigh its re-
sponsibiities: deeply 10 ponder the changes
/ wrought by century OF acquisition and
| development prayerfully 10 consider the
/ exceptional conditions and the peculiar
/ pertls OF the present these distinguish
the present from the past; bearing in mind
/ the truth that now. as ever. eternal vigil
ance is the price. not alone OF liberty. but
/ OF all the better ends OF life.
The hunters OF kentucky. the pioneers
OF liberty. fought the battle OF Tippecanoe
IL was not a great battle as battles 90
| but IL proved mighty in it's consequences:
the winning and the peopling OF the West:
! the ultimate rescue OF the Union from dis
| solution, the blazing OF the way to the
| Pacific They were simple. hardy men
| They set us good examples. They loved
| their country and were loyal 10 It's insfi
| tutions. They were comrades in hearts ana
| comrades IN arms. BE IL ours 10 bless and
preserve their memory and 10 perpetuate
| their brotherhood
After Colonel Watterson's address which
| was frequently applauded. the crowd r.
| paired 20 the spot where rest the bores Of
| those early-day soldiers and they were
| decorated with flags by little children. An
| impressive scene was enacted when they
kneIt at the graves and sang America"