The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-06-02

and what it meant to those men who
gave their lives.
ut is surprising to me that it is
only the United States which OBJ
serves Memorial Day. Other nations
have soldier dead, valiant and noble
heroes but it is only the United
States that appoints a day of univer-
sal commemoration. 1t is only we,
sordid as we seem, engrossed in ma
terial things as we are, who make
special occasion of our loyalty to our
dead heroes and ask God to spare for
many years to come those veterans
now with us.
q was surprised to note the large
proportion of soldiers graves in
your cemeteries but when / was ask
ed which was the most beautiful
monument of all, l replied that there
were hundreds of most beautiful
monuments but the noblest of all
was not fashioned of marble nor of
granite, Those can be purchased by
anyone who has the price One mon
ument, scarcely larger than a man
palm, made up of stars and stripes
and red, white and blue, cannot be
purchased by money. Only heriosm,
loyalty and valor can buy it. So to the
veterans there should be the con-
ISOLATION that they have fought for a
land and a people the most loyal of
any in the world and after they have
gone to the land of peace, there will
be placed over their graves, the best
and noblest monument to be found on
any ground.
Those veterans fought that we
might enjoy certain privileges. These
privileges we should be jealous OF
for ourselves and respect in others
In America, mans religious belief
should be no criterion when positions
of honor and trust nre offered him
That is un-American. There can be
no Catholic president, no Protestant
president, no Jewish president. There
! is an American president. If he is
anything else, he should not be
president Nothing but loyalty and
|
I'VE must not treat lightly the in.
heritance bestowed upon us. In these
corrupt days, we need patriots oil
peace, patriots of hope, patriots Of
optimism the patriotism Of strong
men who mould public opinion to re-
assure us by their confidence in the
future. Peace must have it's victories
as well as war Patriots are as nee.
essary to us now as when that other
enemy approached our door.
THE reason why the nations Of
old crumbled and fell was because
they were not founded on truth ant
virtue. They had not morality.
nation is as weak as its individual, al
weak as the family which supple:
Its citizens. So if families are guilty
of the Roman crimes and are no
true to themselves and if the Amer
lean is not true to his family and The
nation untrue to it's families, strang
ers will come in and possess oul
lands, those lands which belong, by
fright, to our children. Remember
those of whom it was said They hav,
gone down to defeat and degradation
because they practiced race suicide
The thing that makes a nation il
its sterling manhood and woman
hood. Unless we are pure, honest
upright and loyal, how can we per
form our destiny-that of teaching tn,
world? We have worked out divin,
truths here, noble conceptions. The.
started abroad. We brought then
here. We must carry them bacl
again. If it had not been for Russia
for France, for Spain, where ou
independence? Other nations hav
helped us. We must by example, a
least, carry back to them the truth
We have discovered here.
And, while we offer thanks to tn
men who preserved the nation an,
kept up it's honor in the past, let IL
look forward to the future, learning
the lessons of the past and striving
to become worthy of the land so man.
times dedicated and consecrated b,
the blood of our fellow citizens"