The Washington times., 1903-05-30
DEAD SOLDIERS GRAVES
EMPOWERED IN FLOWERS
Order of Exercises at Con-
gressiOnal Cemetery.
CAPTAIN M'KEE'S ADDRESS
Procession to Cemetery Led by Band.
Vice Commander Buckingham
in Charge.

Congressional Cemetery was the scene
OF most interesting exercises. A large
crowd of people from Southeast Wash
ington and other parts of the city was
present, and the program was carried
out without a break.
The exercises were in charge of
Hiram Buckingham, A F. Dinsmore,
James Wood and George R. Cook Far
ragut Post, No. 10, with the Woman's
Relief Corps, and the children of sew
eral Sunday schools participated in the
| ceremonies. A procession was formed at
the terminus of the car line, and march
ed into the cemetery at $50 O'Clock
with Horizons band at the head The
graves OF soldiers were decorated speed
! lily by special committee in charge of
Francis Eugene Cross. of the Spanish
| War Veterans
The Order Of Exercises.
The order of exercises were: Sound
| Ing OF the assembly, bugler; Chopin's
| funeral march, Horizons East Washing
ton Band calling the assembly to order,
Hiram Buckingham, jr., vice command
er; Nearer, My God. to Thee" choir,
assembly and band; invocation, the
Rev W. NJ. Nevens; American Hymn"
choir; Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Duncan c. Haywood; In Memoriam."
Horizons East Washington Band; poem.
Comrade D. J. Evans; Cover Them
Over With Beautiful Flowers" choir:
Grafton, Comrade Capt. Thomas H. Nc
kee; war songs, selection, Horizons
East Washington Band: America"
choir and assembly: benediction, the
Rev. w. M. Nevens; national salute.
| The singing OF patriotic songs was
In charge of choir under the direction
or Gilbert A. Clark The singers were
Elizabeth Lamson, organist; sopranos,
Mrs William K. Miller, Mrs. Gilbert
A Clark, Maggie Hawkins, Mrs. Susie
Boofnagle, Florence Morrill,, Gertrude
Gonzenbach; altos, Laura " French, Sue
Lamson, Lucina McGroarty; tenors, DR..
w. B. Hoofnagle, R. E. Fleharty. Charles
L. McGroarty. William O. Lyon; bassos.
Gilbert A. Clark. Ernest A Ferris, Harry
Burlingame, John Bethune, William X.
Miller
Captain McKee's Address.
Capt. Thomas H. Mckee, orator of
the occasion, spoke of the significance
of the great conflict between the States.
and OF the revolution then enacted He
called attention to a peculiar paradox
OF history, which had been neglected by
| the historians. He said:
| For nearly two score years, on each
returning spring, the nation lays aside
| Its garb OF toll and care, to speak once
more Its unforgotten praise. 1t sends on
every breath the sweetest, tenderest
words Of love for these, our honored
| dead.
Coming into sepulchered groves and
nIcnumented places. a joyous welcome
tom the feathered songsters. who, from
their stay in sunny lands, come again
TO MARBLE and sing with the children
songs of eulogy
"On monumented hilItops, in sepui-
chered valleys, in populous cities, In
country churchyards, thousands are now
| assembled to pour out again their Iba-
tons of praise in spoken euIogy With
sweetest smelling flowers and roses of
| exquisite color, the host OF people with
loving hands cover and perfume the
grassy mounds where sleep the brave"
The American Soldier.
Captain Mckee sketched in eloquent
words the lessons TO be learned from the
American soldier. He had been tried
rot only in the civil war but on foreign
territory, where he stood best among
the worlds warlike men,
Speaking of the great struggle among
the people OF the land which came after
the war, Captain Mckee said, in closing:
1T was the morning of the nations
new birth; It was what General Sher-
man had In his thoughts when he said,
Take care Of the helpless, and build for
them homes in quiet places until the |
mad passions of men cool down. II was |
what General Grant foresaw at Fort |
Donaldson, when he said, Unconditional |
surrender It was what Abraham Lin |
coin prophesied while standing in the |
shadow OF the dome of the Capitol be- |
fore the first awful gun was fired against |
the flag, when he said The lingering |
chords of memory, stretching from ev-
cry battlefield TO every loving heart and |
hearthstone all over this broad land, will |
Se' sHSi AiS Cnoi os VI lhe SAiion' when
touched, as surely they will be, by the |
better angels Of our nature
1t has come to US TO share the glory |
and rejoice in the promised fulfillment |
Of these immortal utterances The mad |
passions OF men have cooled down, while |
the millions of our people once con- !
tending ia sectional strife are now help |
ing each other IN the arts of peace. |
Surely the better angels of our nature |
have been touched; today millions OF |
happy voices swell the chorus of the In |
lon"