The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-05-31

| live again with you those early days
of dire disaster and of fell defeat
those dreary nights of hopelessness,
disbursement, despair. We trace
with you once more those weary
marches and heartbreaking retreats.
Then amid the red devastation of bat
tie, charging, advancing, dyeing every
foot of ground with the crimson flow
of life, waging war like demi- gods up
on a thousand fields, amid the
screening. hurting hell Of death.
We find you in the fever tainted
camps and swamps where hunger
and disease were hosts; in prison
en-. And after four long years of
conflict and Of strife, with all its des-
olation and it's dearth, victory and
peace again. From Sumpter down
to Appomattox court house, one long,
/ weary highway Of war, beaten, blood
stained, bone-bestrewn, down which
the armies Of the union struggled
inch by inch, because they loved that
union better than their lives. All,
heroes of Donnelson and Vicksburg,
the Wilderness, Atlanta, Gettysburg.
and all those other countless fields Of
glory and OF suffering and Of death!
A generation has passed since then,
but in the grateful hearts of your
countrymen, your valor and your
deeds live on Time touches them
and leaves them FURNISHED with
glow of gold Until the end of all,
when the scroll of nations is rolled
up and clasped forever, the heritage
allied sacrifice, in ardent patriotism,
in the deathless valor of the heart
and quenchless bravery Of the hand,
paen of prophetic hope, will vibrate
down the corridors Of history like the
quivering melody Of the martial
music of your own flies and drums
that still call to you and to your sons,
though the instruments themselves
have long, long ago, been stilled and
stacked and grounded in the biviouc
of our heroic dead.
Americas Thanks Giving.
. The men and the nations who
fight for freedom and justice, who
fight for the great doctrines Of the
opening sentences of the Declaration
of Independence, are the men and
nations who will live in the unfor-
getting memory of mankind. And
America meets today in annual
thanksgiving to those deathless dead
who in their simple and heroic faith
laid down their lives upon the altar
of their country's honor. The flow
ers that we reverently place upon
our sleeping soldiers sepulchers
merely typify the deep and lasting
gratitude that the dead engenders.
For If the flowers Of the soul could
be seen as are the flowers OF the
4 80 low
be laid bare In all their beauty and
their fragrance. as are the blossoms
of the hillside and the dale, with
what a blessed inspiration we would
feel this day. Soon we would behold
floating up to heaven upon the glad,
triumphant wings of morning, forth
from a land the noblest sun has ever
shown upon, from the maddene,.
strife and turmoil Of the city even TO
the tranquil, solitary paths of hus- !
bandry and peace, the prayers OF !
faith and memory and gratitude, from
overlooking souls and love unfathom- /
ed, that today ascend the sky unseen |
by earthly eye. /
Words that the human tongue can
utter, flash for a moment, flicker
and are lost in sodden ashes; monu- ,
ments of stone and tablets Of brass
outlive the few, pathetic days of man
but molder in forsaken ruins in the
end; acts-deeds-the only. shine
and live for all time. Therefore,
when we assemble for the purpose OF
this day, we bestow upon these dead !
no honor, that is not already theirs;
rather do we find and take with US
lessons for our own lives. teachings
in the sanctity OF sacrifice, the divin-
ity- of martyrdom, the godliness of
patriotism.
They need
No statue or inscription to reveal
Their greatness. 1t is round them
and the joy
With which their children tread the
hallowed ground
That holds their venerated bones,
the peace
That smiles on all they fought for,
and the wealth
That clothes the land they rescued
these, though mute,
As feeling ever Is when deepest
these
Are monuments more lasting than
the fanes,
Reared to the kings and demi-gods of
old"
Look at Traditions.
Men, especially young men, look
back for their inspirations to what.
Is ,ohIest in their traditions Their