The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1906-02-01
elected as their Post Commander and

eiecteu rs their Post commander and
then his comrades became enthusiastic
for him for Commander of the Depart
ment OF Missouri, @. a. X. The next
logical step was that the comrades in
the wider field of the Department when
they became acquainted With his merits
should be eager to advance him to the
| highest position in the Order making
him in succession. Senior Vice Com
mander-in-Chief, and COMMANDMENTS
Chief
| I'm all these various places he was
an eminent success. The National En-
campment OF the Grand Army Of the
Republic has no superior among the
deliberative bodies of the world in dig
nifty, ability and forcefulness. His pre-
siding over the National Encampment
at Milwaukee will be long remembered
| by every one there as a parliamentary
masterpiece.
I'm a time when the air was heavy
with elimination and recrimination, and
/ Of political corruption. the election of
| William Warner came like a rift Of
pure, bright. life-giving sunshine
| through cloud OF mephitic exhalations.
| 1t was Il bow Of promise To believers in
better things 1t was as stainless as il
was unexpected. For once Office had
| sought and found the worthiest man.
| Every one who hoped for political puri-
| fication took fresh heart
| There are various types Of honesty.
| There are men who are honest to the
| exact limitation Of the letter of the
statute. There are still more who are
| conventionally honest. That Is. be-
cause it is good form. There are many
who are honest from a shrewd appre-
citation that honesty is the best policy.
Comrade Warmers honesty is that of
| the great mass of genuine Americans
| who are honest for the supreme reason
| that it is right. His honesty and their
| honesty is natural, spontaneous, uncal-
culated, unprecedented as their breath.
| To think anything else requires an eff
| fort To do it an awkward strain.
| They have more wonder than scorn at
| dishonesty in other men. amaZement
| that men should so befoul their birth
| right of manhood. Senator Warner and
they cannot conceive any merit in be-
| ing honest; there is simply nothing else.
| "Ruskin. in his beautiful essay upon
The Crown of Wild Olives explained
| the use and value Of this most priced
| decoration to the Greeks. The wild
olive grows upon the scanty soil of the
| storm beaten cliffs, with its life a con-
slant struggle, but it bears flowers of
| delicate whiteness and the most subtle
| fragrance. 1t was bestowed in his
| later years upon a man who had WORTH
| ~ met every requirement upon him by
country, community. family and friends.
1t meant the highest fidelity in every
| relation of life. Fidelity to friendship.
| loyalty in love, truth to all mankind.
lofty patriotism and self-sacrifice TO
| country.
| Such a crown is William Warmers"
| And then came the story of how the
"Whip-Poor-W Wills purely fun-loving
| crowd of veterans of the District of Co
| lumbia, came into being.
I'm the days of long ago-in the days
when the now dead and gone 18th GEN.
fury was only becoming eligible under
Order rs for a quarter pension for age,
and we were making a business of
hunting trouble and Johnnies among
our most constant companions were the
| Whip poor-wills.
! ut is true that we had other even
more constant companions, whom we
| could not get rid of except by boiling
them now I'm polite society. The Whip
poor-will was as certain to come
around as reveille and tattoo, and he
had more mouth than brigade wagon
master He had a heap to say about
| everything.
| when on picket at midnight we saw
| rebels 10 feet high advancing on us
with guns as long as a fence-raii, the
watchful Whip-poor-will voiced our
worst fears.
when slipping unobstrusively back
to camp with the pride of some loyal
Southerners pig-pen the Whip-poor-
| will yelled at every step what the
Colonel WOULD do to us If he caught US.
which he probably did.
| when swapping lies around the
| campfire the Whip-pOOr-WilPS derls1ye
comments sifted in after each story.
| when coming back dejectedly from
| seeing the mail sorted at the Chaplain s
tent, with no letter from our best girl.
the Whip-poor-will sang in our ears
that we were freckled, and big-footed,
and not even in the also-ran class with
| that kind Of girl.
| when the Orderly-Sergeant tram
pied on our finest feelings, and cried
aloud that we were not worth the salt
in our bareback, the Whip-poor-will
Knocked us for leaving a comfortable
home, to carry part Of the Springfield
arsenal and a bag of condemned gro
ceries over muddy roads for $13 a
month.
But after a fight was won ard we
| lay down in proud content on the State
Of Virginia for a bedstead, and the star
gemmed sky for coverlet, the Whip
| poor-will cooed that we were the BRAY
est boys that ever lived, and that our
relations would be mighty proud of us
when they knew all about 1T.
| $50 the Whip-poor-will was everlast-
ingly butting in. The loud trill of his
baZoo was the certain chorus to every
thing we said and mingled with every
thought and emotion. His persistent
notes chorded alike with our hopes and
our fears. our joys and our sorrows.
| He joined in with the fierce rebel yell
of the assault, and the rolling Union
/ cheers of victory. He was bright and
cheerful when we were happy, dismal
when we were defeated and despond-
| ent He was the last thing heard after
taps at night and the first thing be-
| fore reveile in the morning. His voice
was the same in Virginia as in Ken
| lucky. 1t changed not when we march
ed from Mississippi to Georgia and the
| Carolinas.
Besides this long an intimate asso-
| citation with the memories of the days
when we went soldering, there are
| other reasons for this selection of the
Whip-poor-will as the emblem OF our
1 Society.
1.-THE Whip-poor-will is strictly noe
| turnal bird
| HE is at his best when the evening
shadows fall.
Audubon says that he has the most
mouth Of any known bird.
His French name is 'Windswallow-
err which seems to indicate his fitness
for consumption Of after-dinner speech
es.
"He is so impartial minded that he
beats even the cunning politicians, and