The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1903-06-05

CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.

fcdu ny tuo IoSt duJutdut anu Cuhpidlu,
after which the speaker of the day, Rev.
j. H. Coultard, pastor of the Disciples
church, was introduced Below il
given synopsis of his address:
We can do few nobler or wiser things
than honor the memories of the brave
defenders of the flag. BY so doing we
show that we are not only grateful for
what they did but that we love the
nation whose banner they lifted and
followed, and that we wish to do some
thing that will prove that we are worthy
of the name Of Christian Americans.
The day comes to us under the shadow
of great calamity, as years ago the
news Of victory was mingled with the
sad tidings of wounds and death. It is
always a day of chastened memories and
solemn interest. This day means that
that was one of the worlds great con-
ficts. 1t was holy wharf.-the culmina-
ton of an irrepressible conflict. It's
issues involved the existence Of free in
situations the world over.
Those men who freely gave their lives
in defense of their flag deserve our
eternal gratitude. A tribute to Old
Glory. 1t is one of the sweetest flags
that ever kissed the sunlight of God in
the breezes of heaven. 1t enjoys the
greatest heritage and history of human
rights of any banner on earth. Under
the guidance of the young eaglet, whose
talons were just sprouting, it drove the
British line from off our shores never
to set dominant foot upon them. 1t
sailed under the frowning cliffs of
Algiers and taught the naughty Sultan
of Morocco, and with that half savage
potentate, all kings of Christendom,
that the rights of American freemen
must be respected. 1t led our fathers
over the Sierra Madras of Mexico and
waved in triumph over the halls of the
Montezumas. 1t pioneered the pathway
of the pathfinder over the Rockies and
gave us the Eldorado land of California.
1t flaps its broken shreds in the north
today nearer the pole than any flag on
land or deep. Under it your fathers
and mothers courted and married and
under it you were born. And when
the awful chasm opened in your nation
al life, it was not closed until it brought
sorrow into every home in the north
and made the southland as billowy as
the ocean with the graves of her sons;
yet, thank God the price was not too
great, for the old flag waves today over
the homes and schools of great, free,
and undivided people.
After sleeping for the third of
century it was again unfurled to the
shock of battle and came forth as
bridegroom from his chamber rejoicing
as strong man to run race. 1t led
the brave son of the Green Mountain
state into Manillas harbor and wit.
messed the sinking of those Spanish
hulls to the bottom of the sea. Hardly
had the applause of the nation died
away when brave young Hobson of
Alabama set it one notch higher in the
skies than it had ever been before by
his heroism in the mouth of Santiago
harbor.
While we do not boast of our prowess
in war, yet there is vigor enough in
that banner, if the service of humanity
demands it, to strew the high seas of
God with the wreckage of every navy
of oppression.
But thank God our civilization is no
longer upon war basis. We are out
growing war and all our interests are
for peace. The battles to be fought to-
day are moral battles. The best patriot
is he who gives the best manhood to his
You can have Grand Army
only when its ranks are filled with
grand men. Such men our country
needs, that its battles may be well
fought. Our nation calls for hundreds
Of thousands of true men. There is
treason still to be put down. There is
treason of cowardly silence when patri-
otism and duty calls up to cry out
against the destructive sins of the land.
The traitor in the time of peace is as
worthy of death as the traitor in time
of war. He should be shot with the
black ball. He should be shot with the
cannon ball of public indignation and
execration. He should be fired out of
office and out Of citizenship and buried
in everlasting oblivion.
Soldiers of the Republic. the battles
Of the present are identical with those
Of the past. The form of warfare only
Is changed. The moral conflicts waged
in our nation are as truly battles as
were the conflicts of Gettysburg and
Lookout mountain. You have duty
in these as you had a duty in those of
The sixties. Do your duty. Rally
around the true flag in those moral bat
Ties. Fire no blank cartridges but pour
your hot shot into every form of evil.