Mower County transcript., 1904-06-08

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sentiment, fail to sound the depth of
our gratitude for the imperishable
deeds and immortal devotion to duty
of the men, over whose graves today
floats the flag they defended. Through
out this land beautiful flowers in all
their loveliness of tint and fragrance,
the emblems of holy veneration,
have been by loving hands strewn on
the last resting place of many thousands
of brave men and yet many sleep in un-
and remembered are they also in our
A nations life is their monument.
Their patriotism pure, their memory
sacred. Their loyalty, our peace. On
fields of battle they met death with
honor, everywhere with faith in and
with love for our country they gave
their service Their memory inspires
our gratitude. Their legacy our care.
We speak of their deeds as of yester-
day, of our future as tomorrow. We
blend the great realization with the
great expectation. The shadows of
their sufferings mingle with h e
radiance of our hopes: We feel that
their heroism gave us security. We
give them our homage. 10 do less than
this would destroy our trust in patriot
ism, would outrage the tenderest senti-
ments of our hearts, would kill our
faith in self government. The struggles
of their lives unfolded as bursting buds
a mighty future to us, it drew the bolt
to greater hopes of mankind. Out of
the darkness of their conflicts came the
glory of our nations peace, prosperity,
plenty and power, and as time rolls on
instead of effacing or dimming their
heroism it brings more viyidly to
glorious view their triumphs, their
noble achievements. Their valor gave
liberty stronger hold which sings in
numberless strains from east to west,
from north to south, from land and sea.
from hill and valley until their fame
shall never die in the memories of this
patton. The history of their courage is
not told in airy fiction, nor woven in
dim fables nor shrouded in mist like
that of the distant ages, but the in
fuence of the liberty they preserved,
like robe of light, is extending over
other nations and will we believe,
mantle the earth. Lam talking to men,
who like Caesar can say of the great
conflict "part of it I saw and part of it
I was" 10 you this day brings rush
of holy memories, scenes of other days,
the camp, the march, the skirmish, the
line of battle, the hospital, the wound
ed, the dead, the joys and sorrows, the
friendships and partings of days when
YOU were young and bouyant and trust
full, TO you, recollectiOns of the past
grow with your growth and strength
en- with the weakness of old age.
Matters that happened with you but a
few days ago have vanished away, but
those Of your army life stand out like a
high rock in mid ocean and as YOU
gather together on this Of all days,
most tenderly and lovingly, are recalled
trying or happy scenes with some com
rade who has joined the great host or
with listening heart hear your comrade
thrill YOU with doings of other days. 1t
is a feeling in which we join but whose
depth we cannot fathom. Twined in
the sheaf of your life never to be un-
bound until death are the memories of
common joys, common sufferings, and
common successes. Sometimes YOU
NAV feel that the people do not fully
appreciate the great blessing that came
from the services rendered in the de-
fense of our country in it's hour of
greatest peril, but am inclined to be-
lieve that the great masses, like the
ocean at rest, have a deep, broad,
heartfelt loyalty and patriotism that
would burst into flame should it ever
become necessary to defend their herit.
age. Our safety is the silent loyalty of
brave men, whose bravery is born of
virtue and intelligence, and of the
future, believe, as beautifully express
ed by one of Americas renowned poets
on the flight of the waterfowl, "there
is a power, whose care unseen teaches
our way along the futures painless
coast" For above revolutions, above
laws, above concessions, justice and
virtue remain, as the blue eternal sky
lies above beyond the tempests. Right
must enter into liberty and liberty
be governed, by law and it becomes
absolute. After a long dark terrific
struggle, at Appomattox the world saw
and felt the resurrection of this+g0vern-
ment. It.was: no hollow and mOmentary
victory Peace had returned and the
national heart bounded with Joy. 1T
was the dawn. the blossoming, the birth
of a truer, purer, greater national life.
Gen. Grant Gil Palm Sunday in an un-
pretentious frame house, lin Western
Virginia;o closed his ,preeminently
marked career easr a soldier. :, HlsSun:
exampled generalship cllminated with,
the severe Simplicity that charac cteri2ed
his cOnductt iii the great civil FswarSof
modern times.ifrHis cool, clear, strong
mind :comprehended the situation.
He saw itiwas time to stop the ef-
fusion Of blood In a few, shorts vigorous
sentences he proposed the terms of
surrender; terms of, a great magnani-
nous, trusting heart; terms So gener-
ous and charitable to our erring breth-
ern and honorable to us as to pave the
way t peace, terms Of no willy
Diplomat but the open, frank, honest
utterances and impulses of a noble
manhood. His mind could grasp, his
heart feel in the fulness Of his love for
his fellow men,. their trials, sntferings
and defeat. How strange in contrast
with Il the pomps and grandeur Of
Napoleon,,s the severe dignitysof CI0m-
well, and the craft Of Charles the fifth.