The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-06-01
CEREMONIES
IN MEMORY
OF THE DEAD
Continued from Page one.)

| triumphant struggle of civil liberty" AS
there are many of the sons and daugh-
ters of veteran soldiers here today,
may be pardoned for further anticipat-
ing the future speaker on Decoration
Day.
He might also add, the priceless inher-
itance you have received has burdened
you with duties and responsibilities look
ing TO the preservation and perpetua
tion of these civic glories that your faith
ers achieved and as they delighted to
honor the sacred memory of our Revo-
lutionary heroes, so you and your chill
dren's children should be true to the
memory of your fathers and inscribe
their names on memorys scroll side
by side with the immortal heroes of 1776.
II the love OF liberty dies in your
breasts, ii cannot be transmitted to your
descendants; II the fires of patriotism
are not kept burning in your hearts,
chaos will usurp the throne of freedom
and civic order, and the sun of universal
liberty Will go down to eternal night. Be
true, then, to your sacred trust, and If
danger in any form comes to rob you OF
your birthrlght, rush to the rescue
blood.
GREATEST OF HONORS.
1t may be that you are descendants
of private soldiers, but we can conceive
of no more commanding greatness, no
more exalted patriotism, and no Greater
claim to Immortality of human effort
than the voluntary abandonment of fam
lily and home to serve ones country as
a private soldier. This is the supreme
glory of a very large majority of the
veterans whose memory we revere, and
whose immortal deeds we celebrate to-
day. 1t is true they are unknown to
fame; that they were not conSulted in
the councils of war; that many sleep in
nameless graves in Southern battlefields,
or by the wayside, where sick or wound
ed, many heroes fell. 1t is true they
are not honored in song, nor do their
names brighten the pages of our coun-
trys history, yet on the roll of the i'm
mortals their names will appear in as
large letters as the names of the worlds
greatest commanders. Death has bre-
vetted them all with Immortality.
For nearly century civil liberty point
ed to the Fourth of July as the ami
versary of the crowning epoch in the
worlds history, but patriotism las so
exalted Memorial Day that 1t is now
regarded with equal Veneration by every
American citizen.
They mark two perioSs in the history
of civilization; two epochs in the annals
Of the world. They are twin eras though
born In different centuries; the one gave
birth to liberty, the other sanctified and
saved it. And today all over this beau
tiful country of ours, grateful hearts go
out in fond remembrance TO freedoms
martyrs, whether their last resting place
is marked by post or stone or marble
shaft, or whether they sleep in name
less graves on bloody battle fields.
GARLANDS OF GLORY.
Today loving hands place garlands of
glory on soldiers graves from ocean to
ocean from lakes to gulf. Today flowers,
emblems of immortal love, will be scat
tered by affections hands over heroes
dust, and over the nameless graves graf
itude will place the rose of affection and
moisten 1T with tears OF love.
Memorial Dav is the soldiers annual
Sabbath. The temple of worship is COM
posed of American hearts, whose altar
fires burn perpetually and send their in
cense of love to spirit soldiers on heav-
ems camping ground.
The So11ipr'G 10 ba a.
which patriotism and love will make
annual pugrimages to pay homage to
bravery and receive new inspiration
from the memory of the heroic dead.
The soldiers monument is the sacred
stone which pilgrim patriots will circle
with wreaths of glory, and while the
tomb encloses the dust of our sons, our
brothers, and our fathers, yet all are inc
Nations sacred dead
The American Republic will never be
ungrateful to her defenders either living
tude would stille the love of liberty until
patriotism would die in American hearts,
and anarchy would enthrone ner gods in
freedoms temple.
The Republics of Greece were migrate
tul to their soldiers, and where are
those nations today? Rome remembered
only the living, active soldier and where
Is that once proud mistress of the
world?
From the banks of the Tiber and the
there comes a warning voice
10 lDt hHltT1Cdn IAtDuDllC, Wnlcn SnOulu
not be disregarded Miltiades, whom
Bryon calls freedoms best and bravest
friends gave liberty to Greece; yet he
died in an Athenian prison, of wounds
and OF a broken heart. The matchless
eloquence and incorruptible purity OF
harmonized the conflicting
clements in the Grecian States and for |
a time successfully delied the encroach- |
and base ingratitude caused his exile, |
and from that moment the Athenian Re |
public was doomed;
BRAVERY THE ONLY VIRTUE.
Bloody wars throughout all past ages
have filled the land with desolation, |
blood, and death. Nations have fought |
against nations, the stronger conquering |
the weaker ones, and on their ruins have !
built up powerful empires that ruled |
supreme for a season, then fell before |
the swords OF some mighty conqueror and
to the history of their decline and fall, |
can be traced ingratitude to the private
soldier They were taught that bravery |
was the only virtue; that to be taken |
prisoner or surrender was an everlasting !
during these wars.
Marathon, Arbela, Zama, and Phar- |
salia, furnish the world with sublime |
examples of heroism, flooded the land !
with rivers of blood, left the bones OF
soldiers to moulder unburied |
on battlehelds, made millions of widows |
and orphans and chIldless mothers, and
all for what? to satisfy the inordinate |
greed OF ambitious conquerors. They |
we're the price of ambition; they were |
The consideration the world paid for a |
an Alexander, Caesar, and |
A Scipio.
OF the countless thousands who par
in these wars that offered up |
heir lives, that were left TO die from |
saber thrust on sandy plains or crawled |
some friendly shade to breathe |
heir last or tottered home on crippled |
limbs to die In wife's or mothers fond |
all this countldss throng |
hardly a score of names are known TO |
history, less than score of graves are
arked. Yes, flowers blopmed then as |
row, but no loving hands scattered them |
IN soldiers graves, they were woven in
o crowns TO encircle the conquerors' |
1row or trampled under the feet of tri- |
lmphant armies.
AS A DEMIGOD.
The successful leader was often wor-
ihipped as a demigod, until his blinded |
ollowers, trembling with fear and SUI
)erstitioUs veneration, would meekly |
bend the knee for the tyrant heel to |
press, or place upon his brow the en-
)eror's crown. But how of the private
soldier? The dead were forgotten and
Itxrf,a to he