The Somerset reporter., 1909-06-03
Garlands Strewn.
nontlnned rom tirst nare.-


there was need for men TO stand
Together they carried their flag in
the great armies of the nation. They
shared the common perils Of war and
also the glorious triumph that made
the union forever secure. Proudly
they bore aloft the banner of their
state, but more proudly they followed
the immortal emblem, whose bright
folds illumined the grandest nation
in the world, making the stars and
stripes the symbol of power and con-
stitutional liberty"
Mr. Webster then spoke Of Memo
rial day as the greatest and most sa-
cred of ali our national holidays.
Coming at the season when every
thing is springing into new life, il
finds our feelings attuned most sensi-
lively to thoughts Of those who sleep
in graves made sacred by self sacri-
flee. The speaker reminded his
hearers that many heroes were be-
yond the reach Of their tender Offices.
sleeping in graves unknown, where
garlands could not be laid. The
value of the Observance in teaching
the young was touched upon. "What
mean We by this service, is the in
quiry of young minds said the
speaker. He showed how impossible
it was for the present generation to
realize the full iniquity Of the slave
system, or the arrogance with which
slave states claimed the right to con-
tinue the system of slavery and to
extend it into other states.
Mr.. Webster spoke of the prompt
ness with which the people of New
England responded to the call for
troops. None too quickly, the speak
er believed. Even little delay
would have enabled the South to take
Washington and Fortress Monroe, ca
lamities which would have made Sc
cession all but assured. In speaking
of the comradeship between survivors
of the great struggle Mr.. Webster
said:
at doubtless seems like affectation
to the young people OF today when
they hear the gray haired veterans
speak of their comrades as "boys,"
but there is more of reality in this
than at first appears. The veterans
of the war of the Union have discov-
cred the fountain of perpetual youth
in their Posts of the Grand Army of
the Republic. In these associations
they grow old to the world but not in
their relations to each other. In
these are no comparison and the
members hardly perceive the passing
flood OF years. They were boys when
they enlisted for the war and still
boys when they came out of it. En-
tering their Posts they find the same
comrades, the same equality, the
the same true fraternity that
existed during the war, and SO they
keep their hearts young in the
presence of these friends of their
youth. The intervening years fade
away and they are lads again in COM
parison with the community in which
they live. They are old men and
they realize it but compared with
each other they are still young. Time
is a tyrant to whom all material
things must yield, but the soul is i'm
mortal and beyond the tyrant's pow
er. He who possesses his soul with
a heroic spirit, may laugh at time and
preserve the freshness of youth until
ordered forward to that eternal camp
ing ground where the touch of time
leaves no trace of age"
The speaker emphasized the duties
of peace in comparison with those of
war. The war gave opportunity for
heroism and discovered countless
heroes but peace and its problems
calls for none the less courage and
heroic action. Service in the nations
army taught obedience and endur-
ance, qualities as much needed in pri
vate as in military life. In continue
ton OF this subject the speaker said.
In the war which the services Of
this day recall, the term of enlistment
was limited, but there is no discharge
in the warfare to which the young
man of today is invited. He must
fight on and on, achieving Victors
after victory, always finding new tuss.
to conquer and new difficulties te
overcome. The men of the Grand
Army of the Republic set an example
when they volunteered for their
country's defense. They earned the
title of good soldiers in the war, and
now should be instructors in the quail
tiles of good citizenship. Let the eX
soldiers and sailors, by their Memo
rial Days, their camptires, and their
recital of "moving incidents by flood
and field,n instruct the youth of the
land in the principles of loyalty to
country"
Mr.. Webster paid graceful tribute
to the women of the war, recalling
their services at home and in the hos
pitfalls and their many sacrifices so
patiently borne. He spoke of the
Women's Relief Corps as the perpet-
uation of the sentiment of loyal wom-
eli from the days of the sixties and
told of the women of today, just as
ready, so far as sacrifice was de-
manded, to render sympathy and aid
to the aged veteran or his orphaned
children as they were in the days of
the rebellion.
AS fitting close to Mr. Wehster's
able address we give the portso de-
voted by him to the Spanish war and
its lessons as follows
'.Just word upon the Spanish war
before | close. BY that war history
has been made, not for our land alone
but for the entire globe. Once more
our might has been exerted to throw