The Irish standard., 1913-07-05

capture Little Round Top witnout de-
lay. And In the assault that followed
Captain O'Rorke was the hero of the
hour. He had come to this country
from the County, Gavan, ireland, and
joined the New York Volunteers, be-
coming their Captain in September,
1862. He captured Little Round Top
and saved it frbm being taken, al.
though at the expense OF his own life
and the lives cfsmost of his devoted
comrades. For hours the battle ragged
fiercely around this strategic point
and when the smoke of conflict clear
ed away the brave o'Rorke was num-
bered with the dsad.
But where SO many heroes fought
and b1ed, it seems almost an invidi-
GUS distinction tosingle out any one
for special praise A Corby, a Pick
ett Hancock. In O'Rorke!-their
number could be- multiplied a hun
dred fold without exhausting the roll
of honor at Gettysburg. And one
cannot peruse this bloody page of
American history without rejecting
upon the awful. price they paid for
human liberty. ItSis sweet aad beau
tiful. 40 the Ro,ssln orator exclaims,
to die for ones country. And how
many have madessthe same sacrifice
for human liberty When Lincoln
pronounced his Immortal eulogy over
the heroes slainS at Gettysburg-a
eulogy which reminds us of the one
pronounced by Pericles over the
Grecian dead-hea begged posterity
to remember the greatness as we'll
as the completeness of this sacrifice.
And n Lincoln's Sword be not sufi-
cient, let us pause on the line of
Holy Writ" "greater love than this
no man hath than that he lay down
his life" It matters not wether it
be for friend or slave or country.
The greatness Of the sacrifice made
by these noble defenders of national
honor and Of human liberty involves
correspondingaduty and obligation
on our part-we who have received
from their hands the blessed inheri-
tance of an undivided Union and the
priceless birthri&At of human free
! s7a iii t,# this glorious
Inheritance borrow the words 81
Americas greatest orator-is ours to
enjoy, ours to preserve and oNrs to
transmit unimpaired to posterity. Our
duty, therefore,, is obvious; it in
wolves not merely the word Of nraise
and the kind remembrance; not
merely the strewing Of flowers upon
the beloved graves-manibus date
lila plenis-not merely the celebra-
ton of golden anniversaries of vic.
tory, with march and banner and
feast and song and the rapt oration
flowing free; our duty to the dead
likewise demands eternal vigilance in
safeguarding that Union and that
liberty for which those heroes died.
The anniversary of Gettysburg should
renew our patriotism, our love of
country, the desire to keep our poo-
pie clean-handed, courageous, pro-
gressive, and an example and pat
tern of righteousness to the nations
of the earth.
Fifty years ago the boys in Blue
and Gray witnessed a tarrible spec
tacle at Gettysburg-the earth tcn1-
bling under the heavy tread of mighty
conflicting hosts-the charge, the
dreadful cannonade-the ground
covered with the dead and dying
the shrek of the bursting shell min
gled with the shrieks of the wound
ed-the air alive with flame and
flashing steel and leaden missiles that
moved down rank after rank of SER
ried men like the grass beneath the
scythe-and above all, the ever-dark-
ening clouds Of smoke shutting out
the heavens and the bright sun. 1t
was the triumph Of war. Today the
gray-haired survivors witness the tri-
umph OF peace. The clouds have all
rolled away not only from the face
of the battlefield but from the W; ole
land as we'll; the Mills and valleys
echo now to the voices of a peaceful
happy pon,'' "' NED out tc VOL.
come the saviors of this Republic:
"Tlle sword hangs rusting on the
wall,
The plowshare turns the fruitful sod,
The Wales where rang the bugle call
Now blossom in the smile of God"
------.----.--