The Republican journal., 1904-06-16

OF common Dr0IlleElOOu anu lONe. Luis
is what makes the nation strong
The memorial services of keneshaw
Post. G.. A. r., of Los Angeles, Calf,
We're held May 3oth in the East SIDE
Congregational church. The pastor,
Rev. Frank S. Forbes, delivered the
address He said:
"A generation of young men and
women has arisen since the close of
that great war whose fallen heroes
this day commentaries. These young
men and women can not enter into
the full appreciation of this day. The
old soldier does not mean to them just
what he does to those whose lives run
back to the anxious days, when the
fate of this republic was hanging in
the balance. The ranks of the Grand
Army of the Republic are being rapidly
thlnned Twenty years from today the
memorial service of the old veterans
will be but a shadow of what it is now
The few old soldiers present then,
brought to the churches in carriages or
automobiles, will scarcely fill the front
row of seats. The children will look
upon them with reverent curiosity; the
young people will compare them with
the old classic heroes of Grecian and
Roman literature; and all will honor
them as the most distinguished citi-
zens in the community. To the people
of this republic this should be the most
sacred day in all the year. 1t will be
a sad day when the last of the veterans
answers the final call. 1t will be a
still sadder day if the people of this
land ever forget to remember and honor
the name of the old soldier.
The old soldier is the saviour of this
republic Had he not done his duty
we should have no republic today. The
whole world owes a debt to HIM. He
taught the word a lesson OF loyalty.
and demonstrated to all the nations OF
The earth that the best and strongest
government is republic OF the people,
by the people and for the people. The
Old soldier bound the States OF this ma
ton together under the seal OF his own
blood. and thus settled for all time the
fact that the republic is greater than
any single State i'll the republic. State
sovereignty was debatable question
once. 1t vii! never rise again. No
man will ever again stand up in any
Legislature and propose that his State
secede from the Union. No member
seat to take up arms against the flag.
Other troubles may come; other battles
may be fought: other dangers may
threaten the nation, but secession Will
never again lift its head. The union
soldier made the republic one and Ill
separable. The nations of the earth
are looking to our republic. The old
forms of monarchlal government are
weakening. The people the world over
are clamorlng for more Self-govern-
ment. The prediction is 10 more heard
Ill foreign quarters that the American
republic is near its end. We are teach
ing the world a lesson i'll self-govern-
ment. There are many serious faults
i'll our national life, and many things
in our social and industrial life dark
and dangerous. But there is nothing
today SO dark as there was back in the
sixties. There We're then men brave
and strong, wise and patriotic. These
men SAW the republic on the down
grade. They threw their lives in its
path, and saved the nation. There are
men today just as brave and strong,
just as wise and patriotic. A nation
that can produce such men as form the
rank and file of the Grand Army of the
Republic will not die from the face of
the earth, SO long as these men and
their children live. Let all the world
then on this day honor the union SOL
der because he has placed this repub-
tic among the great nations of the
earth.
I'VE owe another debt to the old SOL
der for the revival of patriotism. Pa
triotism is to the nation what piety is
to the church. Patriotism is as old as
the human race. 1t began way back
when the first home was founded. 1t
has its origin from the same word as
father" and first meant loyalty to
ones father. Later it came to mean
loyalty to the community in which one
lives, and finally loyalty to the nation.
There is not the record of single ma
ton in history which has long survived
after the spirit of patriotism died. In
the palmy days of the old Hebrew ma
ton patriotism was the handmaiden of
religion, and when patriotism declined
the nation declined also. The spirit of
patriotism was considered very low in
this country for twenty years before
the war. The torch lighted by our faith
ers in the days of the Revolution was
pretty nearly smothered by the spirit
of sectional bitterness. God raised up
leader for the hour man born of
the spirit of the fathers of seventy-six.
He lifted high the smoldering torch of
patriotism that the breezes of the heav-
ems might breathe into it a new flame.
When this new born leader called for
patriots 1T had the old-time ring, and
inspired the union soldier with the old
time patriotism, which a century before
had burned in the souls of the fathers