Newark post., 1910-05-25
MEMORIAL DAY

II HE Earth, which to-day is SO
beautiful, covered with Ma
ture's green carpet, but forty
anu 1--WE years ago was red with the
blood OF Man. The gentle breeze
which to-day carries only the sweet
perfumes OF new born nature and
the ettulgent rays OF a golden sun
upon her wings, forty-five years ago
echoed and re-echoed throughout
this broad land OF ours, the rattle OF
musketry, the clash OF the sabre, the
roar OF the cannon and the cries OF
wounded and dying men. This hign
blue dome OF heaven to-day so beauti
tul and bright was tnen darkened by
the smoke OF battle To-day the beau
tIIul s1lvery waters OF the Potomac
ark only the natural boundary between
Maryland and Virginia. t,orty7tiye
years ago 1t was the line that separ-
ates this great country Oi ours, dlvld-
ing the North from the South, each
having its own separate political gov
eTnment. But that blood which mark
ed the place OF deserted battlehelds
and made sad the hearts OF men has
by the hand OF God through his gentle
rams and pure SHOWS, been washed
from our sight. The air has been
Cleared by the smoke OF battle, and
is to-day serene and beautiful, and the
boundary line which divided us as
nation has been erased from the leaf
OF time. But those green solemn
mounds, which sometimes lay in one
long straight line and from a distance
look like beautiful green waves, and
at ther times dot here and there the
hillside or the plain-these silent but
ever present scars OF strife can never
be erased. 1sey mark the place
where battles were fought, where one
army trod with the glories OF victory
upon their arms and the other in d;s-
aster and defeat; where one shouted
aloud at the success of its cause and
the other wept in silence over the ruin
OF that which they held most dear.
In the depths OF one of these mounds
lies one who like Wolfe, died with the
song of triumph upon his lips: in the
depths OF another lies one whose last
thoughts ecnoed the sentiment of
Montcalm-Give me death rather than
life and surrender.
This glorious Republic of ours
stands a sublime and living monument
to every son who laid his all on her
alter OF freedom. And while the spirit
that animated our forefathers and
stirred them to suffer the mseries of
Valley Forge, bleed and die, inspire
Their sons, the principles for which
Washington did SO much to establish
shall be perpetuated and this grand
old Republic OF ours remain nation
among Nations, the most magnificent
institution on earth
All men have obstacles in their path
OF life. Great men turn them into
stepping stones and by their means
mount higher and higher until at last
they st@nd upon the topmost round OF
success, crowned with the glory of
fame. All Nations, in their onward
march toward a high and noble des-
tiny have obstacles in their wav. 1t is
only by making them stepping stones
to success that they go onward and
upward, until they reach that summit
OF intellect and power from which
Rome viewed and ruled the world
America, through the ability and ach-
ievements OF her statesmen has done
this. The Civil War was a great OBJ
stacle which threatened our verv be-
ing. Our National exist .nce was laid
in the balance and but for that man
who knew better than all other men
how to overcome difficulties and bring
o. Ter out OF chaos, but for that man.
Abraham Lincoln, the American Re-
public would have been blotted from
the history of Nations All eyes look