The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1912-05-30

Il Llh6 many announcer HOuSTu lHSNA-
tuition, Memorial day really Is OF very
ancient origin. And like these other
celebrations, too, II a received,
through the process Of time, a new sig
Indication.
Every reader knows that the Decora-
ton day which for the last 40 years
y been ~religiously celabrated each
year in the United States is the ex-
preston OF a new idea. Yet, a closer
View Of the celebration and of its
ceremonies will show that II merely Is
an adaptation Of a custom that is so
old that its origin is lost in the misty
past. The custom as we now have 1T,
as Is very readily understood and
recognized, Is new; It did not exist be-
fore the civil war period. And yet,
after all, this modern holiday rs but
the general acceptance of an old idea.
How long ago 1t has been customary
to strew lower over tile graves .Of
the dead may not be asserted with any
degree of certainty From the earliest
tomary to pay tribute to the dead.
whether fallen in battle or died in
peace. There is something about the
custom that is ~Inseparable from the
practices Of civilization.
Our Decoration day. Of Memorial
day, as 1t is customary now to call ii,
was c1ly the result OF the spontaneous
desire to pay tribute to the thousands
or brave men who fell in the great
civil war. There was something ex-
traordinary which called forth this
spirit--a something that the present
generation may find difficult to thor
oughly comprehend and appreciate at
it's true value. .#E
A four-years' war had kept the ma
ton. both north and south, in a state
OF commotion M excitement. The
whole country, both north and south.
lad contributed its young men. its
youths. and even many Of its men of
maturer years to the terrible struggle.
1t Is not difficult to unders, n just
what that meant. Here was O deter
mined war that had sen to their
graves brave men from every part OF
the country. That meant that In
every large town and in many a VII
lage there were. men who went to the
front who never returned; many who
did return only to soon be borne to
their graves at home.
The country was affected by the
sight; so many men were caught in
the enormous bloody strife, in this
Moloch's NAV, that nearly all who re-
malned couad point to the grave of
one that had fallen, who was either a
relative or a dear friend.
The cost of that struggle to keep
h union has, indeed, been pu In
NOlldA - Dul IHc TGdl COSl, Tic lives lOSl
on both sides, places the sacrifice in
another light, and. cannot be estimated.
for the sufferers were not only the
fallen ones, but those who remained
at home and suffered. too.
The south, naturally, was most Sc
verely shaken, and suffered the great
est loss, for the scene OF the CARNAGE
and OF the greater part of the destruc-
ton OF both lives and property lay
RnlIth nf MaCnn 0nA nfvnnBa IInA
Therefore. 1t seems to have been poetic
Justice that there, in the south, the
first steps should be taken to an
nually pay tribute to her fallen sons,
who 1t must be remembered, also were
brave men, and where there were, too,
homes rendered desolate by the loss OF
sons, fathers, husbands and brothers.
Within a year or two the union
troops had gained possession OF the
gulf sections of the south, and It msy
be said that 1t was In this section that
the women first turned their
attention to decking the graves of
their soldiers. The idea may be said to
have been spontaneous, and like many
another custom, may be said TO have
several places at the same time. Ger
tainly 1t would be a work OF much
difficulty to decide Just where the
custom really originated in the south.
Spring visits the south a full month
before its first harbingers ppear In
the north, and as a consequence It
became customary to streW flowers
over the graves OF the fallen soldiers
In April, when flowers were fresh and
in bloom. For the first few years. and
until after the war, the custom was
only a custom, and had not been Or
ganized into an institution. It had
nothing like authority back OF It: but
1t was persisted in with hat tender
feeling for the departed that by sheer
strongest kinds OF laws, that born Of
custom.
II requires the authority Of the rep
resentatives OF the people to eu1ct a
law making q certain day o. legal holi-
day, but II does not require anything
moro than custom to get the people to
turn out and pay public homage: and
they did turn ont, carrying their arms
filled with flowers 10 lay on the little
mounds in the ~graveyards and little
cemeteries.
But while this was going on In the
south there was in the north, which
was quite natural, a singular feeling.
1t, too grew spontaneously. 1t did not
require much to arouse the enthusiasm
OF the people to a duty Of this kind.
and the first marked instance OF a
had fallen in battle may be said to
nave been sounded at Gettysburg,
when, on November 10, 1863, the ma
tional cemetery there, on the field
where thousands had fallen on both
sides. was formally dedicated.
That occasion was one of those sim
pie events which few of those present
looked upon as anything more than q
mere formality, but which have In
them the seeds of a great popular