Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-27
PIONEERS AND OLD SOLDIERS
MET IN ANNUAL OUTING YES
TERDAY AFTERNOON.
sPlLMAr HON o RE D
Well Known Veteran Made President
of the Soldiers Association
Many Speeches Feature
t Gathering.

and Soldiers associations held yester'
day in the grove at the end of Elm
street, was but happy recreation OF
well ordered youngsters. This, too, in
the face of the fact that there were
among those present some octogenar'
ians and many were bent of frame,
silvered of hair, halt of step. But
! all were Immensely happy looking and
sociability was contagious. One sim
ply could not get away from it for the
/ feeling, that each knew the other was
( borne in upon one and no one cared
to throw it off. There was plenty OF
speech-making, but it was not the tir-
ing kind. Instead the talks made had
all of them the ring of sincerity, while
most of them recounted events in the
lives of the tellers Of the tales, which,
if penned. would make the most inter
esting novels. The Fifty-fourth band
rendered concert music during the pro-
| gram The election of the officers of
! the Old Soldiers association closed
| the business Of the day and resulted
| in the following choice for the ensuing
year:
| President-Major T. P. Spilman.
Vice president-George L. Nye.
Secretary-A. E. McCue.
Treasurer-Major A Fl. Hamilton.
Splendid Speaking.
Seldom is an audience greeted with
J more and better talks than those OF
| yesterday. The speakers, while all
dealing with the pioneers days or war
times, managed each to have a speech
sufficiently different from his neighbor
as to make the talks immensely inter-
esting and left the great crowd loath
to see them end. The weather, aside
from being slightly tinged with a
chill, was ideal and the grove In
which the annual outing was held was
fairyland Of rustic beauty that was
pictured by many of the speakers as
back ground for their tales of the bat
tie, fields. Thousands of all ages, but
chiefly of those starting on the way
] toward the sunset of life, were present
at the huge meeting and all carried
away a feeling of happiness for being
once more in company with the men
and women who blazed the trail and
nurtured the wilds of the territory
days into the present civilization. The
boys who wore the blue in the dark
days of the early sixties were heroes
again in the eyes of young and old,
and few young hearts in the vast
crowd, but beat and thrilled for the
glories that were the portion of the
veterans Their tales of the camp,
the field, the hospital and the prison,
filled all with a patriotic love and rev
erance for the Grand Army men, and
Justly too, did those who were bent
/ with age and war time 1nfirmities
straighten up and became young again
with the glow of pride in their years
of sacrifice to the country's cause,
Old and Young Present.
| In rows along the speakers platform
were a number of those who were to
| take part in the exercises of the day
and facing them sat the audience
| Some of those in the rows of seats
were but in their prime; these were
| largely the native sons and daughters
who came with mother or father to
have their elders once more register
with the neighbors and fellows OF the
older days in the record book OF the
| associations The major portion OF
| the seats were occupied with those on
whom the SHOWS Of many winters left
traces of silver, but failed to rob the
countenances of the sunny glow OF
cheer and kindness
! Foster Pleases.
Among the earlier speakers was
| Thomas D. Foster whose cheertu!
words brought many smile &c
pioneers and whose praise OF the PEG
ple of every land who have sacrlhceo
life and much that was dear Tor the
nations sake. included the old soldiers
who were gathered around the grounds
Mr. Foster qualified as an old settler
and won a place in both organizations
nv his readiness to assist in making
the function the grand success 1t was
He was followed by a pioneer wei
known in the county, George w
Dickens of Farson, who made 1e"
remarks appropriate to the occasion.
Heindel a Feature.
! feature of the afternoon was the
excellent speech of George Helnoel
and was a blending of the young
oratorical timber with the old, but
the topic was of the pioneer and the
eIoouence as we'll as the compositlof
Of the address went far to make II
feature among all the addresses o.
the day. The speaker went back tt
the infancy of mankind and the known
world and reviewed the elements ina
have ever been factors in the MAKEUP
of the pioneer. The achievementsof TN:
class following their settlement II
some until then unknown wild, We're
pictured by the speaker ana the
pioneer was brought down to the
present time in a faithful and inter
esting word picture that fell upon at
tentive ears. A.
At the close of the address by MT
Heindel, Capt. S. H. Harper as presi
dent of the Old Soldiers ASSOCIATION
| declared the latter part OF the DAY
exercises open and requested the pane
70 NAV the Star Spangled Banner
which formally opened the reunion OF
the Old Soldiers association.
Capt. Harper Heard.
| In his address at the opening OF the
program. Capt. Harper reyieWeG mucf
of the life of the soldier in the c1vl
war and spoke of the many and grea'
sacrifices endured by the young mer