The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1912-05-31
THE ADDRESS BY MR.. pARMErER

L ne SPEAKER pTtldCeu ulo duuicoS
by calling attention to different fes-
tive and anniversary days and point
ing out their origin and their signifi-
cance. The Jewish Passover, Christ
mas, Fourth of July, and others were
briefly mentioned. He then spoke of
our Memorial Day and said in part:
But what of the Citizen Soldiers?
Will you leave this pleasant place
for few moments, and go back with
me to the dark days Of sixty-two and
three. Then we were looking upon
scenes of carnage, our ears were del
uged with the booming of cannon,
the roar of musketry, the Rebel yell,
the cheers of charging comrades and
the groans of dying men; one hour,
and our hands were engaged in sup
porting the musket, charging the
canon or welding the saber; the
next we were burying the dead, or
bearing the dying from the field. At
ter hard days of marching and inces-
SAINT fighting, when tired nature de-
manded rest, in place of sleep often
we were kneeling by dying COM
rade, receiving his last message of
love to be transmitted to his father
and mother, or his wife and chill
dren in his far-away Northern home,
and let us hope, pointing him to The
Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sins of the World.
Comrades, these were dark days.
Our friends of the North were tired
of War and sick of carnage. The
Blood of the first born was upon the
Intel of every door; our lines had
been broken in many places and
driven back; We heard the glad cry
of the brave and victorious foe at
front and the muttered Civilizations
of the cowardly foe at rear. Dark
Days! There were times when IL
seemed to us that the Supreme Com
mander had ordered our cause down
the roads of disaster and defeat;
Hope sank in our hearts, but We new
er did despair, for while We thus
contending with the foe at front,
protected by the mighty genius of the
immortal Grant, we knew that the
great-hearted Lincoln was at the
seat of government, with malice tow
ard none, with Charity for all, but
with firmness in the right, as God
had given him to see the right; with
one hand upon the helm of the Ship
of State, as she rolled and rocked
and was tossed by the turbulent bill
lows of War; with the other hand
upon the pulse Of the people, wait
ing for the fulfilment of his own
prophecy. Slavery was moral
wrong, a National crime, sin
against God. and the cause OF the
War. and although entrenched be-
hind Organic Law, the wisest think
crs, the greatest Statesmen, and the
bravest patriots were by degrees be-
coming conscious of the fact that
there could be no cure for the ma
Ttions' disease but by the removal of
the cause, and. as the last hours of
that historic year OF eighteen hun
|, dred sixty-two, fitted out and back
ward into the abyss OF Time, Cod
sent an Angel, with an inspired pen,
dipped in the Sea of Blood, that the
Nation had shed for the remission Of
;er sins and placed it in the hand of
that immortal martyr, and with it
he wrote name that struck the
shackles from four million human
, chattels in moment, and from that
immortal hour, the stream of blood
which marked the pathway of the
contending armies from the Ohio to
the Sea, and from Gettysburg to Ap-
pamattox, rose like the bow Of prom
ise and spanned the Throne of Etern-
al Mercy; Justice was satisfied: Pa
triotism was purified; and Liberty
was enthroned forever
/ believe it was the Napoleon who
said, "The Character OF the Soldier
aptly reflects the character Of his
country" Accepting this statement
of this great soldier, Statesman and
Diplomat, as truism. invite YOU
to take the map of the World and
sweep the centuries at glance, and
in all ages you will find no country
like ours; then take, If you please
the best authenticated histories, an
cient and modern, sacred, profame
and study these ages in their order
and to the fancy there comes no age
like ours; then take the census OF
the globe, and while you number the
people, study their character. and
there will be found no civilization
like ours. Then why marvel that the
best country, in the grandest age ant
the most favored people, have pro
duced a soldier, whose qualities ant
character have attracted the atten
ton, and compelled the admiration
OF the world.
In the crucial test of war. he was
in trials and hardships, patient ant
silent; in battle, careful and deter
mined, in defeat, cheerful and hope
full; in victory merciful and magnan
imous, and in all things and at al
times. he was intelligently obedien
and faithful.
But in estimating the character o
the soldier. are YOU willing, n
| friends, to base your estimate upo
some Of the results of his service
Then what estimate will you plac
! upon the blessings of liberty vouch