The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1904-06-02

crate Union grave. t~
The Grey and the Blue have min
gled together. We have stacked arms.
The bayonet and the cannon of the
North face this way. The bayonet
and cannon of the South face south
ward
1t is said of battle in the late
Civil War. that the Confederates were
drying the Union army who were in
swift retreat. \ Union officer drop
ped, wounded. One of his men stop
ped at the risk of his life and put his
arms around the officer to carry him
from the field. Fifty Confederate
muskets were aimed at the young man
who was helping the officer. But a
Confederate captain shouted Hold!
Don't fire that fellow is too brave to
shoot" And as the Federal officer.
went limping slowly off the field the
Confederates gave three cheers for
the brave private, and just before the
two disappeared behind barn both
the wounded officer and the brave
i private lifted their caps in gratitude
to the Confederate captain.
Some one who has seldom witnessed
sach a gathering as this might ask
What do you mean by it? We mean
to instruct the incoming second gen.
GRAFTON, since the war closed, in les
sons of patriotism. Subtract 1865,
when the war closed, from 1904, and
you find that 80 years have passed
away, and what a multitude has been
born since. A generation came and
has rapidly passed away. A second
generation is coming on the stage of
action. No one under forty-five years
of age remembers much about 1t.
Who of you here under forty-five
remembers ANYTHING about it Here
and there may be one who can recall
the day when the sad news came of a
battle fought and the father was
killed, when mother tainted away or
| the sister bowed in tears that brother
is missing. There are others who
cannot remember the roll of the drum
or the tramp of regiment, nor do
| they remember the time when there
was one dead in nearly every house.
Now it is the duty of those who do
remember to tell those who do not.
| My young friends there were partings
at car windows, at steamboat wharf,
at front doors of comforta BILE homes
such as hope you may never witness.
| Oh, what a time it was when fathers
and mothers gave up their sons,
| never expecting to see them again,
and never did unless they were
brought home mangled and torn.
Perhaps the young wife standing in
the door watching the retreating form
OF her husband, as he vanished in the
bend of the road or shut off by the
woods, holding up high her little
babe in final farewell The bethroth-
ed young lady kissing her lover last
| farewell forever, so far as this life
| wac SOliNCi bCds llSSS McIc
such as YOU may never witness.
These were four years of bloodshed,
| foul years of hostile experience, four
years OF grave diggings, four years of
funerals, collins, MORNINGS. Like
| General Sherman said: War is HE'LL
What an anxious waiting for news.
The news came: Tomorrow a battle
must be fought. Then the news that
| the battle is going on. Still going on
the next day and the next. Then the
news thirty thousand slain, great
generals killed, some wounded, but
no news of the boy from the humble
home. Then the news of his missing
and is still missing.
And by this National ceremony we
| mean to honor courage.
| 1t is said of a certain artist that he
mixed brain in his colors. So it NAV
be said of the good soldier. He puts
his heart in his powder. 1t was cour-
age that led General Grant on to
Vicksburg, though repulsed time and
again. 1t was courage that enabled
Colonel Roosevelt and his Rou Oh Ri
ders to make that terrible charge at
Santiago. 1t is courage that enables
the brave japanese to drive the boast
ing Russians from their strongholds.
Courage enabled Miltiades 70 meet
with 10000 soldiers the 100000 Per-
slams on the plains of Marathon and
defeat them. Courage helped Leoni-
das with his 1000 Spartans to hold at
bav the 100000 Persian soldiers, for
two days at the Pass of ThermopylSe,
and with 300 Spartans and 700 Thes-
plans fought till every one was slain.
Many of those departed soldiers
were volunteers, and many of those
who were drafted might have provi-
ded a substitute or have deserted. 1t
helped them to decide what to do. 1t
helped the widowed mother to Weld
to the wishes of her son. 1t helped
the dependent wife to be resigned.