The National tribune., 1910-07-28
OUR TREAoHEnoUs MEMORIES.
The Damaging Eject of Time on Mems
MemOric>-Somc Examples in fHus-
frnttDn

their interesting personal experiences
during the civil war, and | assure you
! that not line of those narratives in
The National Tribune escapes my at
tention | am very proud of the old
comrades. and fond of their expert
ences. whatever their regiments. bat
| teries or gunboats, or their field Of op-
erationS. 1t was most honorable serV-
ice-yes, a most glorious one. No gem
Grafton that ever lived on this earth
was confronted with n more sacred
grave and perilous duty than that which
presented itself to the loyal men in the
early sos: and no generation ever re-
sponded more courageously and de-
votedly to duty's call than did that one
None ever saved so much and accom-
plished so greatly, for human liberty
and civilization. And surely those who
participated have right to be proud
and somewhat boastful of their own
services and experiences.
But, Mr.. Editor. I believe the poet
spoke the truth who wrote
I'm every joy there turks pain;
| for, amid the pleasures which / derive
from the narratives of my comrades,
often observe a fact that produces a
poignant sorrow; for that fact tells me
too truly that the passing years have
undermined their mental strength as
well as physical. Yes, time has done
worse than that. for its probe has gone
| uCtptT elldI anu DuySiCdi tillHSS
The very youngest of the veterans is
| now more than three-score years old.
Most of them are nigh on to or above
! 70. Besides the natural wear and tear
of the As years since Appomattox, and
the abrasions of mental and physical
strength by the strains and chafings of
mental and physical toll,
"Care and sorrow and wasting pain
Have left their traces on heart and
! brain,''
and the startling effect Is frequently
seen in the narratives which have af-
forded us so much real pleasure.
The Blending of the Years.
| We have all seen some brightly-col-
ored goods that, when submerged in
water, not only faded greatly, but dis
tinct colors blended one with another
until the once visible lines of separa
ton became quite obscure or wholly
obliterated. A good illustration is one
of our cheap flags made for picnic or
mere decorative purposes. We have all
seen such flags after they have been
exposed for day or two to the rain,
the colors all faded and blended, the
brightness all gone, and the lines that
once separated the red. white and blue
stripes almost IL not wholly obliterated.
Now, that Is a picture of what occurs
in the human mind in the wash of the
accumulating years. Up to the age of
maturity, and for short period there
after, the lines of demarkation between
fact and fancy-between real and i'm
aginary-hold true to their places, and
memory Is then accurate. But, after
that period, when nature hits the to-
boggan of decline, and the aging indi-
vidual dwells more and more upon
things of the past. his mentality gets
deeper and deeper into its reveries, and
h 1icJ 60 xrtr fv1,
dreamy condition increases; and, at
least. to him, the pictures of his grow
| ing fancy blend with the fading MEM
Ories of his aging brain cells, and the
lines between fact and fiction cease to
be. The creations Of fancy, honestly
mistaken for the fruits of memory, be-
come as real to him as the stars, and
he displays them as realities.
Thus it was, no doubt, in the case
| of grand old John Adams, who in the
deepening shadows of his accommodating
years claimed for himself the author
ship of the Declaration of Independ
ence. 1t was the written utterance of
| a most honest and candid old man. In
whose mind the wash of time had OBJ
liberated the line between fact and
fancy and blended the colors of truth
and fiction. Was he falsifier-a lair?
MOI He honestly mistook a picture of
| fancy for a reality-a might have
| DeeH LOT mas Deen.
| RecOIlections of AppOmattOx.
Now. let US bring these suggestions
to bear upon the cases of many writer's
Of war stories" Before me is a Kan
| Sas newspaper which tells an admiring
world that in that Kansas town there
| lives veteran of Pennsylvania cav
| airy regiment who declares he was pres
ent at Appomattox and "close enough
to see Lee hand over his sword to
Grant" and that the surrender took
place under the famous apple tree" of
which the comrade has piece. You
Will observe that certain little well-es-
tablished facts like these, % that the
| surrender was made in a house, and
not out of doors, and (2) that Lee did
not hand his sword to Grant, nor offer
to do so. and that not one blessed word
was said between them about Lees
sword, and that Grant would not have
accepted 1t, nor insulted Lee by de-
| manding it. have escaped the COM
| rade'5 memory. Such stubborn and
thoroly- established facts as these are
swept away by the broom of forgetful-
| ness, and the comrads has allowed a
lively imagination to make him ridicu-
! lous,
/ have also before me the story of
an Ohio Sergeant, who says: "The next
morning after the battle of Cedar Creek
l was specially detailed by Gen. Sher-
fdan to superintend the burying of the
dead: and we buried 19.764."
| Now, 1 know that comrade, and he
| is an honest and respected man. Never
thelesS, his statement is the emenation
| of an imagination that usurps the func-
| tiOns of fact. He was not on that bat
| tlefield at any time. was never detailed
by Sheridan for any purpose, and took
no part in burying the dead. Besides,
| there never were 10000 dead on any
battlefield of the civil war.
Sheridan at Cedar Creek.
ye who were ION the pike and saw
your memories are absolutely accurate
you for moment on any subject But
ent regiments doing on that pike at
that particular hour? Why were not
your regiments with their brigades, And
why We're you not with your regiments
when Sheridan arrived?" Hold on,
there; don't throw your bat for mo-
ment yet! Sheridan's engineer officers
made map to show the position of
every brigade and division at the time
! Sheridan assumed command That map
is officially published and may be seen
| by every one. 1t fixes all the positions
at 9:30 a. m. But a little thing like
that pales in the glare of fancies that
picture him arriving all thru the hours
until about p. m.
| Another well-esta blished fact is that
Sheridan was a small man and rode
Rienzi that day, and that Rienzi was a
J thOrObrp1 and noted for his fiarv tbrae-