Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-06-09

humlliating and disastrous interference
in our affairs; wrest from the middle
and western states some of their great
natural outlets to the sea and of their
most important lines Of internal com
munication; deprive the commerce
and navigation of the country of two
thirds OF our sea-coast and of the fort
resses which protect 1t; not only so.
but would enable each individual state
some of them with white popula-
ton equal to good-sized northern
county-or rather the dominant party
IN each state, to cede Its territory, its
| harbors, Its fortresses, the mouths Of
Its rivers. to any foreign power. 1t
cannot be that the people of the
loyal states-that twenty-five millions
of brave and prosperous freemen-will,
for the temptation of brief truce in
an eternal border war, consent to this
hideous national suicide"
Our fathers did not consent to this
hideous national suicide They fought
and they died that it might not come
about, and it is for this that we honor
their memory and decorate their
graves tomorrow
| No higher motives ever actuated
men than those which caused hun
dreds OF thousands of volunteers to
enlist In the union army. A young
Massachusetts soldier writes home to
his father:
you may think 1t strange that l,
who have always naturally rather
shrunk from danger, should wish to
enter the army; but there is high
er power that tunes the hearts of men
and enables them to see their duty
and gives them courage to face the
dangers with which those duties are
attended"
OF the sacrifices which these men
made, let me quote from an address
by Emerson at the dedication of the
soldiers monument at Concord, Mass
These are domestic men just wrench
ed away from their families and their
business by this rally of all the man
hood in the land. They have notes to
pay at home, have farms, shops, fac
tories, affairs Of every kind to think
OF and write home about; consider
what sacrifice and havoc of business
this war blast made"
Then let Us consider the toll, the
exposure to disease in the camp and
death on the field, the suffering and
the danger which these men passed
through. A Massachusetts colonel
writes home during the campaign in
the Wilderness:
0The regiment has been in the front
and center since the battle begun
eight and one-half days ago and is
now building breastworks on the Fred
ricksburg road This has been the
hardest fight the world ever knew.
think the loss Of our army will be 49,
600. Every day for the last eight
days, there has been a terrible battle
the whole length Of the line"
And now, while we, Of the new gen.
Grafton honor the dead, let us not for
get that we still have with us the living
old soldiers Again let me quote the
kindly words of Emerson:
Those who went through those
dreadful fields and returned not, de-
serve much more than all the honor
we can pay But those who went
through the same fields and returned
alive, put just as much at hazard as
those who died, and in other countries
would wear distinctive badges of hon
or as long as they lived"
A duty SO severe has been discharg-
ed and with such immense results of
good, as to lift private sacrifice to the
sublime. What then is our RESPONSE
bility?
Did all the fighting cease with the
war OF the rebellion?
We are enjoying the blessings of
peace to marvellous degree and there
is every indication that the world is
advancing towards universal peace. 1t
takes the courage of brave men to
stand for peace and we must be ready
to fight for it, If necessary. You who
are about to take up LIES responsible
tiles, should read history and know
what has been accomplished by your
fathers and by their fathers fathers
before them, who dared to fight for the
right Then you will fully appreciate
the blessings of free government
which their toll and their sacrifices
have given u.s. Then you will know
the full meaning of tomorrows SER.
vices and you will resolve, whatever
betide, that you will
Hold fast to the constitution"
That you will
Stand by the stars and stripes
above all. stand for liberty, whatever
happens"