Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-06-01


Mtten and Dickey of Westminster.
After the close of the exercises In the Hall
the two bands (twenty.slx pleces) marched
to the square and as one band, under the d.
rection of Prof Geo. H. Pleischauer, render
ed several selections which brought forth
much applause.
COL. KINGS ADDRESS.
COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
Again the seasons have run their cycles
and again we repeat our pilgrimage to our
martyred dead We bring in our hands the
fragrant garniture of earth's spring time to
decorate their graves from the garden, the
fields, the mountain sides, we have culled
the sweet blossoms and evergreen. They
are the yotve offerings which grateful affec.
ton would place at the shrines of a country's
braves. While the flowers we scattered a
year ago are all gone, the memory of our fall
en- is still as fresh and green as the vesture
which nature has just put on. We are not
here as new made mourners, weeping in the
poignancy of grief which follows near be-
reavement; we are not moved ny the affilc-
ton ola common sorrow for departed friends
This is the nations sad homage, and we join
with the millions of loyal and liberty loving
people of our land who turn from their re-
spective pursuits to visit the silent encamp'
ments of their heroic slain to freshen their
hot, Lao
There is something touchingly appropriate
in the scattering of these floral tributes.
Flowers have their well known language
and it is that of love and affection, the ten.
derest sentiments of the human heart They
typify our abiding faith in the life after death;
they spring up on the battlefield after the
storm Of carnage has swept over it; they form
the bridal wreath and are laid upon the bier;
they are the most delicate of all Gods exqui-
site handwork; they are the bright inetiabe
smile of nature. What more fitting thing
could here be .ound to deck the gloomy por.
tails of the other world
rejoice for the sake of our triumphant
cause that this memorial anniversary has
found its sanction In the popular heart 1t
is not my purpose to violate the properties
of this solemn occasion by one single utter
ance that would open fresh and bitter men,
cries of the past. While We feel that 1t
would be folly and crime against loyalty
to honor the lost cause of one erring brother
by wrea,hing his tomb with flowers, yet we
would Irvine about it the pure love offerings
Of affection and forgiveness. A less gener-
GUS sentiment than this would dishonor our
own gallant dead. The unhappy wal was
not inaugurated by the Federal Government.
All the first preparations for hostliLies and
the first assault were made by our erring
brethren of the South. 1t was demanded of
us to give up the Republic and the old flag
of our fathers.
Had we yielded up those priceless trusts
we would have been false TO ancestry, false
to ourselves, false to the generations to come,
false to freedom and false to our God.
And, Oh, you know the dreadful history
of that sickening conflict; from every village
and hamlet men and mere boys sprang to the
call, put ON the blue uniform and took up
the step to the music OF the union-the cotn.
try must lie saved, and anxious hearts begin
to bleed for the family circle that must be
broken. Our amented President, the great
and good Abraham Lincoln, calls for troops,
and some must go-take my brother, and
the strong young man turns his face to the
South, where the smoke of battle rises, bear
ing under his arm the neat bundle filled with
the comforts that a sisters love could devise,
the conflict continues, and there is another
call for troops--some one must 60.
Take my husband, I'll care for the little
ones, and with goodbye, uttered only by
the quivering lip and the tear swollen eye,
the brave wife receives the parting kiss. The
conflict RACES, awful gaps In our ranks must
be filled, and again some one must go. The
flag must moi 60 down, 30 take my STRIPPING
b y, he is the light of my soul and the staff
of my feeble years, the Lord may turn the
bulle, from him, and the good mother blesses
her last born son and placing in his han'is q
small copy of the Book of Life, bids him
Gods speed.
Follow that splendid army from the noun.
LII 70, naa xx-oa... ...a-al,u. l,.. Il