The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-05-31
Pioneers and Soldiers Of Our Country Have Given
To lisa Wonderful Heritage
Let Us Put Aside Our Cynical Attitude Let Us Follow the Dawn Of the New
and Prove We Are Worthy Of Sacrifices Of These People.
Urges Hon ]. B. Weaver in His Memorial Day Address

q 4
The Hon. James B. Weaver of Des
Z Moines, son of the late General Weay
er, delivered the Memorial day ad
dress in Keokuk yesterday. 1t seems
particularly fitting that Mr.. Weaver
should have spoken here on the daJ
in which we pay homage to the heroes
OF 81 and ,65, for it was on KeokuH
soil that his honored father took the
oath to support .he flag. and led from
this city a mighty battalion OF boys
in blue, many Of whom sleep beneath
simple headstone, some in unmark
ed graves, while the remnant OF the
living form part OF the thin blue line
which is fast becoming less. But
I they are all honored, they are all
loved and revered. They have given
us a heritage which we must make
ourselves worthy Of, the speaker de
clared yesterday.
The address by Mr.. Weaver follows:
1 Mr.. President, Veterans Of the
| Civil War, Ladies and Gentlemen: It
is not easy to talk to you just after
| listening to the music of the war
| days interviewer with thousand ten
der and stirring memories. Thomas
| Carlisle said of music, 1t Is kind OF
! fnart1culate, unfathomable speech,
| that leads us to the edge of the infin'
| ite. and lets us for moments gaze into
! It." Disreali said OF 1t, "a blast OF
thv tr,rmpets and millions rush forth
! to die; a peal of thy organ and I'M
counted nations fall down to pray.
/ And indeed how great power 1t Is
we realize when we rem ember In mar
| tfal strains the victories 1t helped you
! bows in blue to win, In savage lands
| or In our own wind-swept plains or IN
our complex city life the sorrows 1t
has helped to soothe; in ballads the
love it has helped to express, in all
ages and in every land as lullabys
the cradles it has helped to rock.
lave. and in the hearts OF men and
women everywhere the joys. the long
/ ings. the regrets, the memories 1t
ksends laundering at the gates OF con-
seriousness.
Today have sbeen deeply Impress
i cd with the fact that it was here in
your own city in those stirring days
1 OF 1861 that my father and his com
rades OF the Second Iowa gathered
and took the oath Of service to the
nation Here they and their COM
rades drilled and practfced the frst
lessons in the hard life just ahead OF
them / cannot forget that upon
your streets still stand buildings
whose walls sent back the echo OF
their marching feet and It was the
friendly streets of your city that
many OF them carried away In their
hearts as the last glimpse of home.
So to me Keokuk is indeed sacred
I ground. haIlowed by tender memories
! and forever linked with the states
first sacrifice, for the life of the ma
| ton.
+ can never witness gathering OF
! veterans, and here include the moth
ers also, of the civil war tpat 1 am
| not impressed with the fact that they
|. are more than war veterans. Iney
are representatives of that wonder
Eful home-loving, home-seeking genera
ton that settled the Mississippi val
fley. Only now can we see them In
| true perspective.
Greatest In History.
It was the most benificent move
| ment in all history-free men and
! women, under free flag, bent on
| that wonderful achievement, the
building of home with their own
| hands In the fertile plains and val
/ leys of the middle west. oh, T envy
them the experience and how today,
my gray-haired father and mother,
YOU are in memory living 1t all over
| again. When my son was less than
three years old, one day as l passed
i through his room where he lay in his
Ebed he said to me: Papa, l know
what remembering As" I was very
f.much surprised by so sage an obser-
ovation from so infantile a source but
IN was game, and said: We'll, what
Els remembering? Half closing his
Eeyes and drawing the words out to
suit the meaning, he replied, "Remem
tbering Is kind of sound you hear
kwith your think" Oh you fathers
and mothers who came here between
1S4o and 1866 do I not know that as
An memory you go back down the
long lane of the years, there are in
deed sounds that even tocay you cal