The National tribune., 1910-05-19
THE SABBATH OF PATRIOTISM.

dead. The passing years ~each Drlns
their increase of sanctity for this sane
titled day. AS we recede from th'
period of the war the bitterness anC
the prejudices die away with the nois,
of the shouting, the tumult of the strift
and the thunder of the cannon. There
rises instead a higher appreciation o
all that the war meant, a deeper sym
Ipathy with the spiritual exaltation an(
the patriotic devotion which animated
1.-THE men who fought the great battle fol
the Nations life to victory. BaskinG
to-day in the full sunlight of the pros
perity and greatness for which they
Istrove and secured, every thinking mar
and woman's heart must be filled with
a fragrant gratitude for the men who
bought with their blood all this fol
those who have succeeded them. EX'
cept for what they did. except for theil
suffering. nardships and limitlesS sacri-
fees. none of that which we enjoy in
its fuilness to-day would have beer
possible. Gratitude is the poetry OF
the heart. and reverence is the uplifting
of the soul toward noble ideals.
The men who forsook their homes
and all the pleasant things that life lad
to offer to obey the cali of duty and
who fought for four years of the most
terrible war in history, who fought re-
peated battles the slaughter of which
Iappalied the world. are coming more
than ever each yearto he regarded as the
Nations ideals of the highest possible
type of manhood and models which
should be set up for the admiration and
emulation of the younger generation.
The Sweetly solemn ceremony of yearly
honoring these dead and the laying of
the first blooms of the glad Springtime
upon their lowly graves is the most eff
feCtiye way of teaching patriotism to
the rising generation and instilling les
sons of duty and self-sacrifice and of
preparing those who will have our
country's destinies in charge for all
emergencies which may arise in the fu-
ture.
The observation of Memorial Day,
aside from its sentimental aspect. is the
best business policy which our people
can pursue. The security of our Gov
eminent. the preservation of peace and
the assurance to every man of the fruits
of his labor rests wholly upon the will
ingpess' and the readiness of the young
shall be in danger. This is Govern
ment of the people. for the people and
by the people. and the people must be
always in instant readiness to support
that Government with overwhelming
force. Honoring the memory of those
1S61-65 must indelibly impress upon
all who see it, and particularly the
generation, that such is the
duty of man. duty inseparabie from
his manhood and which he cannot
evade or shirk when the Nation calls.
So long as the young men of the coun-
try are as ready to fight for and defend
the Government as they were when
Lincoln was President, just that long
will the United States endure and the
Government maintain it's high charac-
ter OF justice, equality and righteous
ness which it now has.
The spectacle of the uprising of the
young American manhood after the fir
ing on Fort Sumter sounded the tocsin
of war is the grandest single human
movement in history. Beside 1t all 9TH
ers seem limited and subordinate. 1t
has a moral grandeur such as no other
movement which has
cfi n1 Of
sessed. That 100000 young men
should leave their homes, should be
freely sent by their fathers and moth
ers to encounter such terrorS as Shiloh,
Gettysburg and the Will
derness, that they should fight with un-
their number filed the shallow graves
of the battlefield and a half million
others were wrecked in body by the
awful hardships and Stress is a specta-
Gle that rises to overwhelm the imag-
ination. 1t becomes more astounding
and overpowering the farther we get
from the war, and the more we COM
pare it with the greatest periods in the
histories of other Nations. 1t was period
of exaltation in American manhood, a
thrilling application of all the high
principles taught in our churches,
schools and homes that cannot be too
often recalled or too much enlarged
upon. The men who fought the great
battles for the Union have had no
peers in the long history of the race,
and their character and deeds are the
best examples to set before the young.
We make every boy and girl better by
pointing out to them the character of
their forebears and what hight of cour-
age and self-sacrifice they attained. Me-
mortal Day is day set apart to do this,
and 1t is duty of citizenship to make
its observation as complete and as i'm
pressive as possible. The day should
be devoted to this and to thoughts con-
nected with our duties of citizenship.
that interferes with this should
be permitted. Games. picnics, shows
and other diversions should be barred
by that reverential sense of the fitness
of things which is the glory of our citi-
righteousness exalteth a Ma
tion." and loyalty to the memory OF
live will give US the greatest assurance
that the Nation shall continue to live
thru all the centuries which fall like
grains of sand out of the Almighty
~,