Milford chronicle., 1906-06-01
Calnaqe
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmase. D. D.

udEhS llc llue uebWteu true anu IdlSl
heroism, utters a warning against mil
itary impostors and gives some timely
advice to the old soldiers. The text is
Leviticus xix, 80, "Thou shalt rise VI
before the hoary head and honor the
face Of the old man."
Some time ago it was my privilege
and honor to address the old soldiers
in the Veterans home at Sawtelle, in
southern California. Just before l as
cended the platform the leader of the
meeting made a strange request. He
said: "Please don't throw any bouquets
to the old soldiers. They don't like it,"
"What do you meanY asked. why"
said the chairman, Il mean do not call
them heroes and tell them what a no
BILE set of men they are. Almost ev-
cry speaker who comes here tries TO
get their good will by flinging cOmpli-
ments at them, and too much sugar Is
always nauseating to the stomach"
"All right" l said; mo compliments
will I give. But, though 1 may not
praise them, l feel like doing it just
the same, for any man who can stand
before a great audience like this, made
up Of Grand Army veterans, and not
feel like taking off his hat and bowling
before them has not the first elements
of patriotic pride. He has never in
telligentIy read the story of the glori-
Gus deeds that these men wrought"
But truly brave man always dislikes |
to be eulogized. The only time you
can compliment such men face to face |
and not have them protest is when .
: they are lying in their caskets, and
Ten then 1 think some Of their bodies,
hOugh cold, are still protesting
inst the praises uttered over their
usciOus forms.
ZEN the American people on Me
W, al day see the long lines Of blue
coats filing past the reviewing stands,
although many Of these old soldiers are
now crippled and physically enfeebIed,
they feel a great deal as Daniel Web
ster felt toward the old veterans of the
Revolutionary war when he was de-
livering his great address at the lay
ing Of the cornerstone of the Bunker
Hill monument in 1925. Veterans"
HttAu tOu alAC AlC ACluuuMAb VI
many a well fought field. You bring
with you the marks Of honor from
Trenton and Monmouth, from York
town and Camden and Bennington and |
Saratoga. Veterans Of half a century,
when in your youth you put everything Y
at hazard in your eountry's cause, good
as that cause was and sanguine as '
youth is, still your fondest hopes did S
not stretch on to an hour like this. a
At a period to which you could not rea- o
sonably have expected to arrive, at a o
of national prosperity such as
you couid never have foreseen, you Z"
Ire now met here to enjoy the fellow Il
hip Of old soldiers and to receive the a
Of a universal gratitude" 81
)n a similar occasion Edward Everett, n
he great Massachusetts orator. dellv- ti
ring an encomium upon the American Oh
lag, so stirred his audience that two ii
Id veterans of the Revolutionary war n,
rose and bowed to the speaker. Mr.. B
Everett. deeply moved, said: "Sit down, OF
ged friends; sit down. No American al
udience wants to see you stand in its W
We are the ones to stand tC
nd uncover our heads to you We m
now that it was your. blood and sac to
ifi'ee which made that flag possible W
lit down, aged friends; sit down" m
)aniel Webster and Edward Everett W
DICED the popular opinion. The Rev Dc
lutionary veterans of 1925 did receive SO
he gratitude of the American people, th
s the aged warriors Of the awful civil w
var Of 1861 do receive the gratitude of til
he American people of this twentieth al
entury Truly on this Memorial day tn
+ 1906 we rise up and honor the he q
oes Of the American battlefelds. th
Discriminating EuIogy. m
EulOgy in a Christian pulpit. how fr
yer, must always be a discriminating to
Here the speaker is under le
sacred obligation to speak nothing III
ut the truth The heroes whom we A
on0r are too noble to desire praise be
lat ignores the facts. A great army OIL
ach as that which won the great bat. ca
es Of The war necessarily comprised iii
Dme nen who were not patriots, men te
Tho shirl5ed their duty and who in the 81
ag interval that has succeeded the 81
rar have received honor they did not II
eserve. Some men, too, who were
rave on the battlefield were not rulers
f themselves, and since the army dis VI
anded have by their sins and their r
ices disgraced their uniform. Few in 4,
eed, compared with the whole num- 6
er are these igHoble soldiers, and is
ieir misdeeds we speak of with sor- W
lw and regret, deploring them all the 81
ore because Of the heroism that we b,
lnor. til
First. let us go and stand by the era sc
e OF the Grand Army Of the Republic. Il
hen you do this you viii be just as 81
uch surprised at the genesis Of this at
gaRization as I was. always felt y
at Major B. f. Stephenson founded Ii
is society as a social organization. if at
might use that word. l thought that he
these old veterans had fought and it
ad together. therefore they Wanted TO Ia