Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-06-03

as faith. In many countries the army i the
machine Of a government 10 manage people In
his coutiiry at the time of the Civil War the
,rmy was a scattered handful hut North and
south s.uoo.ooo men went out from homes TO
" hch mluy Ot them never returned. Where
lid they come froml From field aud forest,
from work shop aud factory, from counting room
,fhce and store from every walk in life. That
was the way Of il. The hoy from the farm, the
boy from the city streets. whom shall send
Who will go toT us2 That call which came TO
the prophet of old from God came now from
perpleN ed and troubled nation. And everywhere
men dropped their work and threw away their
opportunities that they might do the duty which
lay nearest. Here am send me- They /
went out like Abraham, not knowing whittier |
they went; like st. Paul. not knowing what |
should befall them II was with them ss II was |
with Esther when she stood before the King. |
III perish, perish" There was something |
to be done and they proposed TO do il. at what
ever cost. II was not what we call religion. but
is il not true that unfaltering faith in some high
ideal comes very near TO being faith in Godp
So Memorial Day comes round once more and
speaks to us of the heroic virtues which may
still he exercised. Sacrifice lies at the root of
mans brotherhood we pass from death to life
without faith it is impossible to please God. Ii
is sweet and fitting to die for ones country.
when, few years ago on the outbreak OF the
| Spanish war, there was call for men, they
were instantly forthcoming, more than were
needed or could be used. But it is sweet and
fitting to live for ones country too and that now
is what we are called upon to do. This is not
the time for dissertation upon political duties
| or conditions. We know that the duties are Of
ten neglected, that the conditions are often I'M
speakably bad. But if now and then there are
things in the body polite which make us blush,
| it is only a traitor who can despair
At the close of the Spanish war, Mr.. Kipling
address sed to America noble poem, entitled
| The White Mans Burden" In that poem the
| poet insists that the American Commonwealth,
founded upon human sacrifices at jamestown
and Plymouth and cemented with the blood OF
the COS into permanent nation, exists not for
ends of wealth or luxury or pleasure, but to
save the downtrodden peoples of the earth and
teach them to live.
The Negro, the Hawaiian the Cuban, Porto
Rican and the Filipino, and the Babeltongued
immigrant are SO many Lazaruses lying at our
gates and crying for our Crumbs'of unselhsh
service America has never yet failed to recog
nize her national obligations or to stoop he'
| shoulders to the white Mans Burden, There
is such thing as national as we'll as individual
salvation and it is wrought out on lines of hu
man happiness.
Have you listened to the roll-call of the ma
ions Egypt, Assyria, Babylon Greece, Rome
! Turkey, Spain From the pyramids OF the frs
, to the crumbling palaces of the last comes bacl
= the answer, Dead through grasping greed
and buried beneath the accommodating rubbish
:, of the selfish national heart"
The inscription on Chinese Gordon's toni
= closes with these words: who at all times an,
, everywhere gave his strength to the weak, hi
!, substance to the poor his sympathy to the SUI
:. fering, and his heart to God" No wonder tn
-, Chinese listened to him to a messenger fror
- God. No wonder his nation delights t
a honor him. Today this nation gratefully re
% members that a generation ago, while women
-, hearts bled at home, men marched bravely t
, the front and went down i'll the battle hell t
Of keep the flag floating a united country. 5
-, long as the soul of man is large enough to al
j. preciate unselfish service so long a. the emf
h, ton of gratitude swells in the human heart, ju'
. so long shall the memories that cluster abo,
n. this day be cherished by grateful nation
NJ The past rises before me like dream. W
p hear the tramp of on-comng thousands.
o. hear the roll of drums and the silver notes
,e the bugles, We see the martial hosts passing
re We see the mother clasp her son TO her hea
Nc as she commends him to Cod; see the age
pa father hestow his blessing we see young 10
Mt ers clasped in last embrace we see the wi
~ standing in the doorway, with her babe in HI
a arms smiling through her tears, as 81
s watches the loved one until he passes fro
az sight. We watch the long line as it march
a proudly by, with banners waving, and musk e
Al cleaning in the sunlight, keeping time TO Il
re | wild grand music of We see them go
er to the fields where the grasses dyed wi
np blood We them on the far flung battle lin
We We see them go down before the whirlwi
to charge. We seetheir torn and mangled bod
rs. lying in heaps under the throbbing stars.
,ut stand by them they lie stretched on beds
we pain in crowded hospitals We visit them
res prison pens where they are huddled togeth
Id. looking with hollow eyes into the gaunt fac
use of famine and fever. We can never know, h
by man speech can never tell, what they suhert
res what they endured.
ice The vision changes. We again the
MS homes, whether in the fair Southland or amo
lse the hills OF New England, when the news com
that they have fallen. We the maiden
us her first sorrow. We see the silver head of a
eat | bowed with woe. We visit the desolated hon
nst and see terror stricken children Clnging to t
sin skirts of broke hearted mothers. We hear
the weeping and the wailng, we see the desolat
My and despair, the woe, the anguish and the pa
we'd and we know that war is indeed hell.
-;ntl I am ouxip at wi
are has been said of patriotism, of valor, of devote
ten should be understood as applying alike to
South as we'll as to the North We must not f
we get that that was fratricidal war That tho
of engaged-the men who fought and the WON
ter who suffered-were Americans, As the yes
cf have sped since those sad, dark days so sh
ave all feeling of bitterness and anger pass aws
we 1 have noticed-and to their. praise be it sale
rise that those who fought on either side have
ng, such ungenerous feelings. We can stand
ype the field of Gettysburg and feel thrill of pat
ion otto pride that those who engaged in that aw
ing carnage were our fellow countrymen. We III
de admire the courage of Pickett and Armste
ace who made that wonderful charge as much
old we do Hancock and Howard who repealed the
hat "Breathes there man with soul so dead" W
Ugh standing on that field of blood is not proud
len say these were Americans.
our mo more shall the war cry sever,
our Or the winding rivers be red:
ed. They Danish our anger forever,
its When they laurel the graves of our dead
hat Under the sod and the dew,
low Waiting the Judgment day,
nee Love and tears for the Blue,
Tears and love for the Gray"
OF Nature has been equally tender to the gra,
ch' of all, and our love knows no distinctions
hull Today we are enjoying the results OF the S
nay riices of those who went before us. EVERY
men stnct of gratitude demands that we pay to
oice future the debt we owe tothe past. The her
ose of the COS settled some momentous questo