The National tribune., 1909-05-27
ORIGIN OF MEMORIAL DAY.

ORIGIN OF MEMORIAL DAY.
Memorial Day was formally estab-
lished by the following order of Com
mander-in- Chief John A. Logan:
Headquarters Grand Army of the Re-
public, Adjutant-GeneraPs Ohce,
446 l4th street, Washington, d. c.,
May S. 1868.
General Orders. No. IL.
81. The 30th day of May. 1858. is
designated for the purpose OF strewing
with flowers or otherwise decorating the
graves of comrades who died in de-
tense of their country during the late
rebellion and whose bodies now lie in
almost every city, village and hamlet
churchyard in the land. In this Observ-
ance no form of ceremony is pre-
scribed, but Posts and comrades will
in their own way arrange such lifting
services and testimonials of respect as
circumstances may permit.
I'VE are organized, comrades, as our
regulations tell us. for the purpose.
among other things, of preserving and
StrengtheniEgp those kind and fraternal
feelings which have bound together the
soldiers, sailors and marines who unit
ed to suppress the late rebellion What
can aidEmore to assure this result than
Dy CQtTlSEliiS Tie IuciucIy VI
our heroic dead, who made their
breasts a barricade between our coun-
try and its foes. Their soldier lives
were the reyeille of freedom to q race
in chains, and their deaths the tattoo
of rebellious tyranny in arms We
should guard their graves with sacred
vigilance. All that the consecratcii
wealth and taste of the Nation can aokl
to their adornment and security is but
Arsh 70 <sf m
slain defenders. Let no wantoa foot
tread rudely on such hailowed grounds.
Let pleasant paths invite the coming
and going of reyerent visitors and fond
mourners. Let no vandalism of ayarice
or neglect. no rayages of time. testify
to the present or to the coming genera
tions that we have forgotten as a peo-
pie the cost of free and undivided
Republic.
IF other eyes grow dull. and other
hands slack. and other hearts cold in
the solemn trust, ours shall keep it
well as long as the light and warmth
OF life remain to us.
Let us. then, at the time appointed,
gather around their sacred remains
and garland the passionless mounds
above them with the choicest flowers
Of Springtime; let us raise above them
the dear old Flag they saved from dis
honor; let us in this solemn presence
renew our pledge to aid and assist those
whom they have left among us, a sacred
charge upon a Nations gratitude--the
soldiers and sailors widow and orphan.
II. 1t is the purpose of the Com
to inaugurate this OBJ
servance with the hope that it will be
kept up from year to year, while sur
viyor OF the war remains to honor the
memory of his departed comrades. He
desires the public press to cali
attention to this order, and lend its
friendly aid in bringing it to the no.
tice of comrades in all parts of the
in time for simultaneous COM
pliance Herewith.
I'll Department Commanders will
lse every effort to make this order ef-
ective.
by order Of
John A. Logan. Chief;
n P. Chapman, Acknowledgement
"Oficial:
''Wm. T. Collins, A. A. G."
Whether there had been any graves
decorated before or not, 1t is profitless |
o inquire. The order established the |
lay and the custom, concentrated upon
the attention of the people and gave
hem an opportunity to express publicly |
md purposefully the intense and then
resh grief which weighed the hearts |
# people from the Atlantic to the Pa.
ific for the myriads of sons. brothers,
and fathers who had died
hat the Nation might live. Thus IT
vas glorious conception, that of sum-
noning the whole people, the people
or whom the soldiers had died, 20 an
lualiy set apart a day in the year when
'ature was smiling in all her glorious
'eauty to carry tribute of flowers to
he graves of those whose sacrifice had
made possible all the people enjoyed.
was something that no other people
yer did. 1t is true that all other Ma
ons have had some forms of testi-
lonials to those who were ideals of ma.
'iotism. These testimonials, however,
ave in all countries been sporadic, oc-
asional and usually devoted TO single |
idividuals. This was the first time 1
lat ever the whole people as a people
ad been summoned to pay c loving
'ibute to those who had fought and ,
led for the whole people. /,
Not only does the ceremony make a l.
lost deserved and graceful tribute to
hose who deserve everything, but it {
as even still higher value in teach I
ig patriotism to the rising generation. '
MS country can only be preserved, as {
has been preserved in the past, by t
very individual in 1t feeling intensely g
lie duty of supporting it in times of S
isis and of sacrificing everything else
that duty. Incomparably the best 7
Id most effective way of impressing s
lis lofty spirit OF patriotism and self '
!crifice on those who are 20 take g
large of the destinies of the country ! y
by making the observance Of Me- v
orial Day as deeply impressive as h
,ssible. It Is for this reason that p
e G. A. r. has steadfastly insisted n
at Memorial Day should be made Us L
cred as the Sabbath. In ali Its rela- v
)ns to the duties of manhood and ciii- Il
nship it has an importance second Il
lly to the day of the Lord. While one e
aches holiness, spirituality and the Il
We and fear of God, the other teaches a
ssons which are as absolutely essen il
Il to the continuance of this Gov t,
nment and the moral and social up ltl