Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-06-07
GREAT WAR MEMORIALS
Noble Structures Reared TO %Conauerinc
Heroes-The Temples and Arches
of Martial France.

lliulllllHdl ana .llS!iltIltl aISl4'S III
honor OF great conQlerors or Us COM
memorate glorious victories date from
the heroic age of rome. The ancient
Roman instituted Il solemn tesuVa! oil
procession to celebrate Victories u
made it a stimulus To martial exploits
y general honorcd With Il triumph thus
received the highest award which the
state granted to its ~conquering heroes
Preceded by his spells and captiNes
the victor entered the city in ii charlo'
drawn by four horses. He was fol.
lowed by his whole army and. after 3
stately march along the Via Sacra. as
cended to the capitol and sacrificed ,
bull to the god Jupiter.
A Roman triumph was granted by
the senate. and the occasion for IL
could not be %equivocal. Fol instance
a general must have gained important
successes in battle after having held
one of the great offices of state, or the
victory must nave been won by his
own troops under his immediate per-
sOnal direction. one cause Tor the
high honor was the Staying of 5000
enemies in a single battle with positive
advantage to the Roman state. But III
all cases the successes must nave been
gained over Il foreign enemy ana ho'
in n civil war. the national DOMAIN eN-
tended and not merely recovered ana
the victory so decisive that the army
might safely be withdrawn from the
conquered country.
The last Roman triumph. and the
35Oth in its history. was celebrated a
ID. 5S4. when Belisarius entered CON
stantinop!e after oVcrthrOWinS the
Vandals. No general had been hon
orcd by Il triumph for over five cen
turtles, hence Belisarius was the lirs'
and only Roman SO distinguished IN the
Christian era.
Triumphal and memorial arches also
originated with the Romans, and lhclI
capital city was at various times
adorned with them TO the number OF
twcnty-one. The greatest of these Is
hat of Titus, COMMUNICATING ms con-
quests.
AS France has been ambitious to
pose as the modern Rome. We ma
look to the banks of the Seine for uu-
plications of the famous memorial
structures which have at some tlme
adorned the city on the Iiber. Louis
XIV. created the triumphal arches
known as Portes St. Denis and st,
Martin, on the sites OF the former city
gates opening out of those avenues.
After a series of glorious triumphs. IN
which ancient kingdoms We're num-
bled by the power of his arms, Napo-
leon, in 1906, erected the Arc de Tri-
omphe du Carrousel at the entrance TIC
the court of the Tuileries. Above the
entablature, which rests upon eight
Corinthian columns of red l4ansuedoc
marble, is The famous Bellona l., hef
c.iI. uIslM II ny loul - .tl' u
ton of that on the piazza of St. Marks
at Venice. Colossal statues of Victory,
Peace, History and France Surinount
the stone bastions OF two gateways on
either side of the arch. In 1906 also
NAPOLEON began the erection of the no
Bile Arc de Triomphe de rIItoile, cspe-
cially to commemorate the victory over
the Prussians and -Austrians. which
won for him his Austrian %consort.
Princess Marie Louise. This magniti-
cent structure was placed on the crown
of the hill at the extremity of the
Avenue des Champs Ulysses. just out
side the old city barriers. The four
fronts are adorned with groups forty
feet high, in VIII h the figures stand
twenty feet nigh. The top of the arch,
which can be easily assembled. affords
views of the most picturesque and his
.oric sections of P.ris. so that the me-
mortal serves in a double sense to inn
press upon posterity the glorious age
of the CorSican.
In the famous Hotel des Invalides Paris
has at once an asylum for mans chief
victims-the MANNED and decrepit veteran
of many battles-a monument recalling
the most glorious pages of the martial his
tory of France and a memorial arch and
hall and n mausoleum holding the remains
of the greatest Of her warriors. Louis NV.
the Grand Monarque, conceived the noble
institution, and under Napoleon and hi:
successors the original design of a home
for veterans has been enlarged upon unit
the edifice, with its many amplilications
forms a magnificent temple dedicated a
once to glory and to humanity.
The hotel is reached by crossing the
Seine over the noble Pont des lnvalides
! which opens out of the Champs Elysees
= The bridge leads to the Esplanade des In
/ valides, a fine open space facing the rive
and also the Champs Elysees on the otheI
/, side. The hotel Enclosure begins with
an ,a,,y. ,p1ora n ra IiSn1pN a1 frnrhia
: of battle in the shape of cannon captured
/: in the wars of Louis and of Napoleon. BE
. yond the court are the little gardens which
the veterans accupy and amuse them
: selves in attending. The principal entranc'
to the hotel is under u grand arch sur
mounted by a statue OF Louis XIV. Hu
, this is only a single feature of "A front OK
tending over 600 feet. The building accom-
modatcs many thousand soldiers, and wit
its dependencies covers 1G acres of ground
} The principal court in the anterior, Gale
the Csur d'Honneur. is 35 feet long by IL
broad. In vaults beneath two churches
!. which have been included in the structure
I are the remains of the most celebrate
Z warriors of France. those of Napoleo
I being in al separate mausoieum erecte
under the magnificent dome of Il churc
= especially to receive them when remove
from st. Helena in $40.
This republic has been lavish IN erect
Ing memorials 10 individual war hc:oe
and to mark the scenes of ~innumertbl
battle from colonial times down To TIL
struggle Of 1861. Those commemorative
the revolution and the civil war are tn
most numerous and the most elaborate
Scarcely one OF the noted leaders of 'hos
conflicts but has his deeds emblazone
i upon enduring bronze or marble. OWN
to the liberal cooperation Of the fcoera
government and the states the sites of oil
battlefields are being laid out az parks am
e,nbellished with shafts and monuments t
mark the lines of battle and identity tn
troops engaged.
State, county and town memorials I
lle soldiers and sailors of the civil wa
may be counted by the hundred. The
5 stand as tributes to valor. not 10 individ
ual fame. Two of the most imposing @
these are the Memorial arch. at the er
| trance to Connecticut river bridge. i
Bushnell park. Hartford, and the elal
:. crate structure in Monument circle, Il.
! dianapolis. This last bears the inscriI
ton. ITO Indiana's Silent Victors. by
Grateful Sta.e.' The several counties, a
we'll as the individual regiments and bal
terics of tho state. contributed to tn,
: work. wnicn originated with the Gran
Army of the Republic.