American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-06-03
BARBER & JONES', Publishers
MEMORIAL DAY.

With increased solemnity Memorial day will this year
be ushered in. 1t was instituted and set aside in our
country originally to decorate the graves of the sacred
dead who had died in war.
The people Of the different sections of our country had
become SO estranged that a conflict had been inaugurated
and a fearful war which lasted four years had been fought
through; the issue being whether the union and the free
government which the fathers had planned, should con-
tinue or should cease to exist.
Under the abrasion of that war four hundred thousand
men, the best and bravest of the nation, gave their lives.
The decree, written in blood and tears, was that the
great hope of the world should not be blasted, that the
union should not be dissolved; that 'free government
should not perish from the earth"
Then the thought came, too, that, maybe, what had hap
pened, had been planned by a higher than mortal power;
that what was intended was to teach our nation that a
great national wrong was a debt, a debt bearing interest
and that every such debt had to be fully paid, principal and
interest.
Then came the thought of the dead who had died in that
bloody liquidation and generous natures on both sides,
through their tears, said: Surely brave men can give no
higher proof of their sincerity in a cause than to die for it,
let us garland alike the graves of the blue and the gray"
1t was in that way that Memorial day was instituted in
our country. It's observance has been a strong factor in
healing the wounds made by the war, and covering the
scars that were left from it.
This year the thoughts of all men, consciously or un-
consciously, are busy contemplating the tremendous trag-
edy in which nearly all the nations of Europe are actors,
and the multtudes of the dead who will not be given even
graves that friends can bedew with tears and dress with
flowers, and the sorrow of it all makes a shadow in our
fair skies and upon the hearts of men. 1t is the deeper be-
cause of the belief that if the greed of commercialism and
Ic iuSC u power COuu ID elWlndCeu from Ce war be-
yond the seas nothing worth quarrelng over would be
left, and hence there can be no compensation for the
mighty sacrifices; unless, indeed, the awful cataclysm UNI
dermines some thrones and dispels the calm that kings are
hedged about by rights divine.
In our country, by common consent, Memorial day has
become a day on which to dress the graves Of all our dead
with flowers. Those graves have increased very fast dur
ing the past two years of men who had long been familiar
forms on our streets and who had for a long time been
strong factors in the life and progress of this city.
1t is a practice with some orders to once a year hold a
memorial service for their dead and one feature of their
ceremony is to call the roll of the names of Che dead of
their order who had died during the previous year, If we,
in thought, initiate that custom tomorrow and call the
names of those citizens who have recently died and who it
was hard to give up, the sunlight will be dimmed by our
tears, for many of them lived such lives here, that to give
them up is a lasting sorrow; so true were they, so strong
and brave; so high their purposes; so effective was their
work; so blameless and so self-sacrificing their lives; so
leaned upon were they by their fellow men; so inspiring
their examples; so needed were thy.
The day is a sacred one. While the graves are being
dressed, draped flags and solemn music will be in order,
together with the pathos of that eloquence which is born
of reverence and sorrow and gratitude for exalted services
nobiy performed.
Maybe in the ether above the graves the old shining
ranks, invisible to mortal eyes, will be watching, the muf-
fled drums, soundless here, will be rolling, the phantom
flags will be waving and the old captains watching and
listening as the wireless of eternity carries upward the
invocations and the music of a grateful people-Good-
wins Weekly.
VIM f. Kercher is charged with ans State Bank and Golden Rule store
forging the name of l. &c Eierick to cashed the checks without question
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