Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-30

pdCFfOtiC poem WHICH pdld d Tribute TO tle
gallantry of the boys in blue.
A striking touch of tender sentiment was
added to the service by the singing of 1.-The
Vacant Chair by Mrs. VIM. X. Miller and
the choir.
Chaplain Pierce's Grafton.
The Grafton was by Chaplain Charles C.
Pierce, United States army, and command
ed the rapt. attention Of the large company
seated on the lawn before the speakers
platform and standing for long distance
to the rear
Chaplain Pierce said in part: 81 speak
today to the survivors of two wars,
greater and a lesser war, If you please. And
yet the older veterans must bear in mind
that their younger emulators, in bringing
speedy peace out of a smaller conflict did
their full duty with the biggest thing that
came to thenc That il wasn't bigger was
no fault of theirs.
''And l want you to remember that the
old flag came from both of these conflicts
with its stripes dyed deeper red by the
blood of multitude of martyrs; with its
field undimmed by the falling of a star
and with its white stripes unsullied by any
mark of diShonor.
'In both struggles it was the emblem
of liberty. Its folds pledged asylum to
fettered and helpless souls. Whether they
were worth fighting for is the politician
question. Whether the nation has been ad-
vantaged is an academic subject. What are
we going to get out of it? is the question of
sordidness and greed.
1.-THE spirit of chivalry does not wait for
answers to these questions. 1t hears the
cry of fettered humanity and 1T hurries with
relief. 1t concerns itself only with the
question of the moment, as to what Is
right; and 1t passes on to the future all
the problems that are born with victory
feeling sure that the genius of our civiliza-
ton will accomplish by education and leg
isation, all that providence has given us
to do.
eff only the man with the ballot is as
true to his trust as the man with the bullet
has been-and have no doubt he will be-
none of US need sigh for the future of this
fair land. as none of us have cause to blush
for its past.
''Why do we touch upon topics like this
upon such an occasion? Because we want
to crown our dead with fadeless laurel.
Because we want posterity to give them
more than empty honor. If we detract
from the dignity of their endeavor we rob
them of their right.
''The armies of these two great epochs
of our history were not made up of adven-
turers of those who had no visible means
of support. They were men whose military
service was parenthetical, in the midst of
a life of useful pursuits. And here, where
the ears of some of them may hear our
words. and where the bodies Of others rest
In sacred soil. Is the proper place to dignity
them with the name of heroes, and to enroll
the dead among the martyrs; because their
vicarious action bound the nation in per-
petual union, and gave to history the most
sublime spectacle OF unSelflSh devotion to
the cause of liberty that it has ever been
able to record
Here is the place to say of the men of
the sixties and the men of the nineties that
they did not fail. Victory was theirs: not
only that victory which measures itself in
physical terms-the beating down of one
material force by mightier one--but the
victory of ideals and the triumph of prn-
ciples. those things which mark epochs In
human thought. and quicken universal con-
science, and set new standards, and nobler.
for future ages to aspire to.
There are no blood stains on their men,
ory and the hands they lift to God are
clean, because they died in vicarious en-
deavor to right the wrongs of men,"
A round of approving applause was given
Chaplain Pierce as he concluded his bril-
liant address.
The benediction was pronounced by Rev.
Arthur HI. Thompson and after the sound
ing of taps by the bugler. the national sa-
lutte was fired.
At the conclusion of the service members
of Farragut Woman's Relief Corps pro-
ceeded to the Pennsylvania avenue bridge
where a raft laden with flowers and flying
the Union Jack was liberated and allowed
to float toward the sea in honor of the
sailor dlstd