The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-06-03

crisis that had wrecked every Other
republic, these men, some of whom
thank God,are still with us, left fire.
side and kindred, and passed
through three years of living
throbbing hell of horrors, to save
the nation, and to demonstrate tc
the world that government of the
people for the people, and by the
people cannot perish from the earth
For, mark you, the great civil
war was not won by the editors of
the great daily press, though they
played an important part in rousing
the people to action; it was not won
by the great agitators like Beecher,
Phillips, Lowell and Whittier
though they fostered the spirit of
patriotism in the hearts of their
countrymen; it was not won by Lin
coin, nor Grant, though without
these two great men it is hard to see
how it could have been won. But
that great victory was achieved by
the common men, walking the COM
mon paths of life, toiling at common
tasks, but men who staggered the
civilized world by the energy, the
sacrifice, the heroism and efficiency
they displayed, when at the call of
their stricken nation they rose like
the tempest of God to sweep the enc
my to its doom. Let me show win.
l mean"
70
the causes that led to the war,
speaking of slavery, the election Of
Lincoln, and the defeat of Bull Run,
he showed how, though the daily
press has encouraged Lincoln in the
war, yet when the first defeat came,
the cry was changed from ION to
Richynond," to the cry of MAKE
peace at any price,"
But that man knew better" con-
tinued the speaker. "He came from
the people. He trusted the people
because he knew them. And with
his knowledge, with his sagacity,
with his patience and his courage,
he was waiting, waiting, and still
waiting, until as Cannon says. the
boys in blue might gain a few vic
tories, till they might write to faith
ers and brothers, calling on them
to come, and then the proper time
arrived. Lincoln issued his won
drous proclamation, and in answer
to his call, from Maine to Califor-
MIA, from New York to Missouri the
cry went up in city, town and ham,
let: we are coming Father Abra-
ham, three hundred thousand
strong
"God in Heaven, what a sight
that was! In all the world there
had never been anything like it.
How 1t thrills the heart! how it sets
the blood coursing through the veins
as we think of it,"
The speaker further showed what
of the Republic. He spoke of the
the governors, the
judges, the statemen that have come
from their ranks. He then pleaded
that the few left to us should be
honored, their virtues extolled, their
faults overlooked He denounced
the tendency to grumble at the pen
sions received by them from the
government, showing that but for
the work they did there would have
been no government to protect us.
And so in closing l stand here
to pay my tribute of respect for, and
of the men in blue. Their
ranks are fast thinning. In a few
years the last one who rose to his
country's call will have passed from
among us. But as long as this ma
lion lasts, as long as it does not for
get chivalry, nor abandon right
as long as in the heart of
Ill true Americans there is a place
'or that patriotism of which / spoke
1T the beginning then so long in the
and heart of this nation
here will be tender place for the
Grand Army of the Republic, the |
Saviour of a nation