Gilpin observer., 1909-05-27
DECORATION DAY.


picture of the execution of the %, in
the days of the French revolution. On
arriving Mt the scaffold they begin
singing the Marseillaise, March on,
march on, the avenging sword un-
sheath
But the executioner's axe was busy
and as head after head rolled from
the block, the chorus grew fainter
and died away till it became a sill
ence. The soldiers of the Grand Ar
my are being laid away one by one,
and their chivalrous song is growing
faint and will soon be heard only as
an echo of the past.
The girls of '62 could sing an army
song with voice made tender by
when those who know what the war
meant by coming in touch with it will
have passed on.
They had seen father or brother or
sweetheart march away, and had
doubts of ever seeing them again.
Patriotism filled the mothers Of
the nation as well as the fathers.
Many a wife and mother said to the
husband, 60, our country needs you,
and l will do the best l can to care
for the children. The soldiers of the
Grand Army are old and they have
seen hardship indescribable, but they
have been recompensed, they have
lived and carried gun for their coun
try under Abraham Lincoln, the Great
1t was an inspiration to live in the
days Of the soldier of Bennington who
said, Boys we win tonight or Molly
Stark sleeps widow" We learned
in that war that the race is not grow
ing weaker. 1t was a harder fight
than the war of 10 We had generals
that were the equal. if not the peer
of those that fought on Bunker hill
While Henry Ward Beecher was
speaking to an unsympathetic audi
ence in England, someone said, why
didn't you whip the South in two
AAoAlAS Do you SdiO you Wouiu.
Because" said Beecher. I'VE found
we had Americans to fight instead
of Englishmen."
After making deductions for short
term soldiers and reenlistments, sta
tistics give about 100000 enlisted in
the Union armies.A larger percentage
of them was killed than in the Crimea
or the Franco-Prussian war. We reao
the charge of the 600. The colonel
got his orders, and knowing that
someone had blundered. he gathered
his bride reins and swinging himself
into his saddle said, Here goes the
last of the Cardigans and G13,000 a
year"
When a man who is blessed with
everything that this life demands, and
il the son of lord, and is called to
lay 1t all down for forlorn hope
and face cannon to right of him,
cannon to left of him, and cannon
in front of him. and he instantly
obeys, he is good deal of soldier
We are glad that he escaped from
that mouth of hell" The killed and
wounded in that charge was 3S per
cent. but the 41st Pennsylvania lost
10 per cent at Gettysburg.
In the same battle one company
of the 26th North Carolina. had every
man and officer hit, and the SER
geant made out his report with a
bullet in each leg. But there are a
small number of battles that we do
not read of. A small fight in which
a man was killed was Waterloo to
him. Many n rocky pass or thicket
might contain n monument, and with
the change of n word, have the
epitaph Of Thermopylae engraved on
it. Go and tell Sparta that we lie
here having obeyed her word" Many
a man wasted away with disease. ly-
ing on n cot. The ridiculous is often
present regardless of circumstances.
Myron Reed tells of soldier in the
hospital being visited by the chap.
lain. His profanity was uppermost
and yet he recognized the chaplain
and his office, so to the chaplain's
question. How are you today my
MANI" he answered, Pretty d-mn
thank God"
1t is easier to die under the roll
Of the drum or the flash of the sabre
than in the hospital
Falling on the foemen's ground
When the ranks are rolled In Yapor |