Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-06-03
Calnnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmafe, d. ID.

sermon Tor Memorial day the preacher
pleads for justice and recognition for
those who, though wearing no uni
forms and bearing no weapons. yet
served their country in fits crisis as
faithfully and periodically as ever did
soldier at the front OF the battle line.
The text is Matthew xix. 80. "Many
that are first shall be last, and the last
shall be first"
From time immemorial nations have
honored their military chieftaius. All
Carthage knelt in reverence before the
tombs OF Hamilcar and Hannibal. All
Sweden honors the sacred dust of Gus
tavus Adolphus and OF Marshal Berna-
dotte. who afterward assembled the
throne as King Charles XIV. All Ger
many reveres the name OF Frederick
the Great and Count Won Moltke. All
Italy praises Garibaldi and Victor
Emmanuel. In England the Duke OF
Wellington and Lord Napier sleep
within St Paurs cathedral under the
most magnificent dome of all London
Westminster abbey is the last resting
place of scores of generals and adj
mirals who have made England's name
famous upon the land and upon the
sea.
Not only do the modern nations hon.
or their dead military chieftains but
also the living soldiers who have shed
their blood upon hard fought battle
fields. They honor not their generals
only, but the humble privates who
once carried the muskets in the ranks,
or the |. .tty noncommissioned officers.
or the lieutenants, or captains OF small
company commands. When these SOL
diers die they are laid in the grave
with military honors. When as worn
out veterans they are unable to look
after themselves, then the best OF
housement. England has placed the
royal palace, in the Isle Of Wight.
where Queen Victoria passed most OF
her life, at the service of her conva-
descent sailors. France has her beauti-
full retreat of the Invnlides for her
aged soldiers. I'm the midst OF which is
the huge sarcophagus OF her greatest
warrior, whose dying request was this:
1T is my wish that my ashes may re-
pose on the banks OF the Seine, in the
midst OF the French people whom
loved so WELL" The finest sites near our
own national capital and Milwaukee
and Danville and Santa Monica are ell
ed with the veterans OF our own army,
who were just as brave as any that
wore the Confederate gray or the Fed
eral blue. who laid down their lives
upon the blood soaked soil of Vicks-
burg, Charlottesville. Lookout Noun
tain or Atlanta.
Though on this Memorial Sabbath
we specially honor the heroes who laid
down their lives on the battlefield or
who survived the war TO die afterward
OF their wounds or OF disease brought
on by the exposure and the hardships
OF the war, / want To call your at
tention this morning TO men who rem
dered other kinds OF service in the
great struggle. That conflict could
never have been fought out IL some
who did not go 10 the front had not
loyalty done their duty i'm other spheres
There were some who would gladly
have shouldored n muskct and gone TO
the war, but renounced their share in
the danger and the glory OF the battle
that they might render less coaspicu-
Gus but no less essential service TO
their country. Let us give them. too.
their need OF praise.
The Unprntsed Heroes.
On this Memorial day I praise the
unpraised southerner as well as the
unpraised northerncr. l believe the
civil war, bloody ans 1t was, awful and
terrific as II was, mortal us IT was.
with 1,OOO,OO0 dead, was worth all the
sacrifice il cost. Whyr Because once
and for all it settled the vital and far
reaching question that the United
States government forever was to be
bounded on the east by the Atlantic,
on the west by the Pacific, on the
north by the great lakes and on the
south by the gulf. Though the United
States proper comprises an area or
3.O2o6OO square miles, yet in that vast
area, great as IL is, there will never be
room for more than one government
any more than two queens can live
within the same beehive. This queS-
ton or one government had TO be set
tied once for all by the sword. IL IL
had not been settled by bloody con-
hict between the north and the south
IL certainly would have had TO be set
tied later by bloody conflict between
me east and the west. Thus ! honor
today the unpraised hero who in 1861
lived below the Mason and Dixon line
as we'll as the appraised hero OF Mich
sgan and Pennsylvania and New York
and Maine.
First. on this Memorial day, let us
honor the statesmen in the cabinet and
the Legislators in the capitol who con-
Quoted the national government during
those four years OF trial. In the north
ern capitol ut Washington and in the
Confederate capitol at Richmond there
Were men as brave as those in the
armies. Their duties were onerous.
their responsibilities serious. their
patriotism intense. Let us raise the
national flag over the dead bodies OF
the senators and the congressman who
valiantly stood at their posts during
those awful years OF carnage, as we'll
rs put wreath OF flowers upon the
graves or the men who died at South
Mountain. Antietam or Fredericks-
burg.
1t is SO easy to speak sneeringly OF
our Washington legislators. 1t is so
easy to cali the United States senate
the, "miilionaires' assembly" or the
club or the old fogies" 1t is so easy TO
say the house OF representatives is a
collection OF nonentities, who are ruled
FOR the most part by one or two men
who crack the party whip over the
backs OF their fellows. But, my
friends. believe that by such speeches
injustice Is often done to able men. |
We have right to assume that men |
VINO have been chosen by their fellow |
citizens 10 represent them in congress !
are worthy men. and when we dispar-
age them we disparage the citizens |
who elected them. The first great bat
ties are not fought out with sword and |
but with tongue and pen in
legislative assembly. The civilized
world knew Spain was doomed long
before Commodore Dewey's guns spoke
N Manila harbor. When, on June Is.
800 congress- aufhori1a1 tys soo,o.o -,