Daily Kennebec journal., 1908-06-01
THE ORIGIN OF MEMORIAL DAY.

|
| Forty-two years ago, on the fifth day
of May, the first spring after the close
| of the civil War, Sarah *. Smiley was
| ut the head of an industrial school in
an abandoned Confederate Hospital in
| Richmond, Virginia. Nearby was a
| second school. in which a corp Of
young teachers from the North We're
| giving first lessons in the three RS to
| the freedmen. The city was under mar
| tial law, and consequently many Union
| soldiers were within its borders. These
| We're the living representatives of the
| Union. but the dead in the shallow
graves nearby far outnumbered the
| living.
| The graves Of those who died in Lib
| by Prison, Belle Isle and Castle Thun-
| der reached into the thousands An
| inspiration to decorate these graves
entered the heart of Sarah X. Smiley
on that May day long ago Her
thought was ably seconded by the
young teachers near her one of whom
had a brother lying in one of those un-
named graves. To the Union sol
dierS these men We're all brothers
their comrades who had fought with
them and died in the end Cor their
country. They, too. joined heartily
in the undertaking, and gathering great
masses of sweet spring blossoms the
little band marched to the burial place
of their beloved dead and laid their
offerings tendery on the brown sand
that but little nlole than covered those
laid beneath. The barren waste hid
ing its SorroWful yet glorious stor%,
the devoted group of women. the loyal
soldiers doing their work of love in
the spring sunshine. is picture one
would gladly hold long in the memory.
The act was reported to the Secre-
tary of War at Washington, as the
first systematic decoration of Union
soldiers graves. Six months later
the Government sent down and in
spected these burial places, and from
the prison books got an idea of the
number who had perished there They
bought tract of land outside the
city limits and made it into a beauti-
bul burial ground. Then the bodies
so hastily buried We're dug up and
counted and placed in this Federal
Cemetery, with n marble marker at
the head of each grave. These little
hoadstones are all numbered, begin
ming with l. and the largest number is
a little over 1000. A government
officer lives in lodge and looks after
the place. which is kept like beautiful
garden: indeed, the Federal Cemetery
of Richmond is one of the most beau
tiful cemeteries in the country.
This was the birth of Memorial Day
and the American people. with loving
hands and hearts. have gone on making it
decorating. fiower-crownins day.
They were young men in their prime
who placed flowers on the Richmond
graves. Today they are veterans of
the civil Var, who march our streets
carrying garlandS to decorate the graves
Of their comrades Eut they arc not
alone. The sons of the valci;rs, proud
Of their inheritance. ACCOMPANY them.
together with the school boys who look
proudly two generations back t. the
brave loyalty of their forcflthers. pe
ScendantS OF Revolutionary soldiers, and
of the Civil War, and the later soldiers
Of the Sphnish-American War, together
will! the strangers between the seas that
border our land. all Join today in honor
ing our countlN's loyal dead y touch
of loving loyalty makes all the world akin
decorated graves on Mamoril'i Day,
even old st. Marks. in New York. where
bodies of our earliest coionists have rest
ed for centuries. has within its vaults
some later descendants who's" ashes are
.nixed with these OF the past, and whose
near Kin remember them both on pecora,,
chIrch. Peter, Stuy Nesant's memorial
stone bears record to his life and deeds,
and On Decoration Day Il row of Hover
I'M" plants tells the story that there are
still those who remember walt the cy
owes to one of its first governors
An exquisite wreath of roses SUI
mounted by small waNin; flag, coy
cred the brown graves in tn" chIrch-
yard last decoration Day. The deco
ration is Il yearly remembrance and a
yearly attraction to the East Side crowds
who all day long pass the chEtchyau
fence. Round childish faccs are squeezed
between the iron bars mothers stop WAN
their babies in their arms, young r'en anu
rolhckinG boys each IN turn gaze ahh au-
miro, then pass IN, not knowing PERHAPS
the personality OF the man lying tAeie'
or I.ongfclloW'S
Lives of great men all remind u.s.
We can make our lives S,ihin",
And departing leave behind nS
Footprints on the sands Of time
but still catching the beauty "t i,e
flowers and The National emblem ard tie
thought that the eds If Il lifetime a."
rot die, though the bc.lr may "1uinble
into dust SO fIon. the Federal Cemetery
in Richmond, where lie in unnamed
graves over seven II is.tnl brave men men
who persisted in Libby. E"ie Isle ana
Castle Th',,"er l.iriE" the years betweess
1861 and 1861 to The ola churchyards @.
the North, and beneath the waving ue.s
of the South, on to the windsweit rrin.ie
graveyards, Gods a'ra teaches lessons lesi
to tie living AMI lraws lovinS thougE.'
and deeds from the busy life Of touay,
while these men who nave bved bri',Y
end died nobly. "beng dead, yet speak
Christian :ntelligen:er.
Foreigners in Japan find Il great oppor-
tunity to purchase curiOS at the DeSlh-