The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-06-01

i
being seated the band played Loyal
Comrades and then gave Nearer. My
God, To Thee" Capt John McElroy,
acting commander of the Department Of
tho Potomac, seized the gavel, mounted
to the speakers rostrum and took the
assemblage in charge.
Officer of the Day John Middleton and
an armed guard presented the flag and
then the band, with a fanfare of trum-
pets. struck up THE Star-spangled Ban
ner." Bishop Cranston said the invo-
cation. The band played Rubenstein's
melody in F. and in the hush which came
over the gathering the singing of birds
| in the vines overhead could be heard
mingling with the music.
Assistant Adjutant General Osborn H.
Oldroyd read the order OF the day, and
then Past Department Commander A. P.
| Tasker read the order of Commander
| in-Chief Logan, which established Me-
mortal Day Past Department Comman-
der George H. Slaybaugh read Lincolns
Gettysburg address. Capt. McElroy de-
livered an address in which he told Of
the meaning of the ceremonies.
Then Capt. McElroy called upon tn =
President and Mr. Wilson said in part
Il have not come here today to de-
liver an address. but merely reverently
! to take part in expressing the sentiment
OF this impressive udN. IL 10 hVSVssai ny
| day of "reminiscences. "Reminiscences
is not always profitable exercise. 1t
generally belongs to those-appropriately
| to those only-who have left the active
stage of life and have nothing to think
about except the things that are some
and dead. 1t does not behoove ma
| ton to walk with its eyes over its
| shoulder Its business is constantly in
the years that lie ahead of it and in the
to ha lie
play of its power. But there are remi-
niscences which are stimulating and
| wholesome, and among those reminis-
censes are chiefly to be ranked the rec
objections of days of herosm. days when
great nations found it possible to eX
press the best that was in them by the
ardent exercise of every power that was
| in them.
A Day Of stimulation.
That is what gives dignity to a day
\ like this. 1t is not a day of regret; it
is not n day of weakening memory. 1t
, is a day of stimulat ion. But. my friends
these stimulating memories we are
sometimes apt to minimize because We
do not see the full significance Of them
We are constantly speaking of the great
war of which we think today as war
which saved the nation. and it did, in
deed, save the union. but it was war
| that did a great deal moro than that
| 1t created in this country what had never
existed before. a national consciousness
| 1t was not the salvation Of the union:
it was the rebirth of the union. 1t was
the time when America for the first time
realized its unity and saw the vision
| Of its united destiny.
| The solemn lesson of these memories
| for us is not that We must be ready to
save the Union again. for there arc none
| among us who threaten its life. but that
| We must see to it that the unity then
| realized the vision then seem is eXempli-
| fed in us and the things that we do
Because there is no stimulation in any
lesson unless il be the stimulation to
duty There is no stimulation in any
occasion if il be merely the pleasure of
recollection: it must also he the ardor
| and courage of hope. Greater days lie
| before this nation than it has ever seen
yet and the solemn consciousness of
those who bear office in this time is that
they must make their best endeavor to
embody in hat they do and say and
are the best things in the United states.
The Only Real Test.
1T does not do to talk too much
about ones self, and l do not think that
1t is wholesome for the United States to
talk too much about itself. / do not
want to know what you are today 50
much as | want to know what you are
going to do tomorrow. The only test |
know of that is competent to determine
what you are is the test of what YOU
do. Let us not think of our characters:
let us think of our duties and of the
actions that lie before US. / have al
ways maintained that the man who lives
to cultivate his own character will re-
qn1f only in Culfiya ting intnlnra
prig. because his object will be himself.
Character, my friends, is a by-product.
1t is produced in the great manufac ture
Of daily duty. But duty Is not easy TO
determine. Duty for a nation is made
up Of so many complicated elements
that no man can determine il. No group
Of men without wide common counsel
can possibly determine what the duty
Of the day is.
That is the strength of a democ-
racy. because there daily arises in the
great body of democracy the express
sion of an untrammeled opinion which
seems to fill the air with it's suGGes.
lions of duty: and those who stand
at the head of affairs have it as their
bounden duty to endeavor to express
in their own actions those things that
seem to rise out of the conscience and
hope and purpose of the great body
of the people themselves.
America. / have said. was reborn
by the struggle of the civil war, but
America is reborn every day of nsr
life by the purposes We form, the con-
captions we entertain, the hopes that
we cherish. We live in our visions
We live in the things that we see
We live. and hope abounds in us as
we live in the things we purpose. lie,
US go away from this place renewed
in our devotion to daily duty and to
those ideals which keep nation
young. keep 1T noble. keep il rich in
enterprise and achievements; make it to