The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-05-30

army. Thousands upon thousands en- | listed for the defense of the Union, not knowing whether or not they would | ever return to their homes again to en-
 joy the peace and happiness of a re-
 united country, after the last glympse | of tyranny had banished from our land through the heroic deeds performed by i them in many well fought battles where the precious blood of the flower of American manhood was sacrificed on the altar of human rights.
 Those of you who are here to-day en- toying the peace and partaking of the l prosperity of the worlds greatest na- | tion; those of you who rejoice In seeing the little children growing up to Amer ! ican manhood and womanhood, with the spirit of love for their country and fel- | low beings instilled on their hearts and ] minds; those of you who are glad to know that our country is united in fact as well as in name; and those of you who delight in seeing the Stars and l Stripes unfurled to the breeze from the | northern lokes down to and owed Porto l Rico, and from the stormy Atlantic | far across the Pacific into the far east
 and over the Philippines; those of you who ponder over the wonderful ad-
 vance made by our country; and those
 of you who desire to give thanks to whom and where 1t is due, reflect back | upon the memodies of the past to the | time when President Lincoln with his ! armies defied the world to destroy the | principles for which they were fighting.
 Think if you can draw the picture to your minds imagination of the misery | and suffering of the Boys in Blue" | For four long, weary years fighting,
 hoping, trusting and praying for the war to end and the Union to, be saved Think, those of you who are bound bV family ties, how thousands of loving | hearts bound together by the union of
 Home, Sweet Home were severed, and
 left broken and bleeding far apart from the spot where in love they had been
 united. Think, if you will, of the moth
 CTS left struggling and alone. the
 yearnings of the little children waiting
 for papa to come, and then tell me, my
 friend, is our patriotism as strong, loy- al and pure for the nation to-day as theirs was then? If so, let us each
 year on this occasion, when we meet to do honor to our heroes dead, rally
 around our dear old comrades who are still living, living and keeping up the | fight for their country's welfare on other battle-fields where the clash of arms is no longer heard, but where | their struggle for existence in peaceful pursuits are just as loyal, honorable
 and determined as their efforts to keep the good old ship of state afioat in the 1 darkest and saddest days of our na- | tion's history. Let us ever be ready td | assist them while they are walking in | the evening shadows of their lives, and show to them by acts and deeds, as | we'll as words, that grateful people
 fully realize tnd appreciate the bless ings won through their sufferings for | the universal peace of our country and | the world. .l | Scattered over the land from Maine | to California, from the north to the | sunny south, are the little mounds of \ earth underneath which rests the re- mains of our nations defenders; asleep l Ill IllS UUSOIIlS bl lllClI SiI0Il SldNGS, many unmarked; many unknown save that they were soldiers who died for
 their country. Some who fell before
 the fearful charges at Gettysburg ,'
 some in the wilderness" some on
 Sherman's march to the sea- some at
 "Vicksburg," Cold Harbor' and Win
 chester" some in every battle fought on land and sea did their lives go out for I the land of the brave and the home of
 the free.
 No monument however grand in
 architecture, no words however. elo-
 quent in oratory, no statements from
 the lips of the wise, no lines from the
 greatest philosopher, can fully describe
 the sufferings of the Boys in Blue"
 and their. mistaken and misguided
 brothers in gray that the Declaration of
 Independence might be fulfilled and the
 last vestige of tyranny abolished from Jour land.
 While we are ever ready to glorify
 the spirit of patriotism shown by the
 millions which comprsed the Union
 army, the greatest in the worlds his-
 tory, and while other cities and states
 are on this occasion engaged in reflect
 ing back upon the sad memories of the
 past, crowning the graves of soldiers
 arue with wreaths of beautiful flowers,
 mad singing the praises of those who
 still remain. let us remember the part
 taken for the Union cause by our own
 grand little Commonwealth of Con-
 nevticut. Of over two millions of men
 enrolled in that Grand Army of the
 Republic" over fifty thousand of that
 number were from our state. In all of
 the important battles fought, her sons
 were found in the ranks, facing the
 bayonet charges, the whitening fire of the infantry and the mighty roar of
 the artillery. They forded the rivers,
 waded the swamps and climbed the
 mountain heights. They camped on
 the frozen grounds of winter and slept
 on the damp grounds of spring and fall,
 they endured the awful heat in the isummer, and struggled on and on until