Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-06-02
Memorial Day In Paris.

vines, champions of the season, are al
right.
! Memorial Day In Paris.
Except for the extreme dryness ant
the dusty condition of the streets, Sat
lurday was as beautiful Memorial Da,
rs is ever seen. Its observance by VIM
X. Kimball Post, G.. A. r., was according
to the published programme. The graves
Inn OUTLYING cemeteries were decorated il
the forenoon by details from the Post, ant
at noon the Post and Relief Corps sa
down to an old-fashioned army dinner a
Grand Army Hall. At 2 p. NJ. the pro
cession formed in Market Square anC
marched To Riverside cemetery. A drum
corps led, then came some more thar
forty members of the Post and veterans
of the Civil war, number of Spanish
/ War Veterans, the Relief Corps, citizens
and children with flags.
At the cemetery the short programme
of exercises comprised prayer by Rev.
Mr.. Pinkham, two selections by the Par
iSian male quartette, reading by Frank
l.. Starbird, and brief remarks by Rev.
Mr.. Pottle. The graves in the cemetery
-twenty-eight in all-were then deco
rated, and the line of march was taken
up to Moore Park, past the soldiers mon
ument, and thence to New hall.
Capt. II. \. Bolster presided at the
exercises in the hall, which were opened
with singing by the quartette. Rev. Mr..
Pottle offered prayer Capt. Bolster then
read the general orders for the observ-
ance of the day by the Grand Army,
and Judge Wilson read Lincoln's Gettys-
burg address. Miss Jessie Tolman sang
THE Faded Coat of Blue
Capt. Bolster stated in detail the work
of decorating done for the day in the
town of Paris. In all the graves of
seven soldiers of the Revolution and the
war of 1912 had been decorated, and
those of II veterans of the Civil War,
besides the soldiers monument, which
contains the names of 40 more.
Mr.. Starbird gave another reading, and
the uuartette sang Marching Through
Georgia, the audience joining in the
chorus.
The speaker of the day was then intro
duced, Rev. w. E. Brooks, d. D., of the
South Paris Congregational church, him
self veteran of the civil war and men,
Der of the Grand Army. His address
was not long, but was able and Impress
i've, and was listened to with close atteu-
ton by the audience. He said in part:
There are some scenes and events too
vast to be apprehended at once. Niagara
Falls gives rise TO disappointment the
first time seen. Not because the mass
of water is less than expected, or the
plunge less startling, or because the mad
rush of waters and their ceaSeleSS roar
fall below anticipation, but rather be-
cause these are beyond anything looked
for There is vastness in the phe-
nomena too great for the mind to grasp
at once. 1t takes time, thought, differ
ent angles of viewing, and varying COM
parsons 20 enable the soul to even par
tally grasp the well nigh overwhelming
magnificence of the view.
This is strikingly true of the late
Civil War" The struggle itself was
Stupendous in IT'S expenditure of life and
treasure. Then, too, in its relations to
man. TO his rights, his liberty of action,
the enlarging possibilities of his life,
who as yet has anything more than
dim and misty conception? And if view
ed in it's relations TO the governments OF
the earth, it becomes worldwide in its
unmeasured, Unreasonable significance.
1t was determining the question
whether man rs man had or had not in
dividual rights; whether he was simply
brute or the highest creation of God,
made only little lower than the angels.
1t was the death grapple of two civil
cations, the one resting on the founda-
ton of might, the other of right.
Then, once more the contest is placed
above all others in the entire history of
the world in the character of its chief
leaders. There was in them combina-
ton of the most exalted characteristics
of those who had gone before.
Take Lincoln, who was product OF
that age. Study him, and as you do, how
shall surprise meet still greater sur
prise as YOU come to a clearer apprehen-
Sion of this even now imperfectly under
stood man, his grasp of the real issue,
his tact, his skill, his management of
men, his tenderness of heart, his firm
ness of purpose, his childlike trust in
God, his singleness of aim till victory
came and God took him for his work
was done. Not one noble trait, possess
ed by those gone before, did he seem to
lack; not one mean or unworthy one did
he possess.
Then we cannot fail to mark this same
rare combination of warrior traits in U.
5. Grant The tenacity OF Hannibal
or Cromwell; the silence of Prince of
Orange; the swiftneSs of Alexander the
Great, or Julius Caesar or Napoleon the
First. and courage equal TO them all; a
forgetfulness of self, n whole-souied
conservation to the one great duty, the
salvation of the nation.
If we study the character of the men
who composed our armies, and who SO
freely gave their lives in defence OF our
FLAG, we cannot have failed to discover
that which cannot be paralleled in all the
history of the past.
If now we glance ut the wives and
daughters who remained at home, while
husbands, brothers and lovers, marched
away TO bloody war, and study theli
heroic course till we can feel the anguish
which filled their hearts and at the same
time perceive how they, too, freely gave
their choicest treasures that the natiot
might live, we shall be ut loss whicf
most TO admire, these left behind o.
those enduring the trials and dangers OF
a soldiers life.
Ii is befitting that on "this Memoria
Day" we so re-survey those times which
SO sorely taxed all the resources OF TIT
land, so grasp the issues at stake as re
lated to the individual, the nation ant
the world, and also the character o
those in the field and those at home, I'll
we shall come to realize that the war o
1868 was the supreme and crownin
struggle of the ages.
The exercises closed with the singin
of America" by all present.
, The hall was handsomely decorate
with the national .colors, and pictures o
/ Mckinley and Roosevelt occupie
, positions on the stage.