Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-02

|
| it not for the tediousness of statistics
I would fain say a word of this gall
liant "figtting" regiment, which was re-
crulted mainly from the sturdy men of
the Kcnnebec. 1t participated in all
| the battles and marches of the Third
Corps. In % engagements, out Of a
| total enrolment of 1886 men, it suffered
in killed and MORALLY or otherwise
wounded 4S9, and 33 more died in Con-
federate prisons
So much for figures. "They are far
above the plane of ordinary statistics.
| They represent the measure of blood
which an unfinching patriotism gave
! in exchange fer the perpetuity of the
/ Nation and the ransom of the Repub-
| lie And yet, they are but figures.
! II you wish to convert those figures
into living, glorious and awful facts,
turn from the books to your own COM
rades Ask comrades Stevens and
Gannett what happened at Gettysburg,
for those wounded and gallant soldiers
have not forgotten. Ask comrade Nc
David who was made a prisoner in
that decisive battle, to tell you of his
weary months of confinement at Castle
Thunder and at Belle Isle. Ask COM
rade Poor whether life in Anderson
vile Prison has ever been one whit
exaggerated. Ask Col. Selling about
| the battle of Charlottesville, where
the same shell by which he lost his arm
instantly killed Lieut.. Cox, a former
Augusta boy. Ask your other COM
radeS to tell their tales of camp and
field. and when you have done, without
the aid of oratory or learned DISGUST
tiOns on the causes and results of the
war, you Will understand better than
ever why you and your country cling
so tenaciously to the observance of
this holy day. You will understand
why that pledge made at Washington
| on the 23d of May, 1865 still subssts
as the nations sacred covenant. and
| why it is that for forty-four years by
pensions. by legislation, by preference in
| appointments, your country has been
| trying, imperfectly though it be. to
fulfill that solemn compact. You will
| understand why the State of Maine
| has during that period appropriated
| a total of $2,31S.000 for her Civil War
veterans; why S175.000 has been appro-
piiated for the years 1909 and 1910:
! why under her laws, our veterans
! cannot be pauperized or DISTINGUISHED;
why the State pays the burial expenses
| of soldiers and their destitute widows;
! why under the hawkers and peddlers
! law her soldiers were exempted from
| the payment Of license fees and why
| they are now exempt from poll taxes.
| You VIII understand why our cities
ana towns are specially authorized to
defray the expenses of Memorial day
land to erect soldiers monuments; why
1.-THE present legislature created Lincoln
day a public holiday; why the unau-
thoriZed wearing of G.. A. r. badges
is punished as a crime and why the
flag cannot be dcsecrated by using it
for purposes of advertising or display.
Ard you will understand better than
ever shat your passionate love for the
nag will never become u mere tradi-
ton or an intellectual abstraction.
Now God be praised for the power to
For the throb and thrill. and the quick
l. hrain-reel
The choke in the throat and the blur of
| tears,
when we hear from afar. through a
storm of cheers,
The first faint notes of the bugle--and
then
Like ii, thing of life DER the marching
J. men
The first glad glimpse of beloved stars
: On a field of blue. and the glorious bars
OF red and whitewith a simmer and
Il shine
That stirs the blood like draught OF
wine"' ---' se@--- --@a--
Now, word in conclusion-or rather
a question. Has the observance 81
Memorial day any direct and beneficial
\ in1ucnce on our national life? The
question has been at least partially
answered many, many thousands. o.
times Orators and writer's have point
ed out it's inspiration to. patriotism
reverence for the flag, and good citi
zenship. That is all true, but it seem:
to me that the influence of this day Il
felt in still another way. Like a goot
Yankee, let me answer my question b,
asking few others.
Why is it that the effort to abolis
the ancient classics from the colleg
curriculum has been almost uniforml
Continued On Page Sixteen.)