The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1902-06-05
ANO TEARS
CONTINUED from page l.,

The beautiful sentiment of Col. In
gerGoll is in every heart. CHEERS for
the living, tears for the dead" Their
deeds of valor, heroism and devotion
to duty have been celebrated in songs
and story. and are part of the hist
DRY of that great struggle. Their SUI
fering endured on field of battle, on
the march, in hospital and in prison
is inseparable from the record of that
period.
This is indeed day of memory and
tears. You have just returned from
yonier cemetery where you placed up
on the graves of your fallen comrades
emblems of your love and re-
membrane. Theirs is noble dust,
and this mighty nation bends with I'M
covered head above the graves of its
fallen heroes, and at such time it is,
We realize that words are barren
sounds and We can feel what we cannot
utter. This great central thought
should inspire and cheer you TO the
end that when peace came for which
you fought the heavens above smiled
upon a land without a slave. When a
boy | remember to have seen a son of a
revolutionary soldier, one of the men
who had redeemed the land from
English rule. Beside him sat
a soldier of the war of 1912.
One had freed the land, the other
the sea. You Of the Grand Army
have completed the trinity as it has
fallen TO you to teach mankind that
beneath that field of blue there is no
room for servant, serf or slave, and
at this hour whether those we mourn
sleep in unmarked graves, beneath
the upright granite shaft, or leaning
crumbling stone, that flag is theirs,
because it is hallowed by their blood,
and float it ever will because it repre-
sents ptophesies fulfilled and real
lzatlon OF the hopes of mankind since
civil government began.
Soldiers of the Grand Army, what
ever your lot in life may have been.
is, or shall abe, let me burn into the
tablets of Your memory this thought
that no men in any age under any
sun or Sky have left such a priceless
heritage to humanity as you and your
late comrades in arms. That brown
button on your coat is the grandest
decoration worn by man. While it is
true that to the surging millions your
achievements are tradition only, and
your sacrifices but memory, yet
would not have you forget that to
every lover of the flag you are the
heroes of all The ages.
About the time the Spanish war was
closing, a Frenchmen said to one of
your comrades explain how you
the Spanish nation in
ninety days when it took you four
years to conquer the SOUTH" "Be.
cause" said the veteran, then we
were fighting Americans"
What a glorious sequel do we behold
today. At last there is no south.
The federal and confederate meet as
brothers under one flag all having a
single inspiration and that the per-
Detuity Of our beloved union.
Soldiers, know you will take no of.
fence If / allude to a feature that ran
through your rank and still remains,
which shows the happy and bright
side of your service. You will recog-
lize the fact that among your number
ire men who delight to live over those
lays of warfare. Men who from their
have done more, suffered
more, and been subjected to more
hanger than the rest of you. They are
,ull of adventure and delight in tell
ng them. | have listened to many of
hese recitals in public and in private,
cad them in prose and verse and
never doubted their absolute truth
ulness. Nor am | alone in this. |
never knew soldiers story questioned
n the least. No suspicion was ever
by look or word that what
vas said was not true. | listened
,nce to a conversation between two
'eterans who belonged respectively to
he eastern and western army. They
'egaled each other with their best as
3ortment from their stock of achieve
nent and endeayored to Guido each
,ther in stories of the miraculous.
The eastern soldier finally thought to
silence his listener by telling the
most improbable incident conceivable.
rhe westerner received it without a
ign of wonder or ejaculation of sur,
rise. When the story was ended, the
eller exclaimed, my story don't seem
o interest you" NO" said the other,
1 am liar myself"
On another occasion I CHANGED to
lear veteran tell of his part in the
Dattles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg.
Knowing that these two battles were
ought on the same day and that they
we're more than a thousand miles
part, / concluded tina the soldier
vas better equipped for travel than
vas the soldier spoken of by General
Gordon, who said he was running BE-
ause he couldn't fly" Remember,
Joys, We will believe everything you
ell us of your army life. We cannot
Ioubt you nor do we wish to. We re-
member that we owe you everything
We enjoy and 10 you belongs the glory
# reunited country. Permit me to
congratulate you in this connection at
he country's increasing interest in
our welfare. The farther we get
rom that struggle, the more your eff
orts and sacrifices are appreciated
nd valued by the American people.
'he large sums of money allowed for
he payment of pensions to you and
he loved ones of your fallen COM
AIDES is evidence of the growth of the
ublic sentiment of justice. | hope to
ee the day when every man who wore
he blue with honor, will have his
anne by act Of Congress upon the
ension roll Of a loving country, and
his will be but meager recognition
+ the country he helped to save. The
alton that will not protect its pro-
ectors, will itself in time have no
But, my friends, we must not lose
light of the present and the future
nd our relation thereto. We cannot
i've upon the past, that Is gone for
yer, and We shall have lived in it in
ain, unless we learn lessons there
rom that will strengthen us for the