The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1906-06-01
MEMORIAL DAY.
Fittinsly Observed by People O
OWosso.

/
Full honor to the soldier dead wa
paid by the people of this city Wednes
day. All business places were closed a
noon, the schools were not in session
factories did not run and the exercise
and parade were taken part in by a yer,
large number of people of all ages
The procession was formed on Fayett,
square at 2 p. m, under direction O.
Capt. u. IL. Ross. as marshal of the day
and marched to the armory, where
Mayor Parkill called the assemblage te
order and after the singing of Kipling's
recessional by male quartette, Rev.
). A. Clyde offered prayer. Rev. G. Fl.
Hanks, chaplain of the third regiment,
Michigan National Guards delivered
the oration, a synopsis of which is given
below.
The procession was then reformed
Capt. Ross leading in an automobile,
followed by the Owosso city band, Co.
ID, Patriarchs Militant, Uniformed
Rank knights of Pythias, Grand Army
of the Republic, Womans Relief Corps,
school children, citizens and Others in
carriages. Upon reaching Oak Hill
cemetery, the graves of soldiers were
decorated by the w. r. c., comrades
and children and the G. A. R. memo
rial services conducted at the soldiers
monument. Orders were read by the
Post adjutant. Music was rendered by
the band and the w. R. G. and Sons of
Veterans ritualistic services conducted
and taps were sounded. The address
by Rey. Hanks was in part as follows:
inc annals OF every nation might
be written in these terms: Beginning.
Developments, Crises, End. A sad,
startling, terrible fact appears. War
accompanies each; at least so has it
been in all the past. The late Prof.
Fiske tells us that nations come into
being in one of three ways:-
1. By conquest and enslavement.
True was this of those mighty orien-
tai nations of the long ago, the bur-
ed fragments of whose history the
1elver in ruins brings to our atten-
ion. Without war how could they
,ave been formed?
2. BY conquest apd--oee, ,..'i 1.--'- I
sas...ax~--AssAOman form, 1or
" it Rome grew from minuteness to
veil nigh immeasurable greatness.
Ter temple of Janus, how seldom
.losed in all that long history?
8. BY assimilation and represent
ation. This is the German or Eng
ish or, more truly because here more
FULLY wrought out, the American idea.
Bloody strife need not be in this case
vet how seldom has it been absent
even in our own land? The acqui-
sition of Texas and California was
made costly by the Mexican War.
So, too, has war been closely con-
nected with the growth of nations.
Some social or moral evil entrenched
in the body polite has needed excis-
ion by the sword before the national
spirit could work out its destiny.
In those hours when the fate OF the
nation was trembling in the balance,
be the question social, political or
moral, how often has 1t been flung
as a gage upon the field OF strife.
Over the last hour of expiring nation
ality has ever darkly hung the lurid
war cloud. The spirit of nationality
and patriotism will contend heroic
ally even against irreversible doom
itself.
War then has been the concomi-
tant of nationality in all its phases.
1t is not my province to explain, as
sail or vindicate this fact. We may
we'll hope for a better day, when 1t
shall no longer be.
Let us turn to the annals of our
own nation. In its beginnings war
played an important part. Our fathers
who settled the land and those who
erected our fair domain into a ma
tion were familiar with gun ana
sword and their dread uses. Our
up-growth has been fairly free from
bloody contests, but not wholly So
The end is not yet and far off may
be, in the Providence of God, tha'
terrible moment of dissolution! But
we may be assured that come when
it shall, the hour of national disso-
luton will be one not readily forgot
ten by the world, because If its hor-
rors and its heroism, it's expressions
and its patriotic devotion.
We come now to the crises upon
which we, as nation, have looked
Some have been peaceful in appear
ance and yet fateful in the extreme
OF these none was of more import
ance than the adoption Of the con
situation in 1889. Only the thought
full student realizes how near wa
1 our ranuhlic in that moment to utte