Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-25


what armies had always been, the ma
chine of a government to manage the
people, it was the people managing
themselves, it was the Yankee con-
stable going his rounds"
The soldier of our land has never
stood for military despotism but for d
popular government. The army of
the United States was never the in
strument of a selfish king but always
q body of noble men. Who is the SOL
der? He may be the farmer or the
artisan, or the day laborer. The boys
in blue belonged to the people. The
army was the incarnation of democ-
racy. Within six months of the last
parade of the armies of the West and
of the East through Washington, an
English gentleman was in a huge
warehouse in Chicago, surrounded by
scores of clerks engaged with merchan-
disc, and accounts. But did you go
on SO through the war;" asked the
Englishman. "Oh, no SIR answered
one of the clerks, that young man was
a corporal, that one mailing up a box
was lieutenant that one carrying a
roll of goods was a major, the book
keeper yonder was a colonel, and l sir,
l was general at your service" IN
deed" said the Englishman.
Who is the soldier? The man wher-
ever found who responds with
pure motive to the call for recruits.
The man who marches forward with
volunteers swayed with devotion to
fatherland. The man whose love of
country is stronger than life itself. The
ms who pOllnt the cost if nv
any means he can contribute to the
progress of the land of his fathers.
Who is the soldier? The man who
loves his kind and whose heart is
knitted in with the interests of his fell
lows. The man who encounters con-
flict because he believes in virtue. The
.1an who has battled with woes and
suffe"ings, and a thousand difficulties
for the advancement of liberty. The
man who knows we'll what it is to en-
dure hardness for he has marched in
the mud, slept on the ground in wet
clothes. stung by mosquitoes, without
a supper and with headache. The
soldier is the man stormed upon, buff
feted and beaten and scourged with
troubles but who at last stands forth
hero and declares none of these things
move me neither do l count life dear II
can only have part in the struggle to
maintain tie unity of the states stand
by the sanctity of the Constitution, and
defend the honor and power of my
country. 1t is in the presence of such Il
man that the people are ready TO
split their throat with the cry:
See the conquering hero comes"
The soldier is the man who has care
fully weighed his life and his country
and concluded: My country first, last
and always.
For what is our country? Our coun-
try is the sky overhead, the earth I'M
der foot, the mountains towering
around us. and the vast ocean that
beats upon our shores. Our country is
all they who sleep in the tomb, our
fathers and our mothers. 1t is the in
FAINT that has Just entered our home,
the heir of all the ages, the promise
and potency of the future. Our coun-
try is the atmosphere we breathe, the
thoughts that we think, the songs that
we sing and the convictions that we
cherish 1T is every institution that we
honor and all that has become sacred
to man. woman and child.
Truly our country is greater than the
individual or than the family. 1t is
right and proper that we should be
ready to offer any sacrifice for it's honor
even that of life itself. How grand
and generous the response of our faith
| ers and their sons proved in the name
| of liberty, No country in the world
with such short history as ours has
spent more blood for freedom, justice,
or truth. From happy homes among
| the hills and valleys, upon the seaside,
and the prairie, three hundred thou
sand brave and beloved marched to the
| field ana returned no more. But as the
martyred Christ stands forth in every
devout Christian, so our heroic dead
| live again in the glory of our land, and
| in the lives of liberated slaves.
What was the meaning of the con-
hict? 1t was moral struggle from be-
ginning to end. It's ethical bearing has
not yet been written as some day it
will be. 1t was a struggle between the
humanity of the nation and it's inhu-
manity. How glorious the self-evident
truths embodied in the Declaration of
Independence! All men are created
free and equal. They have certain in
|
and the pursuit of happiness. How
noble the sentiment in the opening
| clause of the Constitution, when the
confession is made that our aim is to
secure the blessings of liberty to our
| selves and our pOsterity. This was
glorious doctrine for our people to
preach to England but had to practice
on our own shore. For over four score
years our conduct was in direct OPP
position to these self-evident state
| mentS.
| We are familiar with the compromise
and erection of the so-called Mason and
Dixon's line The greatest blunder our
nation ever committed was to begin
| and compromise self-evident truth.
Tri1es light as air may be COM
promised but truth never. and above all
| self-evident truth. A lie on the east
side of the Kennebec river must be lie
on the west side. Our world is one
sphere and not two hemispheres, and
a self-evident truth must be honored
| everywhere. A constitution for liberty
| with u policy for slavery is a contra
diction in terms.
What was the meaning of the strug
gle? 1t was struggle between those