The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-05-05

OeD. duInpneyS posi- O. "A. n.
of this city will have in charge
the observance of memorial day
in this city, when Governor ElroG
will be here to deliver the address
for the occasion. The depart
ment com mander, H. P. Packard
sends out orders to the various
posts calling for proper obser-
vance of the day as follows:
Redfeld, South Dakota, May 1st,
1905. Enclosed herewith will be found
General Orders No. 6, from Command
er-in-chief Wilmon w. Blackmar,
which admOnishes us of the near APP
prOach of the "Soldiers Sabbath, +"
memorial day. Sacred to the memory
of the heroes of 81 to '65, who gave up
their lives in defence of home and the
preserv alton of free and undivided
nation. | also inclose herewith cir
cular No. l, from Fanny E. Milnot,
National President of Womens Relief
Corps, our worthy and beloved aux
Hilary. Post commanders are strict
ly enjoined to see that these orders
are fully complied with, to the end
that memorial day may be fttingly
and sOlemnly observed.
Post commanders will invite all aux
Hilary organizations to assist IN these
exercises: include all patriotic sOcie-
ties, and the general public, and you
are especially eniOined to interest as
heartily as possible the school child
ren, while their young minds are fresh
and receptive.
The custom of attending divine SER
vice in a body on the Sunday proceed
ing memorial day is a beautiful one,
and serves to prepare our minds for
the events which Immediately follow.
AS part of the memorial day exer.
cises. President Uincoln's address at
Gettysburg shall be read.
Commander-i in-Chief Wilmon
w. Black mar, in his memorial
day order says:
"Killed in yesterdays BATTLE
dying in the field hospital" "Badly
wounded" "Wounded and in the
hands of the enemy"
Forty odd years ago, my comrades,
we were thus accounting for the rosy
checked, bright-eyed, manly boys,
darlings of their mothers, who with
the elastic step and merry laughs of
youth marched by our sides as we
bade goodbye to our homes and dear
ones and answered, "Here am t. to
the call ofcountry, and cheered the sad
heart of our God-given Lincoln with
Abraham, three hundred thousand
strong"
Recall to-day the hasty delivered
message and token from these dying
boys as you grimly continued the
charge over their bodies or as you
sulleny retreated, most reluctantly leav-
ing them on the field. You have
sacredly kept the promise hastily
given to your dying messmate: "Yes,
} ack, I'll tell your MOTHER "Sure,
Joe, your wife shall get your ring and
message" "Never doubt, Charlie,
your people shall know what brave
soldier you were, how pluckily you
died to save our colors.'
AS you moved carefully among the
dead and dying over the battlefield
after the fight was over; as you walk
ed through the rude field hospital
hopelessIy searching for the comrade
you saw fall, but could not stop to
help, the dear boy who had been your
playmate at school, and to the appeal
of whose old mother as you marched
away you had tossed back the cheer
ing well-meant promise, CPL take
care of Billy" AS you steadied your
self, and helped to bear across the
deck of the battleship to the cockpit,
slippery with the life blood of your
shipmates, the body of the sailor boy
with whom you had left home to ship
in your country's service:
Did you not promise the dying and
God for the dead, that your omrades
and their supreme sacrifice never
should be forgotten, that their depend
ent ones should be tenderly and fully
cared for? Have you kept that sacred
promise? Our glorious Grand Army
of the Republic has helped yol tC
keep it. 1t has collected and helpfully
disbursed in relief millions of dollars
1t has made possible, kept alive and
cherished the sacred memories ant
friendships of the war. It has estab
lished, by the order of one of my hon
ored predecessors, Commanderin
Chief Logan, and given to the world
memorial day, on which day you an
nually redeem your promise to keel
green the memory of your comrades
by decorating their graves with th'
fairest flowers of spring, or casting
them upon the seas or the rivers which
flow from the mountains to minglt
with its water, which are the sailors
winding sheet, and, by securing th'
services OF your most eloquent an(
gifted speakers to recount their deed
OF self-sacrificing devotion that ou
country might not be disgraced, dis
membered and destroyed, but nigh
live as a nation, the grandest on th'
face of the globe.