The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-05-26
DR.. PIERCE TO
The VETERANS
SPECIAL SERVICE IN THE PENN
AVENUE CHURCH.


and of Americas Unexampled De-
votion to the Memory Of Her Sol
dier Dead.
DESPITE the disagreeable weather
which prevailed last night, several
hundred veterans of the Civil war
gathered in the Penn Avenue Baptist
church in attendance at a special me-
mortal service arranged by the pas
tor, Rev. DIR. Robert F. Y. Pierce.
The members Of Col. Ezra Griffin and
Col. Monies posts of the Grand Army
of the Republic, and Of Camp 8, sons
of Veterans, attended the services IN
body and placed their flags near the
pulpit when they took their seats. Just
i'll front of the organ was hung an i'm
lnense flag and behind 1t was a six
foot cross, made of incandescent lights.
The effect of the illuminated cross
shining through the stars and stripes
was wonderfully impressive.
Seated on the stage, at either side of
DR.. Pierce, were the following promi-
nent Grand Army men: Commander
p. j. McAndrew, of Col. Monies post;
Acting Commander Thomas Barrow
man. of Col. Ezra Griffin post; Colonel
1,zra Fl. Ripple, Captain P. DeLacy,
John Il. Howe, H. E. Paine, Halsey
l.athrope. Henry Harding, S. B. Mott
and S. N. Calender.
DIR. PIERCE'S TEXT.
Rev. DR.. Pierce chose for his text
the words found in I Chronicles, xi:19,
"These men have put their lives in
jeopardy" He warmly welcomed the
guests of the evening to the church
end said that had it not been for the
fact that he was only 9 years old
when war was declared, he, too, would
be a veteran. God has strangely hon.
ored them, he said, with a great place
iii the national life Of the United
States, and they should feel proud of
the honor.
He told of the mighty monument
which Germany has reared upon the
banks of the Rhine in honor Of the
men who fought her battle in the
Franco Prussian war, and asked
what monument America has reared
to the men who fought for the preser-
walton of the union.
"You have yourself chosen" said he,
"a memorial as lasting as time itself.
Your memorial services, conducted
every year, and your custom of decor
ating the graves of the fallen heroes,
will be perpetuated till the end. "
Ours Is the only nation that ever cared
for it's soldier dead and that ever de-
coIated their graves with garlands of
flowers and placed above them the flag
for which the sleeping ones fought and
risked all. America has set an exam
pie for all the world in this respect"
He briefly sketched the beginnings
Of the war, and, continuing, said: II
like to think of that conference of
governors called by President Lincoln
to consider the question of raising
troops for the preservation of the
union. I'm proud of the response that
Pennsylvania, made when Lincoln,
turning to the governor of this state,
said: Curtin, how many men will
your state furnish" and Curtin stood
erect and said, Mr.. Lincoln. Pennsyl-
vania will furnish 100000 men in seven
days., and she did"
LEADERS OF UNION ARMY.
He referred briefly to some Of the
leaders who led the Union army on to
successive victories and to some of the
mighty battles in which thousands of
men, all battling for what they deemed
the right, lost their lives.
Your opponents" said he. "were men
with hearts as warm and tender as
your own and with souls as valiant as
the braVest on the Northern side. Let
us look at the stars and bars, not with
bitter hatred, but with profound respect
for the memory of those who gave up
their lives for a lost cause, and let us
fold the banner of that cause under
broad folds of the Stars and Stripes"
The benign blessings of the war. he
said, have been many. 1t had the direct
effect of wiping human slavery from
the civilized world and of bringing
about greater measure of freedom and
liberty for every nation in the world.
"There is hardly nation" said he,
''the laws of which have not been
changed since the Civil war so as to
bring the people more in touch with
administration of its government"
He referred to the Spansh-American
war and to the redemption last week of
this countrys pledge to free Cuba, as
something unparalleled in the history
of the world, something which has
made the whole world dizzy with
amazement. The freeing OF Cuba, he
declared, would have been impossible
had not the god of battles favored the
North in the Civil war.
A GREAT COUNTRY.
"We are great country" said he,
land we ought to realize it more
and more. Our composers compose the
greatest music. the greatest books are
written by Americans. our scientists
lead the world. our inventors produce
more important and revolutionizing in
Ventions than the inventors of all other
lands, and the greatest wealth of the
world is ours. Why, 1t came to light
the other day that quiet, business
man of this country was ready at one
time to pay the United States $40. 900, 900
If by so doing he could secure inde-
pendence for the Filipinos. Think of
that, man actually able to purchase
in cold cash a nations independence.
Such things would not be possible to-
day We're 1t not for the struggles you
made in those dark days forty years
ago"
Immediately following the sermon, s.
N. Calender sang 1.-THE Battle Hymn OF
the Republic" and the veterans Joined
IUOuJn n a vrrxy viii n. 80