The Wagner post. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1912-current, 1912-05-31
CONTINUED from Page 81

roic md self-sacrif1cing spirit like unto
that which had possessed these meu.
1.-THE second part of the text is
Gods declaration to the Israelitish ma
tion announcing thar if the people
would walk in his statutes and keep his
commandments, he would walk among
them and they should be his people.
1.-THE text clearly indicates that on
this occasion We should remember with
profound gratitude the IN PARALLEL her
oism Of the Defenders of the Republic
in the Civil War, and seek to empha-
size some of the duties Of American
citizenship that Gods favor may o
tinue to rest with us as a people.
To-day we owe a debt of perpetual
and eternal gratitude to the memory
of the men who saved the Union.
They earned the right to be renem-
bered. Their names should be cher
ished and their deeds extolled until the
end of time. They were no. of an age,
but for all time.
ION the 23rd and oath days of May,
in 1865, the Union army passed in re-
view before the President and the Sec
rotary of War at Washington. On the
first day 80, 900 soldiers of the Potom-
&C filed past the Capitol in parade and
on the second day SO, 900 soldiers of
Sherman's army marched " e the
same line. A great banner. viii oh
stretched across the street, waved over
their neads. 1t bore these words
The only national debt we can ever
pay is the debt we owe to the victori.
GUS Union soldiers
"A majority of the men VITO were
mustered out ut the close of the wal
are no longer seen either by their com.
rades, their families or their fellow
CiIizcLSs 1uooc VIII nave WisiuIoWI
from the living have joined the ever
ending caravan which moves to the
mysterious realms where each take,
his chamber in the silent halls of death,
Let US sincerely hope that each, sus
tanned and soothed by an unfalternf
trust in God, approached the grave
like one who wraps the drapery of his
couch about him and lies down to pleas
ant dreams. Their surviving comrade.
are justly entitled to grateful remem
brance. They are growing old and il
their retrospective words doubtless Of
ten say:
'Oh for one hour of youthful joy
Give back my twentieth spring.
I'd rather laugh, a fair-haired boy.
Than reign, q gray-haired king
Each returning year Memorial Da!
10 memory's blessed Resurrection Day
II is q time when history-making day
of former years march before ia il
bold array for thankful review.
I'VE hear it said. Let by-gones b.
by-gones.' This is comendable advice
touching many things which have tran
spired during the rebellion. W. shoul
let the sectional bitterness, bigotr,
and oppression OF those days be by
cones, but the loyalty to the old fal
and the Emancipation Proclamation o
that period should be al abiding in GU
national life As the Declsrat on Of indie
~pendencs and our Constitution.
"For the sole purpose of striving t
perpetuate that which will contribut
to our national good, call attention I
some lessons which the war teaches
The most impressive lesson comes fror
the fact that the war was waged b
Americans against Americans. Mos
of the great wars of history have bee
waged between different nations an
unrelated peoples. Some of the d.
cisive battles of antiquity were wage
between armies whose headquarters
were at Rome and at Carthage. Tn
battle Of Waterloo was fought betwee
the allied forces of Great Britain, Th
Netherlands and Prussia, on n side
and France on the other. Al the oper
ing of the war the Confederacy was
great power. The South was in ope
rebellion. but giants and heroes cam
upon the stage Of action to defend the
cause.
"In the two Thousand or more battle
and skirmis hes of the war, fellow
Americans who were from the san
homes and had been trained in tt
same institutions, fought each othe
Uknu IKE ~-Frl ncr<osk r,o = ~