Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-06-02


grace had it not been for Charles A.
Dana. who rs the personal representa-.
tive of Lincoln, went to the front and
exposed and denounced the false scan.
dals which were being circulated about
the silent warrior of the west. 1t
is very grave question whether Sal
mon L. Chase could have ever success
fully hnanciercd the United States
bonds which paid the running expenses
of the war government, costing at that
time millions upon millions Of dollars
each month. unless he had been backed
up by Jay Cooke, the Philadelphia cap
italist, who was to Lincoln what Rob-
ert Morris was to George Washington
in the Revolution. So today Impair
tally praise the patriotic soldier, the
patriotic railroad man, the patriotic
editor, the patriotic financier, the pa
triotic contra and Dana
and Scott and Jay Cooke, as well as
Grant and sherman and Sheridan and
Lee and Longstreet and John Il. Cor.
don.
| In this Memorial day address we
would not omit the need of recogni-
ton due to the ministers of the home
churches as we'll as the chaplains who
laborcd in the field hospital and by the
wounded and moaning men who had
the pallOr of death upon their cheeks
the night after the battle. We would
praise men like Henry Ward Beecher
of Brooklyn and Moses ID. HOge of
Richmond and DR.. Palmer Of New Or
leans. These men We're never identi-
fled with any one particular regiment
or brigade, yet in their utterances of
inspiration, in the divine comfort
which they carried to the bereft homes,
/ in their words of faith and love, which
through the printed page went to the
boys in the camp. they became mighty
evangelists Of light. mighty gospel
messengers for God and their native
land.
We have all read about the noble
services Of Dwight l.. Moody to the
soldier boys at the front. We know
that many a dying soldier boy was
able to answer "Herew to the roll call
of heaven because some faithful chap
lain on earth had prepared him for
that Fall in" on the other side Of the
grave. We know that many and many
n dying message sent to the mother or
the wife at home was penned by the
faithful chaplains who looked after
the boys of their regiments as father
might care for the children about his
own fireSide But. what about that
gray haired old minister Of the village
church? Did he not serve any patriot
ic purpose:
JaclssOn's Advice to n Minister.
We cannot today too much praise the
WORK of the gospel minister during the
agonies of Americas four years Of
carnage. One day a man applied to
General JACKSON for a position in his
army. What is your business -
asked Jackson. II am minister of
the gospel was the reply. Then Jack
son. the Christian soldier, said: MY
friend, I can give you no position as
high as that which God has given to
you. Go back to your own church In
the name Of Jesus Christ, give comfort
to the widows whose husbands have
been shot; to the children whose
fathers, on account of this bloody war
will never come back: to the young
maidens who can never again see their
sweethearts. Go back and preach the
gospel of sacrifice to the young men
who must be enlisted from your town.
Go back. In Gods name, 90 bach"
Aye, the duty which Thomas J. Jack
son assigned 10 the ministers OF Jesus
was Grandly and nobly fulfilled by
hundreds Of consocrated cergymen,
both in the north and the south. To
day honor the memories of the noble
men of God who at home were true
and firm to their Lord and their people
during the awful conflict
But have still another long list OF
unpraised heroisms | would not
praise the boy in blue or the boy in
gray for what he did in 1861 and 1860
more than would praise him for what
he did after peace had been pro
claimed. 1t was spectacle that as
tonished the world. spectacle unprece-
1ented in history, that of the soldiers
Of those two huge armies laying down
their muskets and taking up the
plOwshare. To their honor be it Sn id
that they were ready to turn their
backs upon strife and, side by side
work together in the vocations of
peace The vast armies OF America
coing forth to battle is not nearly as
impressive, from a historic standpoint.
TO the student of sociology. as those
armies almost instantly melting away
and then and there their members
fraternizing with one another and
striving to the uttcrmost to build up
the country with as much earnestness
as they had shown in fighting each
other to the death.
Without any doubt, Robert F.. Lee
las ole III thc finest characters Ameri-
n ever produced. Would you like IL
know what was 10 me the greatest act
If that grand life? | find it not in his
actions before the war | find it not
in his wonderful equipoise aud gentle
ness and marvellous powers during the
war But after AppomattoX the chief
nobility of that life glowcd before his
fellow countrymen as a single star
might outshno all the other stars in
the heavenly ornament. After the war
was over a rich tnancia company of
New York city. in order TO catch the
southern trade through Robert T.. Lee )
popularity. offered Lee $4,000 per