Webster City freeman., 1913-07-08
Stand at Attention as Flag is Low
cred and Guns Boom
Tribute.
THE BATTLE Is STILL ON
President Wilson Calls Citizens
Army to Battle for Hu-
manity.

Gettysburg, "a, July 5.-Ine
regular army paid tribute yesterday
to the thousands who sleep under
the hills of Gettysburg. Somewhere
down in the heart of the tented city
a bugle sang out in a silvery sweet
call that wandered over the field
where Lee and Meade made history.
The big flag before the headquarters
of General Liggett, flashing in sud-
den curves of red and white and
blue, glorious in the sunshine of
perfect July day, came slowly half
way down the shaft. In front of
the tent, shoulders squared, figure
trim in summer uniform of white,
face toward the flag, the general
clicked heels together and stood at
attention.
Somewhere the guns of the Third
battery burst into staccato salute.
Every officer over the length and
breadth of that wide field, every en-
listed man turned away from the du-
ties of the moment and faced the
flag, heels together, head up and
eyes alight with the sentiment of
the hour.
AS the last gun of forty-eight
sent the echoes Gathering about
Seminary Ridge and Round Top,
there was solemn silence, the hush
of peace. Old veterans who did not
realize, perhaps, exactly what was
going on stood silent under the spell
of the universal feeling that seemed
to sweep the field Even the clatter
of pots and pans in the mess tents
was hushed and the yells of cooks
about to dish up the midday meal
lowered to whispers.
For five minutes the camp was
quiet. Then the bugle spoke again
in notes more joyous. The silken
flag Ieaped up the staff to it's very
pinnacle and the noises that 100000
men can make resumed their sway,
the regular army's tribute to the
dead and to the flag of a reunited
nation.
That five minutes silence was
probably the last formal mark of the
celebration. Only a
few minutes before President Will
Son spoke in the big tent to the vet !
Grams in blue and gray, and only a |
short time afterward thousands of
those who were left began their
for departure.
The president came into Gettys-
burg shortly before II o'clock from
Baltimore. Through the narrow,
crooked streets of this war-famed
country town, he motored out to
camp with Governor Tener of Penn
sylvania and Representative Palmer
Of Pennsylvania by his side. His ap-
pearance at the station of Gettys-
burg was the signal for a cheer and
from somewhere down in the Gettys-
burg college grounds came the GUS
tonary salute.
From the station to the camp ov-
er the village streets and gray and
dusty Emmitsburg road the presi-
lent was driven, while the Pennsyl-
vania .constabulary, looking busi-
nesslike and efficient in their slate
gray uniforms, guarded his automo-
bile and kept the traffic clear.
At the entrance to the big tent
he president paused for a moment
20 let the camera battery pop away
IS he stood with head uncovered be- {
.ween a veteran from either army. I
His entrance into the tent to the /
trains of Hail to the Chief" g
brought the crowd which those who /
estimated. say numbered 10000,
Iuick from their chairs with a cheer. r
The speakers platform was filled q
With the staff officers of governors, q
With men in confederate gray and a a
ew in blue, with women in gay a
resses and the president in his
lack frock coat was quiet figure. /
Governor Tener introduced him in v
dozen words. AS he rose to speak e
here was another cheer. s
The president spoke slowly and
arefully. bat the breeze that played
nder the sides of the tent and the
sstiess feet of those who hastened Z
i, made it difficult for the old men u
! the rear seats to hear and under
and. He was interrupted only once
: twice with cheering. "