The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-30
ON THEIR GRAVES.
Homes sOf Dead Covered With
Garlands Today.
Tears and Flowers Prove Memo
ry Still Lives.
VETERANS IN PARADE.
Procession of Soldiers Passes
Down Kansas Avenue.
DIR. LOveland Delivers Memorial
Day Address.
VETERANS IN PARADE.

The custom of decorating the graves
of fallen soldiers, was first observed by
the women of the South during the
second year of the war. Women liv-
il-g near the battlef1elds planted flow
ers and laid wreaths upon the graves
of their own dead, and later, the wom-
en- of the North began decorating the
graves of Union soldiers whose bodies
had been brought home for burial.
John A. Logan, who was then com
mander-in- chief of the Grand Army of
the Republic, issued an official bulle-
tin in the spring of 1858, naming May
80 as the day for this ceremony. and
gave 1t the name of Decoration Day"
Following a morning of activity on
the part of numerous committees ap-
pointed by the q. A r. and w. R. c.,
hundreds of graves of soldier. dead
were heaped with flowers and roses this
morning and at noon today the final
arrangements for the big annual Mem
orial day parade were complete. The
parade, which will form at 1:15 at
Eighth avenue and Quincy street, will
| march south on Kansas avenue at 1870
| this afternoon.
The veterans and members of the
relief corps today propose to eclipse
! former celebrations in Topeka. The
| day has been made a holiday in al
most every section of the town. This
afternoon the big stores will close, Of
| fees will be locked and at the court
| house. Santa Fe offices, state house,
| federal building and other public
places, the day is observed as a holi-
| day. With fair weather this afternoon,
| thousands of people will witness the
| big parade and the Auditorium will be
| crowded with old soldiers and their
friends.
| AS early as s o'clock this morning,
the work of decorating the hundreds
! or graves OF hero dead was started. At
noon this work was completed. The To-
peka posts had previously divided the
work and early this morning, street
cars, carriages and automobiles were
| loaded with men and women carrying
| great baskets of flowers to deck the
grave of departed friend, comrade or
| relative.
| Out in the cemeteries this morning
/ were decrepit old men--some with an
| empty sleeve or a missing leg-and
| these men dropped an occasional tear
| as they StreWed the flowers on the lit
tie mounds where lay the remains of
an old boy who marched in the ranks
| in the days of 81. There were tear
| stained eyes among the mothers and
wives of these departed heroes and Of
! ter a heart welled as a little woman
| stopped and looked back over the black
| days when loved one marched away to
/, answer the call of a nation. There was
! a mutual sense of duty among these
| aged men and women and when the
| flowers were distributed among the
| graves of dear ones and unknown dead.
not mound but received its just share
of recognition and attention.
At Lincoln Post No. II, a delega alton
| of men and women met to perform
| their annual service. The men and
| women spent the morning arranging
the hundreds of baskets of flowers.
Throughout the morning these were dis
tributed among the various committees
in charge of the work at the cemeter-