The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1914-05-12
TRIBUTE. OF
THEPRES|DENT
These Boys Have Shown Us
Our Duty, Says
Wilson
IN HIS EULOGY TO
VERA CRUZ HEROES
Bullets Only Kill, He Says,
but Sneers Wound
the Heart

the occupation of Vera Cruz, the city,
state and nation paid tribute yesterday
For four miles through the city streets
the funeral cortege passed, and behind
it in an open carriage rode the presi
dent. He sat for the most part with
head barred, though the sun beat down
upon him. Perhaps a million persons
saw the seventeen collins. each on a
Icaisson, borne from the Battery plaza
in lower Manhattan TO the navy yard
lin Brooklyn. The procession was near
lily two hours in passing. Silence of the
spectators was notable feature. The
religious ceremony at the navy yard
was more impressive, If possible, than
was the sight of the slow-moving cor
tege II was never in battle or under
fire." said President Wilson in his brief
address, "but ! fancy it is just as hard
to do your duty when men are sneering
at you, for when they shoot at you they
take your natural life and when they
sheer at you they wound your heart"
"We have gone to Mexico" he said. in
another part of his address, ito serve
mankind if we find the way. We don't
want to fight the Mexicans; we want
to serve them.
"A war Of aggression is not thing
in which it is proud to die. but war
Of service is war in which it is a proud
thing to die"
The eulogy of President Wilson at
the Brooklyn navy yard was as follows;
"Mr. Secretary: / know that the feel
| ings which characterize all who stand
about me and the whole nation at this
hour are not feelings which can be suit
ably expressed in terms Of attempted
oratory or eloquence. They are things
/ too deep for ordinary speech For my
own part, | have a singular mixture
| of feelings. The feeling that is upper
most is one of profound grief that these
lads should have had to 90 to their
death, and vet there is mixed with that
grief profound pride that they should
| have gone as they did. and, If / may say
| it out of my heart, touch of envy of
those who We're permitted so quietly
rand so nobly to do their duty.
''Have you thought of it, men, there
| is the roster of the navy, the list Of
the men. officers and enlisted men and
marines. and suddenly there swim nine
teen stars out of the list, men who have
suddenly gone into a armament of mem
DRY, where we shall always see their
name shine; not because they called
upon us to admire them. but because
they served MS. without asking any ques-
tions, and in the performance of duty
which is laid upon us as well as upon
them
DUTY is not an uncommon thing, gen
tlemen. Men are performing il in the
ordinary walks of life all around us all
the time, and they are making great |
sacrifices to perform it. What gives
men like these peculiar distinction is !
not merely that they did their duty, but |
that their duty had nothing to do with |
them or their own personal and peculiar |
interests.
"Thev did not give their lives for
themselves. They gave their lives for |
us, because we called upon them as a |
nation to perform an unexpected duty. |
That is the way in which men grow |
distinguished and that is the only way, |
by serving somebody else than them
selves.
"And what greater thing could you
serve than a nation such as this we love |
and are proud of? Are you sorry for
these ladsg Are you sorry for the way
they will be remembered? Does it not /
quicken your pulses to think of the list |
Of them? / hope to God none of you
may join the list, but il you do you
will join an immortal company.
$50 while we are profoundly sorrow
full. and while there goes out of our
heart a very deep and aectionate sym
pathy for the friends and relatives of
these lads, who for the rest of their
lives shall mourn them, though with a
r l. |
not go away from this occasion cast
down, but with our heads lifted and
our eyes on the future of this country.
with absolute confidence of how it will
be worked out Not only upon the mere
vague future of this country, but the
immediate future.
1--WE have gone down to Mexico to
serve mankind if we can find out the
way. We do not want to fight the Mex
cans. We want to serve the Mexicans
il we can. because we know how we
would like to be free, and how we would
like to be served if there were friends
standing ready to serve us. A war Of
aggression is not war in which it is a
proud thing to die. but war of service
is a thing in which it is proud thing to
die
''Notiee that these men were of our
blood. / mean of our American blood,
which is not drawn from any one coun-
try. which is not drawn from any one
stock. which is not drawn from any one
language of the modern world. but free
men everywhere have sent their sors
and their brothers and their daughters
to this country in order to mike that
great compounded nation which consists
of all the sturdy elements and of all
the best elements OF the whole globe.
/ listened again to this list with pro-
found interest at the mixtures of the
names. for the names bear the marks of
several national stocks from which these
men came.
"But they are not Irishmen. or Ger
mans. or Frenchmen, or Hebrews any
more They were not when they went
to Vera Cruz; they were Americans.
every one of them. and with no differ
ance in their Americanism because Of
the stock from which they came.
therefore they were in a peculiar
sense of our blood, and they proved it
bv showing that they were of our spir-
THAT no matter what their deriva-
ton, no matter where their people came
from. they thought and wished and did
the things that were American; and the
1ag under which they served was a flag