Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-01

1
great organization and OF its members
| as individuals, that you have not lived
F., wholly in the past where your deeds
| of valOr were performed. When the
| war was over,-that mighty and i'm
| mortal conflict which maintained and
| established forever upon these shores
| the principles Of human rights and
| human liberty for which heroes gave
their lives at Ruddymede and Marston
Moor and Bunker Hill-when that war
was over you returned to the homes,
the farms, the Offices and the factories
YOU had left, and resumed the task
which the call to arms mad interrupted.
Never bcf1r, in history vas tocre Sc n
the disbanding of 50 large an army 50
81 ccdily and SO quiI;Iy. The word
said il could not be done peacefully
but the world had something yet t.
learn about American manhood and
American patriotism. The victorious
ana invincible host of over q million
armed men simply melted back into
the mass Of citizenship. There was no
revolution, no riots, 10 laWlcSsnCSS and
no disturbance to industry. And from
that day to Ills. through al: 'hc basy
and cVentful fOrty-tWO years between,
you have done your part, and more
than your part, in helping the country
which You saved to advance along the
paths Of progress and prosperity. You
have lived in the living present, and
rot i'll the dead past. Your faces have
been set toward the future and your
buglcS have never sounded retreat.
But upon this one day of all the
year, this day dedicated to patriotic
memories. it is cmincntly fitting, and
indeed inevitable, that your thoI9hti
and the thoughts of all of us should
travel into the past Let Us then look
bacl;N ard through The long vista of tho
years ana view lat rost which rises
before Us like q dream. Again the
land is rocked in the thrOcs of the
slavery controversy. Section is bitter
with anger against section; party
;>Gdinst patty; brother against broth, r
There is trcachcry in high places and
tIc n'aiIS of traitors are aided by those
who should have thWarted them. Then
the match is touched to the waiting
mine and Sumter is fired upon. AS
though by one electric thrill the whole
North is aroused, and we see and hoaI
on every side the grim preparations
for war There is tho beat Of the
drum ana the blarc Of the buglc We
hear a thousand orators appealing
with imprisoned Cloqucncc to as
scmblcd multitudcs. The faces Of the
men are flushed, and the checks of the
women are pale. There in the crowds
we see all the dead whose dust today
we have covered with flowers.
We see the forming of the regiments
and the partings in the homes. There
are the lingering farcwclls of lovers,
the tender careSSCS of wives and
mothers, the silCnccs that are deeper
with feeling than any spoken words,
the tears that arc braVclY chokcd back
only to be shed i'll torrents in the lonc-
ly hours to follow. And 50 the boys
for most of them We're boys after all
when they marched away, though AL
who came back were mcn-and 50 the
boys marched proudly under the
Tutoring banners, keeping TIM" to the
stirring music Of the bands, chccrfulIy
waving 4 last farewell. Alas. in how
many cases it was indeed a last fare
Wcn. We see them marching through
III" shaded streets of the villages ald
the traffic crowded avenues Of the
S1tt'tI NIIl''N, lll'iI CIsllS5 iONl lIbll liz
farms ana tho forests ana the
factories. marching down from the
East ana the North ana the West,
Down to the southern fields Of glory,
There to do ana die for the eternal
right
Still locking backward through the
mst5 Of more than forty years. We sec
tlrIl ~ IT," weary marches. in thy
hiEou2C under the stars and amid tn"
rcd carnage of tn conflict Their
lines v'ithcr away in the whrlWind Of
battle; thry are torn BY Shcll III the
trenches; they sweep on to victory in
tho charge Their blood sp!ashcs the
grass under the palmcttOs and the
oaks, it flows in tn" burrows on the
devastated plantations, and it Grim
SON. the tide Of every southern stream
and river. We sec them wasting away
with the fever in the hospitals; falling
exhausted besides the dusty highway;
suffering fortunes ana tormcntS un-
speakable in the prison hell Of
Andcrsonyill". And facing them ever
III battle, dying beside them in the
field. ANA often sleeping with them at
last in the same unmarked trench, arc
the valiant focIncn of the south. tn"
sons of those English cavaliers who
brought slavery into Virginia 1T the
same time the Puritans were bringing
freedom into New England.
But our vision is not limited to these
things. We see the other side Of the
picture of war, the side which shows
tho anxious and lonely homes from
which the fathers and brothers and
sons went forth to the defense Of the
old flag. Here we see duplicated and
Intensified the sacrifice and the suffer-
ing Of the sol Tiers 1T the front. Every
bullet which finds its mark upon n
southern field speeds nOrthward to one
of these homes i.rr Ti"rccs the loving
hearts therein. Tho maiden sits in the
shadow Of her first sorrow, ana the
silvcrcd head of the old man is bowed
with his last great grief. In these
homes there is nothing of the glory
and glamor ana thrill Of war. Here
are only the scalding tears Of grief, the
aching sense Of loss, and the desolation
of the empty chair.