The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-05-31
MEMORIAL DAY F|TT|NGly observed
IN GRAND FORKS EXERCISES BEAUTIFUL
Both Memorial Park and in Opera House-iph Tribute
Paid to Memory of the Departed Heroes The Ad
dresses Delivered

dead-command our simple tribute
today. Nearly half century has
passed. but their immortality jests
with the hand of Time. No loving
friend or relative can lay wreath
or little flower upon the grave, no
words of man can pierce the solemn
stiffness of the death chamber.
One One low grave. yon trees beneath
Yet no heart more high and warm
Ever dared the battle storm,
Than is hid beneath this tomb.
Where the INTENDED grasses bloom
A And no .s stone new. with feigned distress.
among the unknown dead, whether he
lies buried in the great trenches, be-
meath the spot of his most splendid
activities, or at the foot Of some huge
lonely mountain: whether his grave
is yearly covered with mantle of
snow or decked by natures kind hand
with roses and grasses: yea, whether
some little, clear, mountain spring
softly sings to its sleeping charge, or
the great ocean waves sweeping in
measured cadence breath a requiem
to those beneath: to each and every
one we do honor today and drop upon
each grave flower. Providence has
not decreed that man, alone, should
pay this tribute.
Shall kindly lend his little aid,
With hoary moss and gathered flow
rG Ills issk the ground where thou art
Had every nation subject more
y1vrNN fhyy 0f
dead of the Civil war-those men
who babe farewell to mothers, wives
Or sweethearts: who went forth to
fight, not for a territory, not to be re-
warded by the spoils of war, not with
the hope of conquering people and
holding them in bondage, but with the
sole purpose of fighting for prin-
ciple-a principle antagonistic to
slavery: principle which, in its high
est conception. could not be partial
to the conqueror, but meant the same
to victor and vanquished; principle
which meant surfdom to none and
equality to all? Methinks can see
the mighty hosts of war, with their
standards glistening in the sun, march
ing without faltering into the jaws of
death: offering life, the most sacred
gift from God, in order that the sin
of slavery, which stained our national
honor and for which we stood spon-
sor before the world, might be eff
faced. Name the conflict, If you will,
more worthy of a nations best blood.
Stop! History offers no comparison.
Then is it not fitting that We hesitate
and pay this simple tribute to the I'M
known dead today? We are honored
in our reflection. Oh, if we could but
recall the name of every soldier en-
rolled on the lists of the unknown
dead. our efforts would not be in vain,
for each teaches lesson of devotion
and patriotism. Their graves may be
subject of conjecture, and men may
disagree as to the exact spot, but it is
agreed by all that each life was a
splendid eXamplification OF American
patriotism. May this day never pass
as day of national observance; as
a day on which We honor the unknown
dead, and it shall as long as the idea
that death on the battlefield is prefer
able to life of igniominy and shame,
under banner symbolizing national
dishonor; that it is better to have
sincere convictions and to die for them
than to live without opinions and with
out will; that it is better to sac
rifice a million lives and unfurl
spotless standard before the world
than to have fifty millions of people
basking in wealth and covering be-
meath flag, the laughing stock of
nations.
Let US be fair. Let us give to
each man according to his merit. Was
home and family dearer to the general
than to the private? Was life more
highly praized by the leader than by
the soldier in the ranks? Was the
love OF country any greater in the
breast of the man who rode at the
head of the column than to the hun
CRY, sore-footed, battered private at
the end of the marching line? You an
swer in the negative. Then is there
the least bit of difference? All, yes,
but l shall leave you to Judge, lest
some one accuse me OF partially in
my estimate of the unknown dead.
The one had a name to bequeath to
history and to the world; the other
left but result and was to be known
IN history by the term Unknown
There is a tendency in man to do
that in life which will perpetuate his
name, and noble tendency in most
instances it is. We honor the great
generals of all time who fell fighting
In righteous causes. but how seldom
we think Of the thousands who fell
with them. II it was brave and gen.
erous for the general to die on the
battlefield, leaving as he did an i'm
mortal name, what was it for the pri-
Vate who neither left a name nor a
grave capable of Identification?
The world is commencing to more
fully realize the debt owing to those
whose work we appreciate, but whose
names We know not. We are COM
mencing to learn that it is not nee
essary for a man to have the eyes of
the world upon him to gain our admit
ration and esteem. But, on the con-
trary, every man who does his work
we'll, regardless of name or position,
is coming to his own. Some few years
ago 1t was my misfortune to be on
the Pacific ocean. Our vessel. the
Alliance, had struck the sand bar at
the mouth of the harbor as we crossed
at ebb tide. 1t was not until otter
midnight, when the sea became heavy
and the waves beat over the deck,
that those in charge realized how Sc
riously the vessel had been injured
The engines, when the strain was put
upon them in the storm, did not re-
spond. The electric lights went out,
which added still more to the confu-
sion. and, between the death-like
whispers Of the wind, the captains
voice could be heard calling from the
bridge, 'starboard' or port and in
that firm. calm tone 1t seemed there