The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-06-02

Ing lOHlSHl very nicely.
Wreaths for the unknown dead of
the Civil and Spanish-American wars
were presented and hung by Mrs.
Durkee and Mrs. Burke. Lincoln's
Gettysburg address was read by Ed
win GOldenstar of the high school,
and Miss Cornelia Mansfield sang
sweetly the Star Spangled Banner"
The members of the Woman's Re-
lief corps who had charge of today's
exercises are entitled to a great deal
of praise for the splendid manner
in which the arrangements were car
ried out.
Address BY w. l. Nolan.
Hon. w. ]. Nolan delivered the ad-
dress. He said in part
I'VE have placed no holiday upon
the calendar that signifies so much
or SO completely typifies the reverent
spirit of the American people as Me-
mortal day. No country could long
endure and no people hold together
if their underlying motives were not
based upon sentiment Memorial day
is a day of sentiment.
I'VE have been charged with be-
ing cold, practical and commercial
people, lacking in sentiment and
true patriotism, with no ideals that
rise higher than the accumulation OF
money and material things. To SUI
perficial observer this may at times
seem true, but to one who knows
the real motives of the American
people, it is a false conception of
the spirit that has made this land
of ours first among the nations OF
the world No country can be truly
great whose people lack in senti-
ment, which is the essence OF pa
triotism. The one quality that our
people possess above everything else
is a genuine, deep rooted sentiment
that makes it possible to lay aside
our material activities at any time
and enter into the spirit of those
things that are based upon senti-
ment. Fifty years ago when the call
went out to the men OF this land
to sacrifice the best they had upon
the altar of patriotism, youth, home
ties, property and even life. Some
may have stopped to reckon the cost
in dollars and cents but there was
not much pickering in the market
place. With one clarion voice the
people answered the call and wrote
into the history of the world its
greatest chapter on patriotism. Those
of us who were born since the dark
days of the Civil war have little or
no conception of the emotion OF that
called men away from the shop and
the field and the desk to go out and
fight for what they knew to be
right.
"Of all the many works of art
that adorn our state capitol the ones
that will make the greatest appeal
to the average man are the battle
scenes i'm the governors reception
room. Pictures of Minnesota regi-
ments az come crucial moment dur
ing the Civil war. The First Mime
sofa at Gettysburg, the Fifth Min
Minnesota at Corinth, the charge OF
the Fifth Minnesota at Nashville has
been considered by some competent
critics to be the finest battle scene
ever painted. 1t is a stirring pic
ture, full of life and action, won
derful vivid delineation of the hor-
rors of war This picture always
appeals to me not entirely because
it is such vivid portrayal of an
historical event, but because OF the
fact that my father was member
of this regiment and participated
in the charge at Nashville and SO
although | can not talk to you with
the same personal knowledge of
events that you might get from those
who were in the great struggle,
can at least talk to you as one
whose interest is not only patriotic
but personal to the extent that |,
(as the son of every old soldier
must) feel a personal pride in the
achievements of my father. | am
not going to take your time, how
ever, i'm a recital of the story of
the Civil war or in clarifying the
deeds of the men of 81 to '65. This
has been done far better than |
could hope to by the story teller,
the orator, the poet and the histo-
rian.
II am simply going to try to show
the relations that the Civil war and
its heroes bear to our one great prob
lem, the making of ideal citizenship
and the perpetuatiOn of a govern
ment for the people, of the people,
and by the people.
1.-The birth of this country and the
creation of our idea of government