Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-06-06

of the heroes. IT is with this thought in
| mind that l wish to speak of the COM
rades, the cause and the country.
1.-The pleasurc-loving spirit of our peo-
| pie leads them to turn a holy day into
! mere holiday and thus lose the meaning
/ OF the occasion and fail TO profit by its
/ lessons. Unless our people are frequently
reminded Of those great events they Will
forget them and become ungrateful.
: When Roscoe ConkiinC presented the
name of Ulysses s. Grant to the Chicago
convention as a candidate for the pres-
dency, some one asked: Where does he
| come from? Senator Conkling replied,
From Belmont and Fort Donaldson. from
Shiloh and Nicksburg, from Chattanooga
and the Wilderness
LAS the veterans passed to-day on their
way TO the cemetery, | imagine some on
pleasure bent may have asked where
they come from. They come from every
battlefield and skirmish-llne, from Fort
Sumter to Appomattox Court House, and
come, though feeble. crowned with vie
tory and nations gratitude.
HEROrsM WAS UNIQUE
Il do not believe in war. AS the ser
want of the Prince of Peace look for
the time when war shall be no more
But I am not ynmindful of the blessings
won for man by the valor and self
sacrifice of the soldier. No men ever dis
played greater devotion or heroism than
those who fought to maintain the Union.
They belonged to an epoch in warfare
which called for Il type of herosm unique
in history.
The conditions have so changed in
recent years that we can scarcely APP
preciate what these men suffered and
achieved. We do not belttle the modern
soldier when we contrast those days with
, these. The soldier OF to-day Is not
inferior to that of any other age as is
shown by incidents like the death of
; Major Butt when the Titanic went
down"
The speaker gave a vivid word pic
ture of the battle of Gettysburg which
he called the Waterloo of the Civil War.
to show the changes in method.
THE old time cavalry charge and the
bayonet charge are things Of the past
They have been supplemented by the ma
chine gun. the battleship and the war
plane. The care OF the soldier and the
treatment of the wounded have greatly
I improved and even the japanese and Chi
nese subject their prisoners of war to no
t such inhuman treatment as our soldiers
, suffered in Libby prison. at Anderson
Vile and at Belle Isle The last feeble
I representative of the old re g1me Is totterine
+ to the grave. To-day, all over this grea,
= land. from the Atlantic to the Pacific and
from northern Alaska to the southern
Island of the Philippine group. the fires
. OF the factories burn low and the pillow
! rests upon the Landslide, the wheels of in
d dustry ana the rush of business cease
and hundred millions of grateful PEG
pie stand with barred heads. Will,
II age with feeble hands and you'll
4 with buoyant hope. scatter blossoms OF
beauty and fragrance on the graves wher.
u sleep our nations honored dead.
CIVIL. WAR A MERE INCIDENT.
The Civil War. however. was only al
Il incident. Great as it seems to us ant
q far-reaching were It's results, It wa
~ only part of 4 great upward and for
y ward world-movement toward a univer
@ sal, ideal democracy. Every struggle AM
revolution, whether civil. social or reig
l. ious. since the dawn of history. has beef
n desire for justice and liberty.
N I'VE are told that four groups of mel
n have, In large measure. created the worl
Ie In which we live: First. the Hebrew
ii prophets. who were among tho earliest +
l. teach the principle of human liberty an
individual rights. Moses was the Abra
= ham Lincoln of antiquity Second. tn
u Christian apostles who first developed tn
ri q ~
k brotherhood of man. The third were re
It formers. who first taught the right OF prl
II waite Judgment Luther's 95 theses wer
,e the emancipation proclamation Of tn
conscience The fourth were the Purl
, tans who were the first to effectual
g. break loose from the old world feudalisr
Is and 10 establish a democracy.
Two widely differing elements ha
r. their origin In this country about tn
ia same time. the aforementioned cavalie
n IN the south and the Bibleloving Purita
So In the north, /, was inevitable that thes
-, two forces should come into confiic
"a Lincoln said: No country can long r.
o. main half free and half slave
II ELF-GOvERNMENT ON TRIAL.
1.-THE Puritan spirit showed itself
he the meeting house. the college and II
of town meeting while the south demande
r, a larger field for the development of II
tn system Of slavery. The question
or slavery. however, was not the main issl
ar, of the Civil War. Republican self-go'
b. eminent was on trial. while the natior
Of Europc hoped for and expected to $,
its failure.
In the Declaration of Independent,
p and the national constitution our fathe
he had declared that all men are free ar
or equal, but had retained slavery. The W,
or of 1861 made good the pledges of II
nd and fulfilled the hope which carried Il
nd Puritan fathers into the western wilde
an ness,
at is this cause of freedom redeem,
We by the blood and sacrifice OF the BATH
Up field which has transformed the COVER
III monts of the world.
ng "The half century which has pass,
in since the Civil War has not only ma,
ed, cleat the patriotism and devotion of O.
en people during that conflict but h
be proven the wisdom which guided the
w. I'm their effort to preserve the Unto
nd If the south had succeeded our count
re-. would not only have been divided n,
yes contentious. but should have been di