Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1914-06-03
.EULOGIzED JOHN SMITH
A PLAIN AMERICAN
Address of Kenneth F. Burgess
on Memorial Day.
Splendid Tribute to the Memory OF
Those Who Sacrificed Their Lives
for Country's Sake.

we meet mere today Tor purpose
which has the dignity and tenderness
Of funeral rites without their sadness.
Our country, which in the three
hundred years since the landing of the
pilgrims at Plymouth Rock has be-
come the greatest political unit in
the history of the world, stands today
before grave, grave which has
been both sealed for decades and
which is yet but newly made. And
we have come to pay our tribute as a
nation to him who rests beneath the
sod and who is known to all the
world as John Smith-Plain Ameri-
can.
1t was he who shouted out our
challenge of defiance across the broad
Atlantic to George the Third of Eng
land in those ever living words, "Give
us Liberty, or give us DEATH and
we knew him then as Patrick Henry.
1t was he who in that awful winter
at Valley Forge taught his despairing
soldiers to bear their Individual trials
for the sake of country, and we knew
him then as Washington. In the
presidents chair he proclaimed the
doctrine of the independence of the
new world from the oppression of the
old, and we called him James Monroe.
He replied to Hayne on the floor of
the senate, voicing the doctrine of
constitutional unity, and his name
was Daniel Webster He rode up
the Shenandoah as Sheridan, marched
through Georgia as Sherman, captured
VicKsburg and with it more prisoners
and cannon than did Napoleon at UIm,
and we called him Grant He gave
utterance to one of the three great
speeches in the history of the world
at Gettysburg, voicing the text Of
unity after conflict, and we called
him Lincoln.
He fought the battles of his coun-
try, not only on horse back with his
epaulets of general glistening in
the sun, but also as a soldier in the
ranks fOot-sore and weary. He voiced
his patriotism not only on the floor of
the senate and the house, but in his
humber moments gave those same
sentiments utterance by his ballot at
the polls.
All, who was John Smith, Plain
American, at whose tomb we pay
homage today He was no different
than you and |, and hundreds like US.
He felt the same thrills, had the
same call of ambition, the same
hopes, the same aspirations, the same
emotions. He came from England to
seek home of freedom in new
land. He broke the soil and cleared
the forest waste. He found a land
rich in natural resources, and by his
own untiring efforts made those re-
sources subservient to his hand He
pushed westward and found rich
fertile plains and valleys welcoming
mis- plough and hoe. He was a man
of family instincts. He built a
home, barn, and then a school
house. He taught his children the
gospel of labor. He was honest,
fearless and Industrious, and in three
hundred years his efforts have Welded
remarkable returns. Vast cities as
his commercial centers, broad acres
of the finest cultivated land in the
world, beautiful homes, and magni-
ticent school system are the monu-
ments of his progress. Thus John
Smith, Plain American, founded
new empire of freedom. He was
able to do this because he was not
only honest, fearless and industriouG,
but because he was also the slave of
mighty ideal. That ideal was the
spirit of patriotism.
| shall define patriotism as did
Charles Sumner seventy years ago.
Patriotism is the love of country,
and loyalty to its life and weal-love
tender and strong, tender as the love
of son for mother, strong as the
pillars of DEATH loyalty generous and |
dlsinterested, shrinking from no !
sacrifice, seeking no reward save
cOuntry's honor and country's
triumph. The human race paws
homage to patriotism because of it's
supreme loneliness. Next to God is !
country; next TO religion is patrio-
tism. 1t is sublime in its heroism !
on the field of battle. 80 glorious
is he, - exclaims the Trojan warrior !
in Homer, ''who for his country
falls" 1t is sublime in the oft
repeated toll of dutiful citizenship.
"Of all human doings,' writes
Cicero, "none is more honorable and
more estimable than to merit we'll of
ones commonwealth. -
With this ruling idea John Smith,