The Colorado statesman., 1913-05-31

ourselves, In 1861. Our Civil war con-
tinuing during four stirring and mem
orable years resulted practically in
the firmer 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.
AZ RS. ROGER A. PRYOR, beauti-
Nl full and gifted southern woman
who made New York her home
after the Civil war, said in one Of her
books, I'VE came 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
PdS6in6 away. hCi al Q al
ready veterans Of our later war, that
Spanish-American furry that came up
like gale from the south, ragged like
a hurricane, was soon over and left
the nation richer in territory and
stronger in position in the councils OF
the world.
VIZ e deprecate war and grieve for
wv the losses it makes, the mourn
ing it causes and the blood that
flows on fields of carnage. Yet, when
all is said, war is sometimes 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 too
dearly.
We scatter flowers on the graves Of
our heroes on Memorial day, decorat-
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 national cemetery and, north
or south, has seen the inscription
Unknown" on many a stone, must
have felt a heartache at the thought
of the men who never returned to
their dear ones. How the wives and
mothers and children watched and
waited, hoping against hope as time
went slowly by, that some day there
would be q remembered voice at the
door, a remembered step, bronzed
and weary soldier, coming home at
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
This was true, whether they fought
under one flag or another, If they were
honest and patriotic and willing to die
for what they held most dear.
Nature sympathizes with our effort
to decorate the soldiers graves. Her
grass Is green above them and her
wild flowers are countless in the latter
days of May; the gardens are a-bloom
with the rose and everywhere we see
color and brightness and beauty
broad-spread as If the angels Of light
and love were invisibly busy to help
the children of men.
TINS 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 is
forever a name to conjure, because in
the Hall of Fame no name is whittier
than his. We claim all that England
holds most precious as our own. Her
literature, her laurels and her glory
are part of our Inheritance. The great
authors belong to US as to her and
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