The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1915-05-21
ON DECORATION DAYI j


Once a year the lovers of country have
| their independence day, when with burst
ing of rockets and booming of guns they
celebrate the birth of the Nation they
love and to which they owe their liberty,
and once a year a Thanksgiving Day is
| fttingly observed by grateful people, who
acknowledging and appreciating the
blessings of God, offer up to Him their
gratitude and praise for His divine gift,
but greater and dearer than all those days
because it comprehends all, is Memorial
Day, founded by the Grand Army of the
Republic and observed by admirers of
bravery and lovers of liberty all over our
land irrespective of age or sex, race or
creed On that day the living veterans
make their annual pilgramage to the
graves of their loved and lost comrades.
On that day grateful people throng to
the cemeteries and with reverend ears,
listen to the word of God as it falls from
reverent lips. On that day the blessing
of the Almighty are recognized by the
paeans of joy and the hymns of praise
that ascend to His Heavenly throne, and
ON that day, our country's foundation is
celebrated in common with our country's
salvation. Equal honor is paid to its
founders and it's savers. Washington the
father Lincoln, the martyr, and Grant the
saviour. are eulogized in verse and prose
and the whole Nation rises in gratitude
to the brave men, living and dead, who
offered their lives on the altar of personal
liberty and national unity.
Comrades honor like this is worth liv
ing for, is worth dying for. Let your
hearts be filled with justifable pride
that, in the hey-dey of your youth, you
were permitted to become defenders of
your country. Let the approaching Mem
orial Day witness the performance by you
of your sweetly solemn duties. Call to
your aid your aid your sons and daugh
ters, your allied organizations. and the
public in general. With them proceed to
the City of the Dead, and there place
your floral offerings of love and the star
ry banner on the graves of those who
were once so near and who are now so
dear to you. Let your souls be filed
with feelings of both sorrow and joy
Sorrow that death should claim so many
of our dear ones; joy that death for them
meant life for the land they loved. Then
let D. j. Roop Post, No. 81, GAR, see to
it as their part, that the great American
classic, Lincoln's Gettysburg address, is
part of the Memorial Day exercises. In
vite your faithful auxiliary, the Women's S
Relief Corps, the sons and daughters of
veterans, the ladies of the GAR, and all
other patriotic orders to participate with
your post in the observance of Memorial
Day Let the recurrence of Memorial
Day renew in your hearts that charity
which is one of the greatest principles Of
the Grand Army, but restrict not your
charit yto the living extend it also to the
dead If the grave of a Confederate sol
dier lies in your path, pass it not by Re-
member that the brave respect the brave
and reverently lay your flowers upon his
earthly covering as a token that we who
once were enemies are now friends.
And now, i'm conclusion, comrades al
low me to say in view of all it has cost to
preserve this beloved country of ours in
view of all the sorrows, all the broken
hearted mothers and wives and loved ones
in view of all the terrible suffering on the
battle field, in hospitals and prison pens,
if the spirits of our martyred comrades
are cognizant of earthly things--how they
must rejoice today to know that our
beautiful flag now floats unhindered from
ocean to ocean, from the Lakes to the
Gulf, and is honored by every nation on
the face Of the earth.