Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1907-05-31
HIS SPLENDID ADDRESS.
To the q. A. R.'s-MemOriaI Ser
mon of Rev. Hurd.

| There has been much compli-
mentary discussion of the men,
olial sermon delivered Sunday at
the United Evangelical church
by the gifted young pastor, Rev.
c. T. Hurd. Many, however,
were unable to be present Sun
day and for their benefit and for
the edifcation of the general
public the address is published in
full. Rev. Hurd said:
| l count it great honor to ad-
dress you upon this occasion.
Fortv-hve years ago you stood
side by side, shoulder to shoulder
with your trothers and neig hbors
in the strife for your country.
But now, how dtf+reni! The
smoke of the battle has uanished,
the voice of the cann' u is dumb.
There is no longer fierce
charge or a repeated assault nor
the ground stiewed with the dead
aud dying. The sun of America
rises on no slave and sets on no
master. The N orth and South
are one today. All is peace.
God has granted You this vision
ere YOU hear the drum beat the
last tattoo aud over your graves
"taps'' are sounded. He has al
lowed you to partake of the JOYS
of your victory aud has allowed
US TO thank you.
Yet alas! You are not all
here. 1t is fast becoming pain
full to see the veterans of the
sixties try to march with heads
erect and striving to keep step
with the music OF the band. Soon
the time will come when the
last soldier will have tottered
past the door, the last leaf will
have blown from the tree and
they will be gone. Twill not
be long.
This year you will decorate the
graves of thirty-seven comrades
that have gone. Next year we
may have to decorate yours.
This year you will lay your trib-
ute OF love on one new made
grave. H. is gone but ia the
bivouac up yonder Comrade
Goodchiid is answering to his
name. You will go to Crystal
Lake or to Gods Acre on yonder
hillside where they lie, each bed
marked with cold gray slab.
Eight or nine years ago l Wis
tied the battlefield of Gettysburg.
On that famous h-ld are 45o
monuments erected in memory OF
that great conflict. As I looked
at them 1 said to myself, "wha,
do they mean?' I walked over
into the National Cemetery where
in the midst of a t1ousa nd graves
of unknown dead, each marked
by a small square stone,, I asked
again, "what do these mean?"
c. back with me and stand on
the bank OF a river. It is the
Jordou. There is heap Of stones
put there by Joshua to commem-
crate the passage of the Red Sea.
i1e reared a monument that in
the generations yet to come, when
they should say "what mean
these stones?" they might re-
mem Der and tear God.
Whit mean these stones by
yonder river side, in Crysta'
Lake?
The Civil war is done; the
great armies are disbanded; their
tents have been struck; theil
camp6res are out; their muster
rolls are laid away. There i:
another army which no order car
disband. Yonder in their camp
ing ground, these stones mark
their tents; their camp6res burr
in our hearts. Time has enrich
ed their ,ne~ory.
"What mean these stones?"
They mean that in the time O
trial they and you stood the test
They tell the kind of charac-
ter they possessed. They show
their iut-nse love for liberty
. they mean adherence to to,
right. They mean that priuci
pies of justice must prevail il
this land of ours. They foug ht
first, for the unity OF the nation