Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1903-06-04


And some Of these graves will not b
decorated today After the battle they
were not in place to answer Here" Al
the accustomed roll call Another voice
answered Missing" The body never
was found. So the vacant chair; and
the empty hearts feel the loss ever. But
even the missing sleak today. They
have made il possible that only one flag
shall spead ovor this nation, and, impos-
sible for this land again to be troddeil
by slave.-they have cleanse the flag
from its foulcst stain. How these
graves speak to Us by their constantly
increasing numbers. There will be nc
Grand Army of the Republic in twenty
five years. Two vacancies occur i'll its
ranks each hour, and the ratio is on the
increase. But the silent army is cons
family growing
Twill this Memorial Day be a per
petual holiday them" is often asked
think SO. The .'vets" will pass away
at last, and the school boys aud girls OF
today will maintain this symbol Of oui
patriotism. And as long as the spring
buds herald the flowers. shall this great
nation honor her departed braves. How
appropriate is the ''blooming alphabet
of creation" for this labor of love,
"Emblems" are they indeed "of our
great resurrection They prophecy
our immortality. But do not give all
your flowers to the dead. Scatter few
along the path of the surviving soldier
as he totters TO his grave and do it now.
Our voices will soon be too weak TO call
these warriors from the valley OF silence,
and our arms that may minister TO them
in love now, will not be able to reach
them then. We are accustomed to give
thorns to the living and spices and flow
ers to the dead Men cry for sympathy
and bread while they live ami we give
them grave and stone when they die
and are with us no more. But these
hushed voices still plead for freedom,
and we are asked to complete the work
they so bravely begun. Said Lincoln in
Gettysburg cemetery: 'It is for us, the
living, rather to be dedicated to the task
remaining before Us, that from these
graves We take increased devotion, that
we here highly resolve that these dead
shall NOT bava Jia1 IN yain -
Let us preserve the legacy bequeathed
at SO great cost, ana not pinch out
pensions to these brave men who have
the seeds of death in their bones and
blood as though they were paupers
They ask no charity in demanding that
no old soldier be an inmate of our poor
houses. We owe them a great debt
Let the richest nation on the face of the
globe justly recognize the services Of
the old soldier. Nothing that we prize
today would be of worth only for what
they did 1t will not be long that they
eau be with us. Let kind hearts greet
him with throbs of sympathy while he
stays.
These graves speak to us now by their
very peacefulness. Near the Mason and
Dixon line is double grave marked by
a monument reared by fathers love.
One of his boys died in the Northern
and the other in. the Southern army
Both were sent home for burial. On
the monument reads "These died fight
ing for what each believed to be right. !"
But the better element of the South
welcome the results of the war, and
virtually acknowledge us right, so we
conclude with Garfield that the North
was eternally right and the South
equally wrong. With this settled, let
us learn to forgive.
The battlefield plowed by shot and
shell has outgrown the marks of battle,
and the tallest grasses and richest grain
cover the places where most blood was
shed. The oak shot by bullet covers
the scars as the years go by, and nature
repairs her rayages. Then let us not
rake the ashes of the past for Goals of
sectional hate The Blue and the Gray
sleep together peacefully, and the two
colors go into southern countries arm in
arm and garland the graves of friend
and foe.
How fast the chief participants of the
rebellion are passing away. When
Sheridan came down from Washington
to Winchester on that ride found in
song and story. he says in his memoirs
that he found only one man facing the
foe and doing his duty to rally the men,
and he learned that the young lieuten-
ant was William Mckinley, of Ohio.
No wonder the Grand Army of the
Republic will not pronounce the assas-
sins name. These men go years before
their time.
The Grecian and the Roman would
only strew the chief heroes graves, but
q eek all alike. I love the mon who