The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1905-06-08
fixed with admiration for the advancing

ing lines waver, rally, waver again,
now fall back and are about to begin a
retreat. suddenly horseman is seen
in the distance, riding like mad; he1
dashes in front of the bewildered men,
calls for fright about face and charge
the enemy's lines" A new spirit
fills every breast, and fired with new
courage, those lines are reformed, they
march with irresistible sweep up the
incline, and with a yell of victory
dash over the ramparts after the fleeing
hosts.
But the field is covered with the
dead and dying and the wounded.
The light of many home has forever
gone out; the hearts of parents, COM
panions, and sweethearts are broken.
Sorrow hangs like great pail over
our homes, relieved only by the
thought that the God of Nations is
with us.
God wanted no bounds between the
north and the south, and in a long
and bloody war, he gave victory to the
cause of liberty and union. He had a
great work for us to do, which could
be done only by united people. Our
nation survived the test.
To commemorate the two great
pivotal points in our history, we have
established two memorials made of
time, and hence the most enduring of
all memorials. Not alone in this
respect does a memorial of time sur
pass one of wood or stone. It is
superior also in its universally. The
greatest memorials in stone are the
pyramids of Egypt. These are not
accessible to all and therefore do not
impress all. But time comes alike
to high and low, rich and poor,
so that all may be impressed with the
lesson.
These two memorials are that of
July 4th, which serves to commemorate
the establishment of our government,
and that of May 3Oth, which COM
1AOLiOAdtCo lIo pICSCIFdtlOus
The first is a day of gladness and
rejoicing. We are told that when the
delegates were assembled in the hall
to draft the Declaration of Independ-
ence, such was the anxiety of the
people Of Philadelphia to. know the
moment the document was completed
that man was stationed at the door
of the hall where the delegates were
celebrating, another man stood part
way up the stairs leading to the
tower, and another held the bell-rope
in his hand. Thus they waited.
When the last name had been af-
fixed to the document the man at the
door shouted to the man on the stairs
''ring," and he in turn called to the
man who held the bell-rope, "ring."
Then rang out over the city of Phila-
delphia the vibrations OF liberty bell,
and in tones of sweetest music it
spread through Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and all the colonies, and
gathering force as they spread; now
like peals of majestic thunder, they
rolled through Europe and shook the
thrones of tyrants and despots, and
rushing through our western forests
and over Asia and Africa; now in
sweetness permeating the hearts and
minds of the populace of the world,
until today the peals of that old
liberty bell encircle the whole earth
in melody of rapturous music.
From that day to this the 4th of
July has been a joyous occasional
time of great hilarity.
But not so with Memorial Day. It
is solemn day and sacred. Sacred
because of the memories which attach
to it in the tribute of respect we pay
to our nations dead. Like the battle
grounds upon which great principles
have been contended for and upheld ).
where human lives have been sacri-
feed for the right, even as these
places come to be accounted sacred
by men because of the memories
which cluster about them, so this
day becomes in measure sacred to
us as upon it we honor the memory
of our sleeping comrades.
What thrill of patriotic pride is
felt in the breast of every American
at the mere mention of the village
green of Lexington-that spot upon
which those seven Americans gave
up their lives as a sort of first fruits
to the cause of the colonies. The
blood of those men made that sacred
place. Then we think almost with
reverence of Bunker Hill and Trenton,
Bennington, and Brandywine, Ger
mantown and Yorktown.
And in later years when that still
greater conflict was on. The fields
where that contest was waged, are
they not sacred to your memory?
Does not the heart of every old soldier
within the sound of my voice thrill
with emotion when l mention the
names of Pittsburg Landing, Fred
ricksburg and Murfreesboro, Chancel-
lorsville, Gettysburg, Vicksburg and
!