Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-01
0TTUMWA HONORS MEMORY
OF HEROES OF GREAT WAR

oo8. Inc camp, tne GRILL; SuldOn and
flag, drum beat and bugle call, the
winter hut, the summer tent, the lum-
bering wagon train, the dusty marches
under summer suns, the long spring
rains, the winter SHOWS, the sleepless
nights in wind and rain, shelterless,
rationless, homesick, discouraged, wet,
cold and hungry; the bitter blasts,
chilling the very marrow in their
bones, the dreary vigil at the picket
post, revolving through the long night
time, whether the next relief, the
morning light, or the enemy's bullet
would be the first to come-the day of
battle and bivouac.
Men of the Navy.
Those men of the navy! Stalwart
sons Of the sea, playfellows with the
winds and waves, who manned the
monitor and mortar boats, the iron
clad ships of war. opening the rivers,
guarding the coasts blockading the
ports, bombarding forts, fearless alike
of storm and battle. Grim gunners of
the artillery, who lost their lives first
their pieces afterward. The long blue
lines of footmen, with tossing flags
and glittering bayonets, who swept
across the field at double-quick,
through storms Of murderous mis-
siles, against the pits and forts and
barricades into the faces of fighting
foe. The fearless riders, who stood
in their stirrups with stiffened sinews
and naked saber blades, who hailed
with shouts of JOY the order charge
and rode with careless glee up to the
mouths of volleying cannon, or swept
a very whirlwind of manly courage in
to the rebel ranks! Men to whom the
noise of battle, the resounding drum,
the flies shrill note, the bugle's 'silv-
er voice the shouting of the captains
the ping of mimic balls, the swish of
grape and canister, the sharp quick
crack of rif1ed cannon, the sullen
boom of siege guns, the shrieking of
shell or shrapnel and of solid shot, the
rising and falling. swaying and shift
ing roll and roar and rattle of mus
kerry and artillery on the battle lines
became familiar as the laughter and
prattle of merry children in their old
homes of peace and love-
The men who met the war demon
face to face, looked in it's vengeful
eyes, felt it's hot breath. saw it un-
sheath it's angry claws, bare all it's
ravenous fangs and revel in it's cruel
carnivals of human flesh and blood;
who met it oft, who knew it we'll, this
battle fiend, fierce, relentless, insatiate
cruel as cruelty, bloodthirsty as the
blasphemous beast of the apocalyptic
vision.
Do Not Condemn Wars.
They are the only men who fully
know what a baneful thing war is.
That hatred and passion are it's van
guard, that pain and peril keep step
with it's moving columns. that disease
and dread encamp with it, that cruelty
and bloodshed, danger and death are
It's contests, that murder and rapine,
arson and theft are it's camp followers
and along it's bloody trail desolation
and sorrow and bitterness abide. (Mis-
take me not. There comes a time,
young men, when war, with all it's hor-
rors, is the lesser evil, when peace,
is infamyD when we must say with
Longfellow War is a terrible trade.
but in a cause that is righteous, sweet
is the smell of powder } There are
times when war is an imperative ne
cessity. Hence do not condemn the
use of arms as immoral; nor do l con-
slider it profane to say that the king
of heaven, the Lord of hosts, the God
of battles, bestows his benediction
upon those who unsheath the sword in
the hour OF nations peril
From the evening on which. in the
valley of Bethulia, he nerved the arm
of the Jewish girl to smit the drunken
tyrant in his tent, to this, our day, on
which he has blessed the chivalry of
the union arms, his almighty hand has
ever been stretched forth from his
throne of light to consecrate the flag
OF freedom,to bless the patriots sword.
Whether it be in the defense, or in
the assertion of a peoples rights,
hail the sword as a sacred weapon,
and If it has at times Redeemed the
shroud of the oppressor with too deep
a dye. like the anointed rod of the high
priest, it has at other times and as Of
ten. blossomed into celestial flowers to
deck the freeman's brow.
ut has been said that religion alb
hors the sword. What! abhor the
sword, stigmatize the sword, no, my
friends, for at its blow a grand ma
ton started from the waters of the At
lantic, and by its redeeming magic, and
in the quivering of it's crimson light,
the crippled colonies sprang into the
attitude of proud republic, prosper
Gus. limitless and invincible. Abhor
the sword, stigmatize the sword no, for
midst the swamps and marshes of a
southern cline, it cut the bonds of
scourged the rebellious chiv-
airy of the south into submission, and
in the blood of millions sealed forever
the bond of union in this mighty ma
ton.
A Christian Nation.
ours is a Christian nation. and the
union in which we glory is not mere
aggregate of states for political ends.
Ours is a union of men for the at
tainment of the highest ends in polit.
ical and religious life
"In the political unions of ancient
times, there was no element of Chris
tianity and there was not, and could
not be that bond of union and char
ity to which St. Paul referred when