Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-05-31

life.
How can fttingly speak OF those
memorable days of 81 which brought
us face to face with crisis that
tested the sternest fibre of tine ma
ton? You gray haired men and wo-
men who sit before me. you cannot
forget them. You cannot forget the
thrill that passed over the North
when the news came flashing over the
wires that Sumter had been fred
upon. You cannot forget the cry of
agony, as of an almost mortal hurt.
that went up from the great heart Of
| the people. You have not forgotten
| the benumbing sense of GEAR and
dread and anger that struck at every
heart.
No Sacrifice Too Great.
No sacrifice was too great. Men
FASTENED to answer their country's
eall-strong men and tender youth.
There We're drilling and marching.
and martial music, and flags flutter-
| ing the air and regiments marching
away to war. And there We're wo-
men with blanehed cheeks and
streaming eyes, and men with stern
faces and aching hearts who must not
| betray weakness as they kissed moth
ers and wives and sweethearts and
! children goodbye. And' then, the
anxious days that followed when men
gathered in the village squares and
country postoffices to await the COM
ing mails and listen, with GREATNESS
| interest. to the reading of the news.
| Then came the rude awakening with
| the disaster and defeat in the first
| Rattle of the war at Bulls Run, when
the nation stunned by the news.
reeled and staggered, momentarily. al
the unexpectedness and humiliation
of the shock, then nerved itself anew
and defiantly answered back by send
| ing more troops to the front.
The North became great recruit
/ ing camp, and the South a limitless
battlefield. Men fought and women
watched and waited and prayed. on
the battlefield. in the hospital and
camp. and in loathsome southern pris
| ons death daily gathered his awful
harVests. In every home in the land
| anxiety and dread waited at the door
| and sat at the feast, ana watched
| through the lonely vigils of the night
What words can tell the agony of
suspense that followed the tcle-
graphic news of every battle. till tho
SLOW moving days brought the dread
| list of killed and wounded. which
crushed so many hearts with grief.
and filled so many others with
prayers of gratitude that the names
of their loved ones were not tbere
! In one of her noblest poems Mrs
| browning has given voice. as only n
woman can. to the agony of a moth
er's heart at such a time.
In the Valley of the Shadow.
-Four long years the nation walked In
| the valley of the shadow of death.
| Twenty-seven hundred thousand men
| went brayely out to do battle. to meet
death, if need be, for their country and
| thelr nag Three hundred and sixty
| thousand of these sealed their devotion
| TO their country with their Ife's blood
| The shadow of grief lay heavy upon the
| stricken homes all over the land to
which they came not back Fair sec
tons of the country We're laid waste and
| desolate by the dragon heel of war. Not
| millions but billions of treasure wera
swallowed up in this carnival of death
| and destruction.
| These are some of the darker lines of
| tragedy in the greatest drama of civil
ization-lines that have burned deep into
the heart and conscience of the nation
and are woven immutably into the Heb
| of history.
But II is in the hearts of the YOUTH the
young men and women into whose hands,
| the destiny of this country is passing.
| that | would kndle the fame of patrior-
| ism,-that l would persuade that love of
| country is not a mere rhetorical express
| sion, but passionate emotion. You see
in these veterans of the Grand Army of
| the Republic only handful of bronzed
and grizzled men. They appeal to YOU.
| perhaps. no more than any other gray
haired man whom you would meet on
the street. But do you know,-do YOU
realize that they have faced death in a
| thousand forms for you? Do YOU realize
| that they have stood amid the din and
| carnage of battle when deadly missiles;
| filled the air, and comrades dropped to
| Death all around them-that they have
| watched for hours on the lonely picket
| when an enemy's bullet might, at any
| instant. pluck out their Iives,-that they
| have endured hardship and hunger. and
| privation and disease, and have suffered
| horrors worse than death in rebel pris-
| ems? II, in your hearts, you ask what II
was that moved men to give up home
| and family and friends and all that
| makes life dear to face the hardships
and dangers of war, the eloquent answer
| comes in the words that follow, from
one who spoke out of his own experience
and q deep understanding of the great
| heart of the nation-'Love of Country,
alone, he says, could have inspired 800, 900
men to die for the Union Nothing less
sacred than this love could have sustain-
| ed 10000 brave men who suffered and
| starved and died in rebel prisons Nor
| could anything else have given comfort
to the 100000 manned and diseased who
escaped immediate death i'm siege and
| in battle to end in torment the remain
| der of their patriotic lives" These are
| the words of President Mckinley, who,
| when boy of H. laid aside his books.
| gave up his every cherished plan and
| ambition. and consecrated his young life
! to the service of his country. This IS
| the spirit and example of one whose
name we have learned to cherish and