The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-31
MEMORIES OF TIE WAR

There are some consultations in
being old enough to remember the
times and events and conditions of
our country during the great war to
save the Old Union. For four years
the clouds of douot and uncertainty
lowered In our national horizon,
and at times the star of LoDe was
obscured. 1t was a time of agita-
ton, of patriotic ardor, OF intense
opinions, of hot dispute and argu.
merit, of the sharp shrill no'es of the
fife and the roll OF the drum at the re-
crlsting station, of the enlistment OF
men from all ranks Of life, and
farther south, of tie burrows of the
dread pioughshare of war.
One day while the writec, a small
boy, was sitting "a. his dek in the
district school thrae soldiers of tn
line called for a lsrger boy who sa,
at our side, and wno had enlisted,
perhaps under the unthus'lsm of the
music "a few evenings previously. We
never saw him again. He was mum
bered with the slain heroes of the
repUlblic. Mr.. Lincoln, in one o.
those immortal bulsts of eloquen
in the simplest language the pen
could write, condo.es with woman
who had laid upon the sacrificial
alters of her country four sons, bur
he was almost jealous of Ter ability
to serve the great cause OF constitu-
tional liberty-to make su h an ex-
alted sacrifice.
That was the high note OF patriotic
ardor during those trying years
When letter was received from the
front, from Vicks5prg, Shil1h. Gettys-
burg Chattanooga or other oenters
of warfare, it was generally opened
with trembling fingers anG blanched
checks, for II might tell OF the death
Of son or husband or father, These
were the personal factors, but they
were those which touched closely on
the life Of the people. There was
much difference Of opinion as TO the
propriety OF the National government
TO attempt to subdue the rebellion and
re-ostablish national supremacy over
the territory of the eleven seeded
States. Some men claimeI it could
not be done, others took the position
that 1t should not be done because
the states were sovereign and still
Others held that slavery was all right
and the best status tnat could be de-
viseG Tor the colored people Of the
South, taking economical, moral and
Biblical grounds :Or its Justification.
Bu over agalns5 either and all Of
these opinions was arrayel the gen.
era conscience and Consciousness
that the Nation should endure and
that slavery is wrong, at war with
sound philosophy and the doctrine Of
the great Declaration OF Ipdepend-
ence written by Thomas Jefferson,
and that come wlat might the re-
bellion must be 3rcrthrown There
were warm bursts Of eloqusDce to be
heard frequently which awoke men
as from trance and sometimes hot
blasts OF sentiment went surging
through the framework of society,
causing outbursts of patriotic feeling,
the rendering Of martial rusic and
the uplifting of the heart and soul
OF the people II is said the Nation
grew more in moral and patriotic
stature IN those four year than in
the preceding fifty.
or course there was strong
chord that connected so iety with
the great armies in the field. The
women and the children feIt that the
war WAS their coneem, their war,
just as much as II was that of the
gallant boys and men VINO braved
the dread dangers d the battle front,
who irod the lonely vigil Of the SEN
tinel through NIGHTS Of watching,