Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1907-06-06
MEMORIAL DAY
It's Observance by the Grey
Haired Veterans of 76G.
REV. j. j. MANKER
MAKES FINE ADDRESS
Twenty4one Comrades cdi
Post 53, &C. A. r., in
Attendance Music,
Flowers and Rain.

The G. a. r. Memorial services
Thurday were carried uut in beaUbiful
and impressive style. The Memorial
address Wy Rev. j. j. Manker, d. d.,
of Knoxville, edftor of the Methodist
Advocate, wasia carefully worded effort
full of fine thought and Imagery. The
progam as published IN the News was
carried out in toto, fine Memorial mus
ic being rendered by special choir,
and being especially excellent in char
acter.
Miss Grace Thomas delivered the
impressive words of Lincoln Address
at Gettyburg in a clear and intelligent
manner, and thu reading by Miss Ava
Lancaster of one of John Trotwood
Moore's beautiful poems was a gem,
being very effectively given.
The fine address made Oy Rev. j. j.
Marker, was as follows:
Mrs. President and Ladies' of the w.
r. c., My Friends, Fellow soldiers and
Fellow Citizens:
Let us congratulate ourselves ON this
auspicious day and occasion 1t is a
noble sentiment from which has grown
the custom in all civilized lands of
cherishing the memory of those who
sacrifice and suffer for any great and
worthy cause. Hundreds of thousands
of patriotic Americans, ia every state
of tie Union. North, East, South, and
Wesl annually celebrate the valOr and
decorate the graves of those who stalk
ed their lives for the cause they loved.
This is the sacred duty and privilege
for which we gather here at this time.
Let us consider for moment what
those men of 81 to 65 did that we and
the teeming millions of this land are
so eager today to do them honor
First-They were quick to read the
signs of the times. and TO under
stand that sacred interests were imper-
lied They did not wait until their
own cities and fields were laid waste
and their own homes wrapped in a
winding sheet of flame. To most of
them the enemy was far away and the
theater of actual war remote. For, in
fact, the people of the North were not
in the slightest personal danger.
Neither their lives nor their liberties,
nor even their property or their homes,
were menaced. Had not a single regi-
ment enlisted under the National Flag.
had every man in every Northern state
remained at home, not single South
ern army would have marched across
their own Southern border. The lead
ers and people of the South only wish
ed to be let alone to set up a new gov
ernment of their own and to have theiI
own way with it. Whv, then, did sc
many thousands so eagerly rush tC
arms and align themselves under the
FlagH
To their everlasting credit the an.
swer must be that their quick intelli
gence read with unerring accuracy th'
tokens of threatening danger of tht
cherished institutions handed down tt
us from our fathers. They compre
hended the meaning of every incipien
movement, and knew what they in
volved. They saw that the breaking
away of only one single state, though
that state might be the smallest ant
the most remote of all--meant tn
breaking of the tie that held the Uniol
together With patriotic intuition the,
divided the fatal character of the NAL
ady from its first appearance, and thei
patriotic impulse pushed them into tn
conflict the moment the hostile hanC
was raised 1t is much to see the dan
ger before it is too late. They saw i
at glance.
Second. But what did they do
They completely, for the time being
set aside all their plans of every kind
Students in the midst of their educa
tional course left school. Clerks an
merchants left the counter and th
counting room. Lawyers and doctor
aeft their offices and their practice
Workmen of every trade threw II
their con tracts The farmer turned a
way with his crops IMPLANTED or hi
harvests ungathered. The lover bad
farewell to his sweetheart, and tn
husband and father gave the partin
kiss TO his wife and helpless children
Quickly and resolutely they all turne
away from the comforts of home {
mareh, they knew not whittier, and {
eMdSre, they knew not what.
That much they knew they were dc
ing. But knowing all this as the.
did at the first, yet how little the
knew Of what was actually in stOT
for them as they afterward learned
in their oft-repeated painful expert
ences. 1t is double honor to both di:
cover a dangerous condition and
grapple with it. Many are too blin
to see il in time, and too timid to fec
it wheu they do.
Do YOU old soldiers remember th
long marches, often all day and a
night, through rain and sleet an
snow, OF through the dust and scorct
ing heat of Southern midsummer, i
You remember how you climbed th
hills and mountains. and how yo
waded or swan the swollen streams
Have you forgotten the nights yo
slept on the frozen ground with Il
mercury skirmishing around the zel
mark, and at other times how You Ia
down on pile Of rocks or brush, or q
rail OF log to keep your body fro
sinking in the mud while you slept
the uOuring rain. Certainly YOU ha,
not forgotten your rations of harll tag