The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1913-06-12
THE VISION OF WAR
Stirring Tribute to Soldiers That Opens With Words "The Past Rises Before Me Like 3
Dream" Made by Robert IngersoN in 1876.

1t was a meeting held in Indianapolis, Septem-
Der 80. 1876, a meeting largely made up of veterans
of the civil war, that furnished Robert G.. Ingersoll
the inspiration that found voice in the most stirring
and patriotic address that this, or perhaps any other
Unity and fervor of patriotic feeling that profound
ly stirred his hearers, who voiced their emotion
IRON from time nriea to D time with shouts OF glory" and deep
This speech delivered on that historic day was
made in a drizzling rain to a throng Of perhaps $50
persons crowded about a speaking stand erected on
C er "a n etpe OF Wn AT vas p1soe ehen nba xthe ed Eoverno ear
gathered under umbrellas, which served to shut
out from those on the outskirts of the crowd a view
OF the orator or opportunity to hear well what he
said.
Words of Address.
The memorable words of that address are as
follows:
"The past rises before me like a dream. Again
we are in the great struggle for national life. We
near the sounds of preparation; the music Of bois-
We see thousands of assemblages, and hear the
appeals of orators. We see the pale cheeks of
assemblages W see all the dead Whose ' - dust as we
have covered with flowers. We lose sight of them
no more. We are with them when they enlist in the
those they love. Some are walking for the last time
In quiet, woody places with the maidens they adore.
We hear the whisperings and the sweet vows of
eternal love as they lingeringly part forever. Others
are bending over cradles, kissing babies that are
asleep. Some are receiving the blessing of old
men. Some are parting with mothers who hold
them and press them to their hearts again and
again and say nothing. Kisses and tears, tears and
k dn - ne min ngiI Of agony and love. And
brave words. spoken in the old tones, to drive from
enelr hearts the awful fear. We see them part. We
see the wife standing in the door with the babe in
her arns-.standing in the sunlight, %sobbing. At the
turn in the road a hand waves-she answers by
holding high in her loving arms the child. He is
gone, and forever!
To the Music of War.
We see them all as they march proudly away
under the Haunting flags, keeping time to the grand,
wild music of war-marching down the streets of
the great cities, through the towns and across the
prairies, down to the fields of glory, to do and. to die
for the eternal right.
I'VE go with them, one and all. We are by
their side on all the cory fields, in all the hospitals
of pain, on all the weary marches, We stand guard
with them in the wild storm and under the quiet
stars. We are with them in ravines running with
blood, in the burrows of old fields. We are with
them between contending hosts, unable to move,
wild with thirst, the life ebbing slowly away among
the withered leaves. We see them pierced by balls
and torn with shells, in the trenches, by forts, and
in the whirlwind Of the charge, where men become
iron, with nerves of steel.
w are with them in the prisons of hatred and
famine; but human speech can never tell what they
endured. #