Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-06-04

The f1OnOreo DEAD
AT this time the sermon preached
by Henry Ward Beecher, in his
church in Brooklyn, the Sunday af-
ter the battle OF Gettysburg, is es-
pecially appropriate. 1t is as follows:
Let us pause upon the threshold
of our discourse to pay tribute to
our heroes. On either side has been
manifested the noblest courage, and
patience and endurance. Ten thous-
and youths have dropped the bios
som of their lives. Alas! that for so
many it should be a death. utterly
deadl More and more will years
reveal that young Southern heroes
died for an evil cause. Would that
so much bravery had a better cause.
Time will bring no venerableness and
no affection to defeated tyranny.
Mems enthusiasms never go back
ward to search for the deeds of op-
pressors, to garland them with ever
green honor. They die. indeed. who
die for slavery. And lapse of years.
and growing justice, and noblcr hu-
manities, will only make the mistake
more dreadful, and their oblivion
more certain. 1t is indeed sad
feature for those who mourn for
sons slain under the dark banner OF
slavery. No future historian will
feel sacred enthusiasm in recovering
their names. No rejoicing millions
will teach their children to lisp their
names with gladness. The best that
can be done for them by patriotism
is to draw a veil over their life. and
to let them be forgotten. Over their
burial ground the hand of charity can
write only this: Let their names and
their mistake be forgotten.
But how bright are the honors
which await those who with sacred
fortitude and patriotic patience have
endured all things that they might
save their native land from division
and from the power of corruption.
The honored dead! They that died
for a good cause are redeemer from
death. Their names are gathered
and garncrcd. Their memory is prec-
ious. Each place grows proud OF
them who were born there. There is
to be, ere long, in every village and
in every neighborhood, glowing
pride in its martyred heroes. Tablets
shall preserve their names. Pious
love shall renew their inscriptions as
time and the unfceling elements de-
cay them. And the national festivals
shall give multitudes of precious
names to the orators lips. Children
shall grow up under more sacred in
spirations whose elder brothers, dy-
ing nobly for their country, left a
name that honored and inspired all
who bore it. Orphan children shall
find thousands of fathers and moth
crs to love and help those whom dy-
ing heroes left as a legacy to the
gratitude of the public
oh, tell me not that they are dead
that generous host, that airy army
of invisible heroes! They hover as
cloud of witnesses above this ma
ton. Are they dead that yet speak
louder than we can speak, and more
universal language? Are they dead
that yet acte Are they dead that yet
move upon society, and inspire the
people with nobler motives and more
heroic patriotism?
Ye that mourn, let gladness minglc
with your tears. He was your son !:
but now he is the nations He made
your household bright; now his ex-
ample inspires a thousand house
holds. Dear TO his brothers and sis
tiers, he is now brother to every gen.
erous youth in the land. Before. he
was narrowed. appropriated, shut up
to You. Now he is augmented, set
free. and given to all. He died for
Ithe family, that he might live TO the