Connecticut western news., 1908-05-28
M EM oRIAL DAY

We are upon the threshold of another Memorial Day, the day on which the rear guard of the Grand Army will strew flowers upon the final resting places of tine comrades who have re- sponded to their last reveille.
 It is day that can but be fraught with sadness as we view the thinning ranks of the veterans with their whitening locks and halting steps or as it rekindles the memories clustering about the loved ones who left the home, the field, the store or the shop to re- Spond to the first call to arms or to that now famous call for 'three hundred thousand more. !"
 Those were the days when the altar of freedom was deluged with the life blood of the heroic young manhood of the nation. Brother arrayed himself against brother, father against son, each overlooking family ties and home affilia- tions and giving tho best there was in him, his very life if need be, for the cause he believed to be right.
 They were the saviors of the nation in its darkest hour of peril, they paid the price with their own blood that American institutions and American principles might be sustained.
 Never did mankiad sacrifice more than did these men during the days of 1861 to 1865. Picture, if you will, the louol+v ~rd tha yotriot;uy,o of kho mo an k0 whom his country's call for volunteers sounded so distinctly and appealed so forcibly that he severed all home ties and took leave of those lEost dear to him with the full realization that in all probability it was the last time he would look upon their faces or upon the familiar home scenes. When a man manifests such courage, such self denial, when his patriotism is so great and so intense that he can nerve himself to hurry to the battlefield while the love he bears home and family bids him re- main and care for and protect them, he surely deserves, if he is alive, to zee ample evidence, on this Memorial day, of public appreciation of what he risked or. if he is one of the thousands who lie beneath the sod, his memory should be revered and encomiums of his valor should bs sung.
 Although all are reluctant to admit it, nevertheless it is fact that the i'm portance and the significance of Memo rial day is being gradually allowed to wane. Perhaps it is because the conflict II so rapidly fading into the past, per haps it is because of the thinning of the ranks of the men who engaged in this most important struggle and perhaps it IS because the feeling of patriotism is less acute with the younger generation because they have never been called up, on to face crisis which would require the displaying of allegiance to the country.
 This is not as it should be. The civil war, its cause, it's effect, and it's details so far as practicable, should be inStilled into the minds of the children in the schools and in the home. The younger generation should be so instructed that they will honor and venerate the mem ory of the dead soldiers. It would b' pleasing and appropriate were these young people so reared that they would consider It both privilege and duty to continue, during the coming decades the annual practice of paying homage t the memory of the wearers of the blu and the gray by tenderly strewing thei graves with flowers, as is done at tn present time, and by carrying out tn other programmes that every Nemoria day now witnesses.
 It will soon devolve upon other hand than those of the members of Gran Army of the Republic to carry out tn public observances. This year in som towns the old soldiers have declined tn amounts the towns annually appropriat