Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1906-06-02

of the war always ringing IN our
ears. So he thought he could at least
try to tell what the war means to the
men born since its close.
Until Sumter fell few men in the
north realized that war was really
near. The South had talked so cften
of disunion that they supposed this
was a mere political crisis, an out
burst soon to die away. Compro-
mise was the talk Of the hour, but it
now seems madness when we remem-
Der what followed.
With the attack on Sumter came
the awakening, the presidents call
for $4,000 volunteers finding the
north almost utterly unprepared, but
the first gun, as Lowell has said,
brought all the free states to their
feet as one man"
The call of Gov. Fairbanks of YER
mont for volunteers preceded that IN
any other state. Party rivalry here
was forgotten, or only showed itself
in generous emulation as to which
party would Guido the other in readi-
ness to serve.
The zeal of the people to join the
rauks-that is the first thing the war
recalls to our generation, but when
older we learned other and sterner
lessons. The glorious uprising did
not shatter the rebellion at the first
blow. The first regiments of volun-
teers were beaten hopelessly at Bull
Run and until Gettysburg there were
two years of steady, savage fighting
But in them the nation was tempered
to its work and at length way was
found.
Volunteering had practically
stopped in '62; there was no longer
the romantic rush to arms. Many
felt like the Virginia confederate,
who in long march is said to have
stepped aside and scraping the mud
from his boots remarked: Damn
me if ever love another country"
Or grown used towar men forgot the
country's needs in pursuit of private
gain.
But running through all the dis
cord and confusion of those days is
seen the constant heroism of the men
who did not falter. These were the
true heroes of the war-not the men
who rushed to arms III '6l. Then it
was harder to stay at home than 60
But the men who re-enlisted on the
field, who stepped forward in the
hour of defeat, because then the pub
lie duty outweighed the private.
The speaker also paid strong trib-
ute to the men unable to 60 to the
front, but who at home gave quiet,
inglorious help to the cause, and to
the self-sacrifce and devotion Of the
women of those days.
What were the effects of the war
on the life of the time?
First iC gave Freedom. "o"ro
a long way from having settled the
questions growing out of slavery
from doing justice to the negro, but,
at least, slavery is dead. Second, the
war maintained the Union.
And the war also taught Southern
ers and Northerners to respect each
other. II do not mean to make too
much of the union of hearts Of which
one hears so often on these occasions.
Much of such talk seems to me the
'merest cant. 1t is hard for us to un-
derstand the southern point of view;
it is hard for them to understand
ours. Our ideals and our traditions
are infinitely different from theirs,
and that difference it will take gen.
erations to remove. The war taught
each section to respect the other, and
this brotherhood the generation that
fought the war has handed on to the
generation that followed it. The
faith of the men of the South was not
ours, but then, they were ready to
die for it. In the time to follow a
larger faith, perhaps, may include
both. And with the Spanish war of
1898 came the first fruit of that flu
ture.
Freedom and union you veterans
gave us, and to you we owe the flame
Of the ideal in the heart of the ma
ton. And that is why to us, to
whom facts of the war are nothing,
this day is sacred; why we are able
to join with all our hearts in deco
rating the graves of the men who to
you were living comrades, and to us
only names.
The speaker was especially effec-
tive in his delivery; and the veterans
and every one were greatly pleased
with the address.
II Il