Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-08
WILSON AT GETTYSBURG
President Talks Peace on Field Of
.l,r..-. War. .,~.n l- ,

livered memorable speech to the as
sembled thousands on the field of Get
tysburg, and was interrupted by fire.
quent cheers. The address In full Is as
Friends and Fellow Citizens--I need
not tell you what the battle Of Gettys-
burg meant. These gallant men in blue
and gray sit all about US here. Many
of them met here upon this ground In
grim and deadly struggle. Upon these
famous fields and hillsides their COM
rades died about them. In their pres
ence 1t were an impertinence to dis
course upon how the battle went, how
1t ended, what 1t signified. But fifty
years have gone by since then, and ]
crave the privilege of speaking to you
for few minutes of what those, fifty
years have meant.
What have they meant? They have
meant peace and union and yigor and
the maturity and might of great ma
tion. How wholesome and healing the
peace has been! We have found one
another again as brothers and COM
rades in arms, enemies no longer, gen.
erous friends rather. our battles long
past, the quarrel forgotten, except that
we shall not forget the splendid valor,
the manly devotion, of the men then
arrayed against one another, now
grasping hands and smiling into each
others eyes How complete the union
has become and how dear to all Of US.
how unquestioned, how benign and
majestic, as state after state has been
added to this our great family Of free
men! How handsome the vigor, the
maturity, the might, Of the great ma
ton we love with undivided hearts
how full Of large and confident prom
ise that a life will be wrought out that
will crown its strength with gracious
justice and with happy welfare that
will touch all alike with deep content
ment! We are debtors to those fifty
crowded years. They have made US
heirs to a mighty heritage,
But do we deem the nation complete
and finished? These venerable men
crowding here to this famous field
have set us a great example of-devo-
ton and utter sacrifice. They were
willing to die that the people might
live. But their task is done. Their day
is turned into evening. They look to
us to perfect what they established.
Their work is handed on to US to be
done in another way, but not in anoth-
er spirit. Our day is not over. 1t Is
upon US in full tide.
Have affairs paused? Does the ma
ton stand still? Is what the fifty years
have wrought since those days of bat
tie finished, rounded out and complet-
ed? Here is great people, great with
every force that has ever beaten In
the lifeblood Of mankind. And 1t Is Sc
cure. There is no one within its bor-
ders, there is no power among the ma
tions of the earth, to make 1t afraid.
But has It yet squared itself with Its
own great standards ct up at its birth,
when 1t made that first noble. naive
appeal to the moral Judgment OF man
kind to take notice that government
had now at last been established which
was to serve men, not masters? Ii is
secure in everything except the satis-
faction that its life is right, adjusted
to the uttermost to the standards OF
righteousness and humanity. The
days of sacrifice and cleansing are not
closed. We have harder things to do
than were done in the heroic days OF
war, because harder to see clearly, re-
quiring more vision, more calm bal
ance of Judgment, more candid
searching of the very springs of right.
Look around you upon the field OF
Gettysburg! Picture the array the
fierce heats and agony of battle, col
umn hurled against column, battery
believing to battery! Valor?'2Yes!
Greater no man shall see In war, and
self sacrifice and loss to the uttermost,
the high recklessness' Of exalted devo-
ton which does not count the cost.
We are made by these tragic, epic
things to know what 1t costs to make
A nation-the blood and sacrifice OF
multitudes of unknown men lifted to a
great stature in the view of all gener-
ations by knowing no limit to their
manly willingness to serve. In armies
thus marshaled from the ranks Of free
men you will see, as 1t were, a nation
embattled, the leaders and the led, and
may know, If you will, how little ex-
cept in form of it's action differs In
days of peace from its action in days
of war.
May we break camp now and be at
ease? Are the forces that fight for
the nation dispersed. disbanded, gone
to their homes, forgetful Of the COM
mon cause? Are our forces disorganiz-
ed, without constituted leaders and the
might of men consciously united be-
cause we contend not with armies, but
with principalities and powers and
wickedness in high places? Are we
content to lie still? Does our union
mean sympathy, our peace content
ment, our vigor right action, our ma
turity self comprehension and clear
confidence in choosing what we shall
do? War fitted us for action and ac-
ton never ceases.
have been chosen the leader Of the
nation, 1 cannot justify the choice by
any qualities of my own, but so 1t has
come about, and here I stand. Whom
do command? The ghostly hosts who
fought upon these battlefields long ago
and are gone? These gallant gentle
men stricken III years, whose fighting
days are over, their glory won? WHAT
are the orders for them, and who raj
lies them? 1 have in my mind another
host, whom these set free Of civil strife
in order that they might work out In
days of peace and settled order the life
of a great nation. That host Is the