The Holly chieftain., 1915-05-28


ment that the blood of the fallen
contributed to the nation and to the
world. Freedom unfurle her banner
once more, and this time it was over
the CORY fields of fratricidal warfare;
this time it was not to the trumpeting
of declaration of independence, but
to the sonorous sound of the procla-
nation of freedom for the servile
classes Of the population The South
was freed from its trammels and
blossomed out as the section of the
country most. American and endowed
with the greatest wealth of unrealized
resources. The country blossomed
out in the new power and influence of
union indissoluble, of house no
longer divided against itself The
world paid tribute to the heroes of
battlefields as sacred as any OF those
which, in Holy Writ, set forth the
epochs in the progress of mankind in
the theocracies of the past. Freedom
had given 1t new content and civili-
zation had bestowed upon it a new
dignity, and life, and valor were given
fresh glory in the tremendous strug-
gle which is commemorated on Deco
ration day-the day of solemn hush,
yet Of glorious recollection, the day
when the tears of sad recollection are
shot through with the rainbows OF
perennial rejoicing.
The commission of liberty cannot
be laid aside, even if the nation that
has set up the standard of freedom
for mankind could discharge its obli-
cations to the world otherwise.
Wherever there are oppressed there.
is felt the magnet of the influence of
American freedom; and SO from the
serf-afflicted land of Russia, from the
life-burdened lands of Europe, come
the slaves of oppression and of harsh
discrimination, the subjects of the
curse Of inequality, that they may
join in the song Of those redeemed
from such conditions or those whose
birthright it is to enjoy life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. No
wonder that the country Is virtually
at pause as the observation of the
sacred day Of reverence for the ma
tion's slain uplifts to the view OF
mankind the dignity and power Of
ideals that are woven into the life
and character Of a free people, No
wonder that from the highest to the
lowliest the officers of state and the
citizens pay tribute to the men who
remade the nation. Animosity, re-
sentiment, schism are all in the past
and united people rejoice in the out
come of fiercely dividing struggle.
To the world of today, this great
tragedy of half century ago is but
tradition and not living memory, but
| the passing years can never efface
that record from the very souls of
those who went through that fiery
furnace in the great struggle for the
nations life with it's frightful toll of
precious young lives sacrificed to the
Moloch of one of the worlds greatest
wars. Costly indeed was the price with
which the dawning peace was bought:
Fourteen thousand men killed and
wounded at Shiloh; $4,000 went down
at Chickahominy; $4,000 at Antietam,
and $4,000 more at fredericksburg;
1900 killed or crippled at Chancel-
lorsville; $4,000 lives sacrificed on the
field at Gettysburg; $4,000 at Chicka-
mauga; $4,000 at Spottsylvania. while
1900 fell in the Battle of the Wilder
ness
In those four years of blood and
carnage, $4,000 men perished by the
bullet, 1S6,U00 by disease, and $4,000
died from other causes-a total of