The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1909-06-04

read that Joshua with that mighty
army of trained warriors who had
fought their way through a hostile
country to the foot of Mount Nebo, in
respect to the memory Of their immor-
tai conqueror and leader Moses, for
! thirty days fell on their knees. then
!, crossed the river Jordan and for thirty
| years and more fell on the Aborigines,
conquered and enslaved many of them,
and without remuneration took posses
| sion of their land. David, the pious
poet king, fought bloody battles for the
| greedy purpose of extending the bounds
of his kingdom. Solomon. the philoso-
| pher temple building monarch, oppress-
ed his subjects to maintain an immense
army and navy to his own vanity. The
wars of Alexander, Hannibal and of
Caesar were for territorial expansion,
revenge and personal power. The wars
of the invincible Frenchman, whose
military genius astonished the world,
were for self -emolument. These, and
others that have place on the pages
of history as important, were for the
selfish purpose of elevating one people
and depressing onother, and indeed Of
ten to crafty the vanity and ambition
of a single individual.
The war of 81 was purely in the in
terests of humanity Union and liberty
was the watchword of every true sold
Ter. Secession would finally have re-
suited in number of independent
states, forever at war with one another.
The nations of Europe would finally set
tie the question of independence as they
did with Poland, and the victories of
the immortal Washington would have
faded away from the pages of history.
Slavery, the curse of nations, was abol-
ished, and our land was made free,
united, peace loving and peace promot-
ing.
Again, we should honor Memorial
day, because of the sacrifice made by
the noble men who left their homes,
their wives, their children and their
business, thousands of them only boys,
leaving mothers, fathers, sisters and
brothers to fight, to march, to suffer in
prison pens and to die for union and for
freedom.
We should honor and respect this day
because of the heritage left US. Ihave
already slightly indicated what would
have been the result if the union had
been dissolved. But thanks to the valor
and loyalty of the soldiers of Isl, we
have left to us one free, liberty loving,
united country. From Bismark in the
north to the Gulf of Mexico, from Bos-
ton Bay to Frisco's golden gate, one
flag, one country, one people, the veal
thiest, the most enterprising, the great
est nation on earth.
Dean Farrer writes, ssFor us Plato
and Shakespeare taught, for us Dante
and Milton sang, for us Bacon and
Newton studied and wrote, for us An
gelo and Raphael painted, for the heri-
tage of our liberty myriads of heroes
persisted on the battlefelds, for the
purity of our religion hundreds, of
martyrs sighed away their lives amid
the flames.
This is very beautiful and gracious
tribute; but may / paraphrase it for
this occasion thus: For us hundreds of
officers, patriotic and brave, thousands
of privates, loyal and true, suffered and
died on the battlefield. For us Grant,
Sherman, Sheridan, Logan, Sigel and
Schurz, and host of brave soldiers
marched and toiled, suffered and en-
dured the hardships of war. For us the
walls and headlines of Libby and And
ersonville prison enclosed the nameless
graves of heroes who have bequeathed
US this land of freedom, cities which
we built not.
The architect of celebrated cathed-
raj was petitioned by an old man for the
privilege of working upon the structure,
offering his services as a gift. He was
put off, but in vain. Finally he received
permission to work in an obscure corner
of the building; he toiled there alone for
many day, until one day he announced
the work as finished and laid down his
tools and died. Today the work of the
unknown man in the obscure corner is
the admiration of countless multitudes
from all portions of the globe who visit
the Milan cathedral. SO there may be
many veteran whose name to day will
be called missing" and whose unknown
body may be lying among the dead on
some southern battlefield, and yet the
structure he helped to rear is today the
admiration of the nations of the world.
AS grateful sons and daughters, heirs
of a glorious heritage, let us bow in
patriotic reverence as the decimated
rank with faltering and diminishing
tread march by US.
Again, we should keep properly and |
perpetuate in a fitting manner this day |
for the purpose of patriotic education. |
LII 10 OclQ CIldC CIlO dpdllCSC dIS CduSuC |
patriotism before they are taught to |
read. In their common schools the boys |
are Taught military drills, their reading |
lessons are tales of war The japanese
nation today is known as the 'tinvinci- |
BILE little giant of the east, /" largely be-
cause of the lessons of patriotism taught |
her children. 1t is a we'll proved doc |
trine that by public speech the mind /
and life is strongly influenced to action. |
No better lesson of bravery and patriot I
ism can be taught our children and the
millions of immigrants landing continu-
ally on our shores, than the record of |
the deeds of the men who stood with
Thomas at Chickamauga, and again and |
again hurled back that advancing and |
for a time irresistible wave of rebel |
of the men who stood at the |
bloody angle at Gettysburg and drove
back the determined and desperate foe;
of the men who marched with Sherman
to the sea; of the men who with Sheri- |
dan Snatchqd victory from dnfnaf. of 1