The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1908-05-25

last trial OF the case, was entire
ing there, amidst the living and the
dead-and they the most heroic men,
taken as whole, that any war OF
any time had e'er produced and
looking out over those hills and fields
once dust trampled and the dust
turned to mud with human blood
but now grass carpeted and billowy
as the oceans waves with mounds
that marked the heros' graves, exhal.
ing with the sweetest perfumes OF
summer flowers the sweeter perfumes
of human sacrifice for cherished
rights, the fields marked with mon
uments to valor; emotions of pride
and gratitude and admiration and
reverence, mingled, filled my breast
and thrilled my every nerve, until
I feel, I think, as far as possible for
any man to feel who lives not in
those days of carnage and suspense,
at once the cost and worth of this
land of liberty, purchased and pre-
served by sacrifice and blood.
If I could do one thing for the
youth of this land and for increase
of our country's patriotism, I would
ship them by. the train load to these
historic battlefelds, and do it now,
while the remnants of these great
armies still remain and while these
men could meet with them on such
sacred soil. They would learn there
a lesson that text books do not
teach and that years could not erase.
Our common-soldier hero: Not
alone the generals of our armies are
our heroes; but our common soldiers
were in truth and should be also
considered the nations heroes. For
with Lincoln and the Union soldiers,
as with Washington and the
Revolutionary fathers, the question
was not so much who should win as
what should rule! That is what
glorifiies our common soldiery, for
even BOYS who went forth to battle
(and this was largely a war fought
by boys) knew and felt the issues,
and would die rather than see great
cause betrayed.
The women of the time: But
not alone the men in uniform, who
scaled the breastworks, who bit the
cartridges in battle and carried the
flag to victory at the front, are
entitled to the nations gratitude:
but the brave women who at home
bore the misery and hardship and
toll of those uncertain days of blood
and poverty were heroines, and as
brave as the soldiers in the army's
ranks.
Referring to the country's herit.
age and to the patriotism of the
South and her loyalty to the flag
which once she fought, the speaker
came to the duty of the young men
of today.
Our greatest danger is not from
without but from within. Insidious
vices, fast life, loose morals, loss of
high ideals, Sabbath dissertation,
irreverance for Almighty God-these
will bring ruin more certain than
any that could come with an invad.
ing army. A goddess nation cannot
long endure. Our only hope of grow.
ing prestige and of continued ad.
vancement lies in continuance OF
our national ideal and in increased
morality within the nation. Lord
God of Hosts, be with us, lest we
forget
But we shall not forget. We
shall not forget the soldiers sacri.
fees, nor the citizens duty. The
blood of hero sires courses through
the veins of heroes sons. And i
the time ever comes when that flag
is in danger or our liberties imperilee
young men as brave as any thai
ever went forth to battle will stel
forth in her defense. But, youn,
men, that is not our present duty.
nation that was worth dying for i.
now worth living for. What ou
fathers glorifed by the soldier
l death Lot nc eti11 f,,r+har o1o-;f,, I,