The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-06-02

the injunction OF the musie-murmurins
Bryant
$50 live that when thy summon:
comes 10 Join the innumerable cara
van which moves TO the pale realms OF
shade where each shall take his cham.
Der in the silent halls OF death, thou
90 not ike the quarry-slave AT night
seOurged 20 his dungeon; but, sustain.
ed and so0thed by an unfaltering trust
approach thy grave like one who wrap:
the drapery OF his couch about him ana
lies down TO pleasant dreams
The great majority have already
crossed the Valley of the Shadow OF
Death and entered the bounds of the
beautiful BeyOnd,-while the surviving
legions. with enfeebling years, but
hopeful hearts. are pressing to the goal
across whose portals shine the camp
fires Of eternal life.
II there Is any sure passport to
that realm Of bliss, it is written be
tween the lines OF the honorable dis
charge Of every soldier and every
sailor who stood with uneonquerable
determination between his country s
life and his eountry's death. That
passport will car him through if
anything can. and back OF that safe
conduct Is the fiawless character and
patriotic purpose which led him TO en-
list. and which he has never lost.
That discharge passport-that
safe-eonduet many received on the field
Of battle. many on the march, and
many IN the fever-strieken camp. while
others are patiently waiting for the
call between the lines; but the glory
Of all Is in the end alike, and their
noble lives and heroic deaths will be
q sublime inspiration and a worthy ex-
ample Tor generations upon generations
vet 70 come.
I speak more particularly of the
veterans Of the G. a. R., because they
are the representative body of the eiti-
zen sOldiery Of the Union. the back
bone OF the Nation. the men who have
done most 10 save their country. and
who are the honored organization IN
der whose generous and patriotic al
pieces the enrolling and impressive
ceremonies Of Memorial Day are so
beautifully conducted.
We later ones may have done our
duty in upholding the honor of cur
nag; but our sacrifices, orr suffer ngs,
our experiences. are meager compared
with theirs. We may rank with the
soldiers of the Mexican and Indian
wars, or even with the sturdy legions
OF the Army and Navy OF 1872; but
the blood-stained heroes OF the Civil
War viii stand through all time as the
peers OF the patriots who fought from
the smoking heights of Bunker Hill
till Freedom sang and Victory cheered
on Yorktown s radiant plains.
Tue heroes Of the Revolution
in blood a towering temple,
solid and symmetrical to look upon,
but whose carefully laid cornerstone
rested upon Slavery's sinking soil in
which mans inhumanity to man
made countless thousands mourn"
The heroes Of the Civil War, unds-
Lincoln and Grant, and Sherman and
Sheridan. and Farragut and Porter,
and Meade and Thomas, and Hancock
and Logan, and Worden and Winslow.
and myriads more of immortal mer
saught the erumbling fabric as Ii was
lettering 10 its fall, replaced its
.reseherous foundation with a rock of
righteousness. girded its
walls with the armOr of
ruth and justice, and eonseerated and
established an immutable Union that
hall be the glory of the world and, |
n every nOblest sense, the Land of |
he Free and the Home of the Brave |
While Nature lasts and Nations live
D. III IL III Z
very American war do we pay just
ribute: not merely N proportion to
heir respective achievements, but in |
iireet measure for the lofty purpose
md exalted virtue which animated /
hem 10 answer their eountry's call. /
Whether they reached a hero's death /
n the field OF battle, or fell a prey TO
ever, OF never faced foe; their spirit
Z sublime patriotism wss the same.
nd they have prominently earned the
-ratitude OF the Nation and the bless
az OF Him IN Whose footsteps they
ave humbly trod
rvs good gives all he has TO give.
nd seemingly more than he can fairly
-ield, because OF the sorrowing and
ften needy ones he leaves behind: but
he supremacy earned Immortality fol-
owing the brief span so rudely shat
cred glorifes his sacrifice above, and
hOuld inspire Us with reverence for his
anne and consolation for his untimely
IS
SO wreaths and garlands and chap
rs should cover the graves of our
onored dead, and blossoms should
loom where our heroes lie Loving
carts should drink in the inspiration !
patriotic deeds, and grateful hands +;
lould Gull the sweetest flowers as j
offerings TO those who have /
hight Us bravely how to live and
oily how 10 die II
Yet this beautiful Memorial Dayl ,
lOuld not be a day CT sadness. but !
lther one of pride and joy. Pride i
lat We have had the glorious exam I
e Of patriots brave and true. joy '
lar their work was well done.-that '
-ey have left Us q reunited country a
MY established on eternal principles
liberty and justice; and exultation [
az we are permitted here to honor I
lrselves IN hOnOring them. a
I must say another word to account $
= my enduring affection for the Q
.terans OF the G. A. R. With many n
have marched-with many mourned l
any with me have shared their b
ankers. their rafiOus. their last dron =,