Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1913-05-30

OF all the blossoms queen,
And from the west a spray of pine
To Keep their memories green.
Flowers for the Unions cherished dead.
And over them unfurled
The glorious flag OF liberty,
The fairest in the world,
For peace has turned to spades and hoes
The bayonets and guns
And North and South as brothers, meet
Beside their buried sons.
-Minna Irving, in Leslie's Weekly.
with thousands ANA tens of thousands
who are crowded out by poverty and
want from the older lands. The flag
as the children in the public schools
daily salute it is the pledge and sym
Dol of room to grow, of health anc
hope, education and plenty
" EARS hurried on through varying
scenes, and in a comparatively
short space of the nations exis-
tence 1t was all too frequently engaged
In conflict. The children in school
studying American history learn that
we mad war in 1912, another in 1913,
and yet another, this time between
ourselves, In 1861. Our Civil war con-
tinu1ng during four stirring and mem
orable years resulted practically in
the nrmer welding of the nation The
men who wore the blue of the federal
army and those who wore the gray of
the Confederate service were led on
either side by officers who had been
trained at West Point. When the war
was over, the men who had faced each
other in battle dropped their enmity
and became friends.
An RS. ROGER A. PRYOR, a beauti-
w full and gifted southern woman
who made New York her home
after the Civil war, said in one of her
books, I'VE cage into the arms of the
enemy, and the enemy received US
with love-" Her husband had fought
throughout the war on the side of the
south.
Memorial day, at first observed in
only a few of our states. is today al
most universally celebrated. There
are few veterans on either side re
naming to march in the ranks, for
death has been busy and the old sol
ready veterans of our later war, that
Spanish-American furry that came up
like gale from the south, ragged like
hurricane. was soon over and left
the nation richer in territory and
stronger in position in the councils OF
the world.
w E deprecate war and grieye for
w the losses it makes, the mourn.
ing 1t causes and the blood that
flows on fields OF carnage Yet, when
all is said, war Is sometimes a bless.
ing in the end, clearing the atmos.
phere and making broad and stable
the way of peace. Mars is always
more heroic than Mammon. The
women Of our country should be In
favor OF peace. and throw the weight
of their influence into the scale In Its
behalf, yet peace at any price is not
what we should crave. Peace at the
sacrifice of principle and the desecra
ton Of conscience may be bought toe
dearly.
We scatter flowers on the graves OF
our heroes on Memorial day. deeorat
Ing impartially the mounds OF friend
and foe. In, the field of the grounded
arms all sleep peacefully and, there
fore, all are friends. Whoever has
visited a national cemetery and, north
or south, has seen the inscription
Unknown" on many a stone, must
have felt heartache at the thought
of the men who never returned to
hnfgs he
mothers and children watched and
waited, hoping against hope as time
went slowly by, that some day there
would be a remembered voice at the
door, a remembered step. a bronzed
and weary soldier, coming home al
last. They never came home, these
unknown men, and when they were
laid away in the grave all that any
could tell concerning their careers was
that they had died for their country
Nature sympathizes with our efrorl
to decorate the holders graves HeI
grass is green above them and hel
wild flowers are countless in the latter
days OF May: the gardens are a-bloom
with the rose and everywhere we sec
color anu BRIGHTNESS ana beauty
broad-spread as IL the angels of light
and love were invisibly busy to helI
the children of men.
This is a beautiful country in which
we live. Our relations with the moth
/ erland across the sea are reciprocal
and intimate. and children are no long
er by way of exhibiting resentment
against England when they read the
story OF 1776. George Washington ii
| forever a name 10 conjure, because In
the Hall of Fame no name is whitel
/ than his. We claim all that England
/ holds most precious as or own Hei
/ literature, her laurels and her glorJ
are part OF our Inheritance The grea
/ authors belong 10 US as to her ant
/ her traditions have entered into oul
national life
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