Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1904-05-30
GETTYSBURG MEMORIAL
ROOSEVELT THE ORATOR
CONTINUED from page ~

as in the rare times of great stress.
The men who made this field forever
memorable did so because they combin-
ed the power of featly to a lofty ideal
in hard practical common sense fash
ion. They stood for the life of effort
of ease. They had that love of coun-
try, that love of justice, that love of
their fellow without which DOW
e. and resourceful efficiency but make
addition thereto, they likewise possess
ed the power and the efficiency: for
otherwise their high purpose would
have been barren of result. They knew
each how to act for himself, and vet
each how to act with his fellows.
They learned, as all the generation of
the civil war learned, that rare indeed
is the chance to do anything worth do
ing by one sudden and violent effort.
The men who believed that the civil
war would be ended in ninety days the
men who cried loudest ION to Rich
mond," If they had the right stuff in
them speedily learned their error; and
the war was actually won by those
who settled themselves steadfastly
down to fight for three years, or for as
much longer as the war might last, and
who gradually grew to understand that
the triumph would come, not a single
brilliant victory. but by hundred
painful and tedious campaigns. In the
East and the West the columns adj
vanced and recoiled. swayed from side
to side. and again advanced along the
coasts the black ships stood endlessly
off and on before hostile forts; gener-
ais and admirals emerged into the
light, each to face his crowded hour of
success or failure: the men in front
fought; the men behind supplied and
pushed forward those in front; and the
final victory was due to the deeds of all
who played their parts we'll and man.
fully. in the scores of battles, in the
countless skirmishee, in march, in camp
or in reserve. as commissioned. officers,
or In the ranks wherever and when
ever duty called them. Just SO 1t must
be for us in civil life. We can make
and keep this country worthy Of the
men who gave their lives to save 1t.
only on condition that the average man
among IL on the whole, does his duty
bravely. loyalty. and with common
sense, in whatever position life allots
to him. = National greatness is Of slow
growth. It can not be forced and yet
be stable and enduring; for 1t IL based
fundamentally upon national charac-
ter. and national character is stamped
deep in a people by the lives OF many
generations. The men who went into
the army had to submit to discipline.
had to submit to restraint through the
government of the leaders they had
chosen. as the price Of winning. So
we, the people. can preserve our liberty
and our greatness in time of peace only
by ourselves exercising the virtues Of
honesty. Of self-restraint. and Of fair
dealing between man and man. In all
the ages Of the past men have seen
countries lose their liberty, because
their people could not restrain and Or
der themselves. and therefore forfeited
use with wisdom.
1t was because you men of the civil
war both knew how to use liberty tenn
perately and how to defend it at need
that we and our childred and our chill
drens children shall hold you in honor
forever. Here, on Memorial Day. on
this great battlefield we commemorate
not only the chiefs who actually won
this battle; not only Meade and his
heutenants, Hancock and Reynolds and
Howard and Sickles. and the many 9TH
ers whose names flame in our annals;
but also the chiefs who had made the
Army of the Potomac what it was, and
those who afterwards led it in the cam
paigns which were crowned at Apo
mattox: and Furthermore those who
made and used it's sister armies: Nc
Clellan. with his extraordinary genius
Tor organizations; Rosecrans, Buell..
Thomas, the unyielding. the steadfast:
and that great trio, Sherman, Sheridan,
and last and greatest Of all, Grant him
self the silent soldier whose hammer
ike blows finally beat down even the
prowess Of the men who fought against
MIN. Above all we meet here to pay
homage to the officers and enlisted men
who served and fought and died. with
out having, as their chiefs had, the
chance to write their names on the
tablets of fame; to the men who
marched and fought in the ranks. who
We're buried in long trenches on the
neid OF battle, who died in cots marked
only by numbers in the hospitals; who.
II they lived. when the war was over.
went back each to his task on the farm
or IN the town, to do his duty in peace
as ne had done it in war: to take up
tne threads Of his working life where