The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1906-06-01
MEMORIAL DAY.

stripes, and all that they stand for.
Tomorrow, as Memorial day, will be
observed by this nation that has been
preserved by that bloody war, and
America will bow It's head In tribute
to the boys who responded to the
country's call for volunteers and who,
since taking up arms, have been laid
In their graves.
II is fitting that one day out OF each
year should be set aside In which to
recall the crimson years OF strife that
stain the pages OF this unions history,
In order that the generations that have
grown up since those times OF can
mons BOOM and the generations that
are yet to come, may reflect upon the
deeds OF valor and the loyalty and the
sacrifices of their forefathers of Abra-
ham Lincoln's day.
To those who know OF the civil war
only what they have learned in the
histories that have been written, there
Is little realization of what that strug
gle between brothers of the north and
south meant or of its vast effect upon
every community and almost every
home from Pacific to Atlantic, until
they see the old soldiers in their aging
blue uniforms marching through the
streets and hear the fife and drum
piercing the air of every hamlet in
the nation today. To the east and the
west and the north and the south,
this country Is dotted with millions
and millions of cities and towns and
there Is not one to be found on the
map in which there Is not still a scat
tering of the veterans who shouldered
guns and went following after Grant
and Sherman and the rest of those
great generals when the war broke
out
And thus, by the token of those who
still remain to march each Memorial
day to the cemeteries on the sidehills
of the towns of America, may be reck
oned the untold numbers of loyal cit
liens who joined the ranks of the fight
ing regiments and never came home
from the smoking battle fields, ant
of those, too, who did come home bu
) who have responded to the last rol
, call since the ending of that warfare
season. d.
: But perhaps today, for all there ar
, still with us many and many vet
, eran who shall still continue on thi
Q earth for score of years to come
). the most impressive feature of thes
n annual Memorial days is the fact tha
n the ranks are growing perceptibly thir
s ner and thinner, and the fact tina
It every time the old flag, unfurled fror
s the staff that is carried by blu,
e coated veteran, Is borne up to Pro
It pect Hill, it goes to do honor to d.
s parted comrades who, the year befor
IS had been here to help from the marcl
r ing squad. It is a notable feature, to
t. that with each succeeding year the ga
of those who remain to carry flowe
~ to the last resting place of the col
10 rades, becomes appreciably feebl
~ and feebler
IL But for all the diminishing of tho
III veteran ranks, from year to year. Il
u interest and the glory that is paid
III them by the surviving generations
T. this American race loses not one lot
III fact noteworthy In it's indication tn
IL the memory of the deeds of those figl
y ers shall be perpetuated in the hear
IL of this country, for years and yea
oy after those soldiers and their gran
ST. sons have been laid beneath the sc
a' And this, in the eternal fitness
's' things. will be justifiable. The uni
~ soldiers who fought and won in tn
'e' awful war that drew a line betwe
us the two halves Of this country for t
nc time being, but which later welded
vi parts together again as never COZ
er have been done with defeat, ha
u' earned fame that may ring down I
'u' halls of Time.
Theirs was the feat of soldering
gether, that it might be perpetuat
one of the great nations of the wo
an today, They bought that victory W
of their blood, but the fruit of their W
a ming lives On in unending life, so II
is the end attained justified the pr
me those brave men paid. 1t was the S
eu rificing of the individual for the SO
ou of the society of future generatio
- =, sacrifice in spirit intensified Il
he lion-fold by the loss of tens and h
,ed dreds of thousands of lives, and to
honor to those fallen fighters, ms
ice of whom were buried in trenches 6
F. whose bodies have never kno
ne. graves that were marked, is the n