Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-05-30

/ memorable did so because they COM
| bined the power OF tealty To lofty
| ideal with the power OF showing thal
| fcalty in hard, practical, common sense
| fashion. They stood for the life OF ell
| fort, not the life of ease. TneS had
| that love OF country, that love OF jus
| tice, that love of their fellow men, with
out which power and resourcefui EN-
cheney but make IL man danger to MS
| fellows. Yet. in addition thereto, they
| likewise possessed the power and Inc
efficiency; for otherwise their high
| purpose would have been barren OF re-
| suit They knew each now 10 act Tor
| himself and yet 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 doing by one sudden
and violent effort The men who be-
lieved that the Civil war would be end
ed in ninety days, the men who cried
loudest, on to Richmond 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 by single brilliant victory.
but by a hundred painful and tedious
campaigns.
Just SO it must be for us In civil
life. We can make and keep this
country worthy of the men who gave
their lives to save it. only on condition
that the average man among US on the
whole does his duty bravely, Loyalty,
and with common sense, in whatever
position life allots to him.
Exactly as in time of war, courage
is cardinal virtue OF the soldier, so
in time of peace honesty. using tho
word in it's deepest and broadcast sig
nificance, is the essential base of vir-
tue, without which all else avails
nothing.
National greatness is Of slow growth.
1t cannot be forced and yet be stable
and enduring; for it is based funda-
menatlly upon national character, and
national character is stamped deep
in people by the lives of many gem
erations. The men who went into the
army had to submit to discipline. had
to submit to restraint thru the govern
ment 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
order themselves, and therefore for
feited the right to what they were
unable to use with wisdom.
TT 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 children and our chill
dren's 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 lieutenants, Hancock
and Reynolds and Howard and
Sickles. and the many others whose
names fame in our annals: but also the
chiefs who had made the Army OF the
Potomac what 1t was, ard those who
afterwards led it in the campaigns
which were crowned at Appomattox;
and Furthermore those who made and
used its sister armies: Mcclellan, with
his extraordinary genius for organiza-
ton: Rosecrans; Buell.: Thomas. the
the steadfast and that
great trio, Sherman, Sheridan, and last
and greatest of all, Grant himself. the
silent soldier whose hamner-hke blows
finally beat down even the prowess of
the men who fought against him. |
Above all we meet here to pay homage |
to the officers and enlisted men who |
served and fought and died, without I
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 were buried in
long trenches on the field of battle. who
died in cots marked only by numbers in
the hospitals: who. If 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 he had done 1t !
in war: to take up the threads Of his |
working life where he had dropped
them when the trumpets of the nation
pealed to arms. Today, all over this
land our people meet to pay reverent
homage to the dead who died that the
nation might live; and we pay homage
also to their comrades who are still
with us.
"All are at one now. the sons OF those
who wore the blue and the sons OF
those who wore the gray, and all can
unite in paying respect to the memory
of those who fell. each of them giving
his life for his duty as he saw 1t: and |
all should be at one in learning from
the deaths of these men how to live |
usefully while the times call for THE |!
performance of the countless necessary
duties Of everyday life. and how to hold |
ourselves ready to d.e nobly should the |
nation ever again demand Of her sons
the ultimate proof OF loyalty"
At Arlington Cemetery
Washington, May 30--The usual |
Decoration day exercises We're held to-
day at the various national cemeteries
AT Arlington, where the chief interest
Gpnaral John G, Rlacl- cam,