Milford chronicle., 1904-06-03
Calm1aQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. D. D.

Los Angeles, Cal, May 29.-In this
sermon for Memorial day the preacher
pleads for justice and recognition for
those who, though wearing no uni
forms and bearing no weapons, yef
served their country in its crisis as
faithfully and patriotically 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 chieftains. All
Carthage knelt in reverence before the
fOmbs of Hamilcar and Hannibal. All
Sweden hOnOrs the sacred dust of Gus
isvus Adolphus and of Marshal Berna-
!o.te. who afterward ascended the
throne as King Charles XIV. All Ger
many rcveres the name Of Frederick
The Gre. { and Count Won Moltke. All
Italy praises Garibaldi and Victor
Emmanuel In England the Duke Of
Wellington and Lord Napier sleep
within st. Puuls cathedral under the
most magnificent come of all London.
Westminster abbey is the last resting
place Of scores Of generals and ad-
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 1tty 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
ont veterans they are unable to look
after themselves, then the best Of
soldier homes" are provided for their
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- !
ful retreat Of the Invalides for her
aged soldiers. in the midst of which is
the huge sIrcophagus of her greatest 1
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 l |
loved so we'll" The finest sites near our (
own national capital and Milwaukee !
and Danville and Santa Monica are fill /
ed with the veterans of our own army, 1
who were just as brave as any that |
wore the Confederate gray or the Fed |
era blue. who laid down their lives /
uuOn the blood soaked soil Of Vicks- |
burg. Charlottesville, Lookout Noun
tsin or Atlanta.
Though on this Memorial Sabbath F..
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 if some
who did not go to the front had not
oyally done their duty in other spheres.
There We're some who would gladly
have shouldered a musket and gone to
the war. but renOunced their share in
he danger and the glory of the battle
that they might render less cOIspicu-
)us but no less essential service to
heir country. Let us give them, too,
heir need of praise.
The Unpraised Heroes.
On this Memorial day l praise the
lnpraised southerner as we'll as the
appraised northerner. 1 believe the
'iyil war, bloody as it was, awful and
errifc as it was, mortal as it was.
With 100000 dead, was worth all the
acrifice it cost. Why? Because once
nd fer all it settled the vital and far
eaching question that the United
'tates government forever was to be
on the east by the Atlantic.
IN the west by the Pacific, on the
orth by the great lakes and on the
outh by the gulf. Though the United
tates proper comprises an area OF
.025,GOO square miles, yet in that vast
rea. great as it is, there will never be
DOM for more than one government |
~ more than two queens can live
'ithin the same beehive. This ques-
Oh Of one government had to be set
e1 oEcc for all by the sword If it
ad not been settled by bloody con
20 between the north and the south
cert*iuly would have had to be set
ed latcr by a bloody conflict between
% east and the west. Thus l houor (
day tie unpraised hero who in 1861 :
yeG below the Mason and Dixon line I
) well as the unpraised hero of Mich I
an and Pennsylvania and New York /
I'd Maine. {
FIRST, on this Memorial day, let us (
iDag the statesmen in the cabinet and I
e legislators in the capitol who con- q
acted the national government during !
ose four years Of trial. In the north !
II capitol at Washington and in the t
lnfederate capitol at Richmond there r
ere men as brave as those in the [
mics. Their duties were onerous, !