The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-07
VETERANS GATHER TO PAY HONOR TO
 DEAD COMRADES
Dration by Edward B. Hal len, Secretary of Board of Education,and An Orig inal Poem by Miss
 Crosby.

ply Smaller-Address of
 Welcome by Commander
 Elbert l.. Ruggles-Sing-
 ing by Quartet.
 Small was the number of veterans Eho occupied seats on the stage at Polls, last night. compared with the numbers that in years gone by were wont to be seen at the memorial exer- cises. The theatre was well filled. The address of the evening was by Allor- ney Edward F.. Hallen, secretary or the Board of Education. It was eloquently rendered and was greeted from time to time with much applause. An original poem written by Fanny Crosby for the occasion. was read by her.
 At the conclusion of the opening ode nraver was offered by the Post Chap iain Charles w. Scarritt. A welcome was extended by Post Commanoer Elbert L. Ruggles. in the folio"ihs language:
 HAS commander of the Elias Howe, Jr Post and in the name Of my com rades we extend to you a most corolai welcome to this service
 "As one year has past and we are gathered together again in our family circle, we may look back and see many changes: Yes: There have been many Some have lost husband, father or hrother during that time. The com rafle of our Post misses number of familiar faces. We are here tonight to commemorate our dead. We reel that 1t is an honor. that we should do this and we will continue to do this deed of kindness so long as we live
 we have other work to do. there is the widow, mother and children to hell, in their distress.
 s'when i've have finished our work and joined the Grand Army above. it will then be the duty of those who have reaped the benefit those men gave their lives for. whereby our homes to-day are secure and our Iov- Of Freedom"
 Miss Crosby delivered the poem she had written and dedicated to Elias Howe Post and was received with an ovation. The poem contained nine stanzas of which the following was especially touching:
 .rwe mourn for our brave. our gallant
 But their arduous work is Der: Their tents are gone from the hills a1ar
 And the camp-fires gleam no more We mourn for the brave. our daunt-
 less brave,
 Who marched with unfaltering tread Till their light went out and their
 pulse was still.
 And the vital spark had fled.
 Songs were rendered by Miss Lena Mason. John Mason. and Patrolmen Hal1x and Walker. who made most pleasing quartet.
 Mr. Hallen's address follows:
 NIT. HaIlen's Address
 We are assembled tonight to render a patriotic service. In memory of the dead, in honor of the living, for the Inspiration of all, we gather to show our appreciation of the surviving vet erans of the Civil War and our rev erence for their departed comrades.
 One of the lessons intended to be taught this evening is the medication of patriotism in later generations, and these memorial exercises the soldiers, especially whom death has mustered out, supply the text To them all honor is due and to them we pay our afrectionate homage, whether they sleep in hollowed trenches at Gettys- burg, in the almost impenetrable un- derbrush of the Wilderness. or in some quiet graveyard near those they low ed so well.
 The story of the glory, the reality, the sacrifice of their services is be- yond my power to properly portray, and my remarks must necessarily be limited because of the time required to show to this large and appreciative audience the individual faces of the beloved members of Elias Howe Post, who. have passed into the great be yond. and are now in silent bivouac on the other shore.
 War is a terrible thing, to be avoid ed if possible. And such war, of which these veterans were a living most momentous in all history, the most fearful in it's sacrifice of blood and treasure, the most deplorable be- cause sister states were arrayed
 l-<> ay fought valiantly together to make the very union whose existence was threatened
 Of course many things contributed, but American slavery was the real and underlying cause of the Civil War. This vicious system had taken deep root in our national existence. This was the vital issue that arrayed section against section and it had to be settled by the arbitrament Of arms The cause had to be eliminated and conflict could be avoided only at the sacrifice of national honor. Too long had statesmen. even of the calibre of Webster and Clay, tempOriZed with burning issue that could not be solved by bargaining and compromise. It remained for the immortal Lincoln to engage in death grapple with this hideous thing. and to stamp it out with an iron heel.
 By the sacrifices of the Nazarene himself Christianity launched, and it would often seem that only by the sacrifice of the best is civiliza- tion destined to advance.
 And when that note of danger was sounded and the call came in clarion tones to preserve the union, consider the ready response and the terrible sacrifice 1t entailed.
 Who was he who went out with youth unspent and yet in his first flush of vigorous manhood; sundering every domestic and loving tie that bound him to mother, wife, baby or sweetheart; with the sweetness of life at its zenith and with its whole pano- rama of possibilities spread out be- fore him; willingly accepting the hor- TOTS and agonies of war?
 Who was he who went out sleeping in Southern thickets and swamps. wasting in Libby, enduring heat and cold and disease, often in the front ranks where shot and shell fell thick est and the groans of the wounded and dying were loudest, sowing the