The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1908-06-03
Grand Army, Relief Corps and Span
american Veterans, as Well
As Many Citizons Join In
Observance.

W ME SlTdHSelN ulNtlSt IuduheIS
of observing .Jemorial day were no.
ticeabe in North Yakima yesterday.
the fact that the Methodist church
was crowded in the afternoon when
the memorial services of the Grand
Army OF the Republic and Woman's
Relief Corps were held showed that
the people of the city had not forgot
ten the historic and sacred signifi
canoe of the day set aside as a ma
tional holiday.
From early morning when the
graves of the fallen heroes of the
Civil war and the Spanish-American
war were decorated by the survivors
of those conflicts until the close OF
the exercises at the church in the aft
ernoon there was a feeling prevailing
the atmosphere of the sacredness of
the day that was being observed.
The exercises at he church, where
Col Edward Parker, the Kentucky
orator, was the principal speaker
were we'll attended The Grand
Army, W. r. c. and Spanish-AmeTi-
can veterans attended in a body and
were conspicuous in the great audi
torium
In the morning there was q parade
of the Boys in Blue and a trip 70
the Tahoma cemetery in carriages for
the exercises there and the decora-
ton of graves. A special dinner for
the members of the societies wa
served at the Grand Army hall, and
from the time of assembly in the
morning until the late afternoon
there was no dispersal Of the men,
befs.
Commander Bull OF the &. A. r.
post says that the exercises this year
were the best and the most largely
attended in the history of the local
post. Following the exercises, vote
OF thanks was given the Methodist
church for the use of the auditorium
and the persons who took part in the
program for their assistance
The following are the principal al
dresses that were delivered
MI Parker said in part;
Ladies and Gentlemen: The oc-
casion which calls us together is one
Of solemn duty and devotion to those
who gave and 10 those who offered
their lives to save the Union and
saved it. These men by sacrifice Of
fortune. of opportunity and Of life
Itself gave to this American republic
4 new civilization. They laid deeper,
broader and more enduring the foun
dation upon which rests the liberty
and freedom of all our people.
This new civilization has not only
made of this republic one indissolu
Bile imperial power for the enobling
and eleHatng the citizenship of this
country. but it has been and is today
and will continue to impart its bless
ings of freedom to the nations of the
earth.
We boast of our civilization of
our chiyalry, and our bravery, but
the supreme test at last is, whether
or not we are willing to give up life
itself for the things we believe to be
eternally right.
Patriotism such as is formed in
the heart and fills the soul, is not
plant that can be transported from
cline to cline. The true patriot is
made of that boy who plays around
that sacred place-the hearthstone
at home; that gambols in the or
chard, reclines in the shade of the
trees around the old homestead and
it is impaired in the seholroom from
urchin to urchin and carried in the
heart of man on the field of battle
on land and sea.
The War of the Rebellion was q
war among brothers, but after the
last battle was fought and after the
, last victory was won those who wore
II the blue and those who wore the
gray turned their faces homeward,
the one victorious army, the other
yanauished and defeated, but our
flag, that has been immersed in the
blood of our brothers, waved once
more over the land of the free and
the brave: but the one dark spo; IN
that flag that of human slavery
had been erased and in the spirit OF
freedom and liberty it had been made
as white as snow.
What has been accomplished since
then? From 10000, 900 of people
then to $4,000. 900 of people now,
with a wealth today increased more
than 500 per cent over the wealth OF
that day, with our commerce and all
business increased in substantially