Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-05-27
Written for The Star.

Written for The Star.
1t is meet to recall at this time, when
sectional feeling has given way to one OF
| brotherly kindness that the nation really
owes it's Memorial day to the women OF the
south
Chauncey NJ. Depew, in Decoration oaS
address delivered in 1873, told of the origin
of the custom in these eloquent WORDS:
when the war was over in the SOUTH
where under warmer skies and with more
poetic temperament, symbols and emblems
are better understood than in the practlcai
north mothers and children of the confed-
crate dead went out and streWeo thell
graves with flowers. and at many places
the women scattered them impartially also
over the unknown and unmarked ies'iiie
places of the Union soldiers.
LAS the news of this touching tribute
flashed over the north it reused nothing
else could have done, national amity ana
love, and allayed sectional animosity and
passion 1t thrilled every household where
there was vacant chair by the fireside ana
an aching void in the heart for the lost
hero whose remains had never been found
old wounds broke out afresh, and In a
mingled tempest of grief and joy the fam
iIv cried: Maybe 1t was our darling!
Thus out Of sorrows common alike TO
north and south came this beautiful GUS
tom But Decoration day no longer be-
longs to those who mourn. 1t Is the COM
mon privilege of us all, and Will be cele-
brated as long gratitude exists and how-
ers bloom"
1t was just such impartial action on the
part of the women of Columbus, Miss, i'm
mediately following the wars close, that In
spired the poem known to every school
child in the north: The Blue and the
GRAY" All the many times the childish
mil has thrilled with the reading of the
healing verses in old Fourth Reader.
From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers,
Alike for the friend and the foe
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the Judgment day.
Under the roses. the blue;
Under the lilies, the gray.
Three years later. the first Decoration
day proclamation was issued by John "A.
Logan, then commander-in-chlet OF the re-
Gently organized Grand Army of the Re
public.
I'VE should guard their graves Chose of
the Union solders) with sacred vigilance.
the proclamation ran. AM that the con-
secrated wealth and taste Of the nation can
add to their adornment ana security is but
a fitting tribute to the memory of her
slain defenders
Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such
hallowed grounds: let pleasant paths in
vite the coming and going of revered WIS.,
itors and fond mourners; let no vandalism
or aVarice neglect, no raFdgeS OF time,
testify to the present or to the coming gen
erations that we have forgotten as peo-
pie the cost of free and undivided re-
public.
IF other eyes grow dull and other hands
slack and other hearts cold in the solemn
trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the
light and the warmth of life remain in US.
Il. Let us, then, gather round their sacred
remains and garland the passonless
mounds above them with the choicest flow
er of springtime; let US raise above them
the dear old flag they saved from dishonor,
let us in this solemn presence renew our
pledges to aid and assist those whom they
have left among us as sacred charge
upon a nations gratitude-the soldiers and
sailors widow and orphan"
Thirty-seVen years have passed since TINS
proclamation was issued Union veterans
no longer Indignantly refuse to streW the
graves of the confederate dead in the north
with blossoms, and the surviving men VINO
wore the gray now vie with their wives and
daughters in reverently placing the roses
of the south upon the last resting places OF
ancient foe and friend with equal impair
TALLY
Little did the tender hearted mothers of
the south think of the mighty fruit their
action would bear when, In the darkest
DAYS of reconstruction. with hearts bleed
ing over their own losses and overflowing
with compa sSion for their bereft sisters or
the north, they scattered their garlands
alike over the mounds of the blue and the
gray.
sadly but not with upbrading,
The generous deed done;
In the storm of the years that are faoing,
No Drawer battle Won.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the Judgment day;
Under the blossoms, the blue
Under the garlands, the gray