Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-06-03

| SiS hhCOLCG tllu SplSuuOt WILL ne one
the Anne ican soldiers of the Civil War
built for themselves. You ask what
does 1t consist OFF / answer, look
around you, In St. Paul's Cathedral.
that architectural wonder of the world
there is slab with the folio wing in
scription; ''Here lies the body of Sir
Christopher Wren. Reader, would you
see his monument-then look around
YOU" And SO [ say, look around you
ana behold happy and prosperous
people. A nation of more than seventy
million people enjoying to the highest
degree all that goes to make a nation
great. The leader of the world in
education, science and art without a
peer in agriculture, manufacture and
commerce.; our flag respected on land
and on sea; the commanding figure in
world politics. Yea even the south to-
day confesses that what seemed to them
an overwhelming calamity, has proven
their greatest blessing. The blow
that struck the shackles from the
negro slaves also broke the Gordon
that bound the South. They were
thrown upon their own resources, and
what was the result? Why. at once
there leaped into life with splendor
and with a giants strength, such as
the world, aye, such as they them
selves, had never conceived of-the
true manhood of the South. Every
man became laborer, every woman a
worker. There was nothing that the
necessities Of life demanded that thew
did not fashion with their own hands.
AS a result, the material welfare of the
South today is greater than it possibly
could have been had slavery continued.
The War Of the Rebellion was a ne
cessity. There were issues dividing
this country which could never have
been settled except upon the field of
battle. When the war was over it
eliminated from our national condition
every element of strife, and welded us
together in bond ten thousand times
stronger and better than we had known
before.
Scarcely more than thirty years
from the close of the Civil War, we
behold General Joseph Wheeler, Fitz,
hugh Lee, and others who had archeiv-
ed distinction as Confederate soldiers,
wearing the uniform of blue and carry
ing proudly forward the stars and
stripes. Men who fought face to face
then, now stand heart to heart when
confronted by common foe. When
this country called upon her sons to do
battle against the cruel SpaniarG
when South Carolina and Georgia with
Mass. and Vermont; when the whole
North and the whole South marched
side by side in behalf of Old Glory,
then at the bivouae and around the
council fires the sons recalled the val
o"ous deeds of their fathers, wrought
on either side and under opposing flags,
during the Civil War, as the loudest
call and the strongest inspiration to
awaken effort in behalf Of the rescued
ard united country. They told of the
deeds of the glorious men who drew
their swords under Lee, Johnston, or
Longstreet, or of those who followed
the leadership of Grant, Sheridan or
Sherman, and resolved within their
own hearts to do their utmost in an
endeavor for like achievement, stand
ing shoulder to shoulder in a hcly
cause. Now indeed are we. lone
flag one land, one heart, one hand
one nation evermore.n
l cannot close, my friends, without
recalling to your minds the words of
warning of the immortal Mckinley,
when he said-"We must not forget,
my fellow. countrymen. that the Union
which these brave men preserved, and
the liberties which they secured, places
upon us, the living, the greatest re-
sponsibility. Our strength rests in our
patriotism. Anarchy falls before pat
riotism. Peace and order and secur.
ity and liberty are safe SO long as love
of country burns in the hearts of the
people,
While Memorial Day is a creation.
primarily, of the Grand Army of the
Republic, intended as an occasion to
pay tribute to the memory of the silent
heroes of the Civil War, vet can we
not fail to pay tribute on this day to
the bravery, daring, dash and courage
of our boys of the late Spanish War.
They fought as only heroes can fight,
as become the scions of an ancestry Of
heroes. And so, as we 60 out to the
eternal camping grounds of our depart
ed soldiers to offer our floral tributes
today, we ask not what war, or what
battles tested the courage of each. so
long as he fought for the glorious Star
Spangled Banner, the emblem of liberty
and union. the insignia of :sthe land of
the free and the home of the brave.
''BRING FLOWERS.
Bring flowers, bring flowers, the
sweetest, the best,
TO garland the beds where our brave
are at rest.
Bring pansies tor thoughts, unfor-
gotten are they;
Bring laurels for glory they won in
the fray;
Bring lilacs for youth-many fell ere
their prime;
a. Il L,