The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-06-05
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
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Los Angeles. Cal. May 29.-1nE this ser
mon for Memorial day the preacher
nleads for Justice and recognition for
those who. though wearing no uniforms
and hearing no weapons, yet served their
country in its crisis as faithfully and pa
triotically as ever did soldier at the front
of the battle line. The text is Matthew
xix, 30. MANY that are first shall be
last. and the last shall be first"
From time lmmemorial nations have
honored their military ehieftains. All
tombs of Hamilcar and Hannibal. All
/ Sweden honors the sacred dust of Gus
tavus Adophus and of Marshal Berna-
dotte. who afterward assembled the throne
as King Charles ?IV. All Germany revers
the name of Frederick the Great and
Count Won Moltke. All Italy praises Gar
baldi and Victor Emanuel. In England
the Duke of Wellington and Lord Napier
| sleep within st. Paul's cathedral under
the most magnificent dome of all Lon
| don. Westminster abbey is the last rest
] Ing place of scores of generals and adj
mirals who have made Englands name
famous upon the land and upon the sea.
Not only do the modern nations honor
their dead military chieftalns. 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 petty non
commissioned officers. or the lieutenants
or captains of small company commands.
When these soldiers die they are laid in
the grave with military honors. When as
wornout veterans they are unable to look
after themselves, then the best of sol
der homes" are provided for their house.
ment England has placed the royal pal
ace, In the Isle of Wight, where Queen
Victoria passed most of her life, at the
service OF her convalescent sailors France
has her beautiful retreat of the Invalides
for her aged soldiers, in the midst of
which is the huge sarcophagus of her
greatest warrior, whose dying request was
this; ut is my wish that my ashes may
repose 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
rational capital and Milwaukee and Dan
Vile and Santa Monica are filled with
the veterans of our own army. who were
just as brave as any who wore the Con-
federate gray or the Federal blue, who
laid down their lives upon the blood
soaked soil of Vicksburg, Chancellors
Vile, Lookout Mountain or Atlanta.
Though on this Memoria! Sabbath we
specially honor the heroes w. laid down
their lives on the battle fielu or who sur
vived the war to die afterward Of their
wounds or of disease brough on by the
exposure and the hardships of the war
want to call your attention this morn
ing to men who rendered other kinds of
service In the great struggle. That con-
f1ict could never have been fought out II
some who did not go to the front had
not loyalty done their duty in other
spheres. There were some who would
gladly have shouldered a musket and gone
to the war. but renowned their share in
the danger and the glory of the battle
that they might render less conspicuous,
but no less essential. service to their
country Let us give them, too their
need of praise.
The Unpraised Heroes.
On this Men orial day I praise the UNI
praised southerners as well the UNI
praised northerners. l believe the civil
war, bloody as 1t was, awful and terrific
as 1t was, mortal as 1t was, with l,0o0,-
900 dead, was worth all the sacrifice 1t
cost. Why? Because once and for all 1t
settled the vital and far reaching queE-
ton that the United States government
forever was to be bounded on the east by
The Atlantic, on the west by the Pacific,
on the north by the great lakes and on
the south by the gulf. Though the United
States proper comprises an area of S,o25,-
600 square miles, yet In that vast area,
great as 1t is, there Will never be room
for more than one government any more
than two queens can live within the same
beehive. This question of one govern
ment had to be settled once for all by the
sword If 1t had not been settled by
bloody conflict between the north and the
south 1t certainly would have had to be
settled later by bloody conflict between
the east and the west. Thus / honor to-
day the unpraised hero who In 1861 lived
below the Mason and Dixon line as well
as the unpraised hero of Michigan and
PENNSYLVANIA and New York and Maine.
First on this Memorial day. let us honor
the statesmen in the cabinet and the leg
islators In the capitol who conducted the
| national government during those four
/ years of trial In the northern capitol at
| Washington anc In the Confederate cap
itol at Richmond there were men as
brave as those In the armies. Their du-
| ties were onerous, their responsibilities
serious. their patriotism intense. Let us
raise the national flag over the dead
| bodies of the senators and the congress-
| men who yaliantly stood at their posts
during those awful years OF carnage, as
we'll as put a wreath of flowers upon the
graves of the men who died at south
Mountain. Antietam or Fredericksburg.
It is SO easy to speak snearingly OF
orr washington legislators. II Is so
easy to call the United States senate the
..milionares' assembly, or the club OF
the old fogies." 1t Is easy to say the
house of representatives Is a collection OF
nonentities, who are ruled for the most
mart BY one of two men who crack the
marty whip over the backs of their fell
lows But, my friends | believe by
such speeches injustice Is often done to
able men We have a right to assume
that men who have been chosen by their
fellow citizens to represent them in con-
gress are worthy men, and when we dis
narage them we disparage the citizens
who elected them. The first great battles
are not fought out with sword and cam
non, but with tongue and pen In legisla-
tive assembly The civilized world knew
Spain was doomed long before Commo-
ilore Dewey's guns spoke in Manila har-
Dor When. on June 10, 1898. congress au-
thorized the secretary of the United
States treasury to issue $500 0D worth
of bonds for national defense, all the I'LL
innate outcome of the Spanish American
war was decided. except how the treaty
of peace should be signed. The outcome
of the terrific conflict of 1851 to 1865 would
never have been the maintenance of the
Union IL congress had not loyalty SUD-