Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-05-31
MEMORIAL SERVICES
OBSERVED YESTERDAY
Beautiful Weather Prevailed and the
Memorial Services Were All
Carried Out According TO
the Program Ar
ranged.
ATTY. T.. j. HOOK
DELIVERED PATRIOTIC ADDRESS
Memorial Sunday Was Observed With
Union Program at Grand.
DIR. Willett Gave the
Address.

Memorial day dawned bright and
clear yesterday, and an unusually
fine program was carried out in hon
or Of our soldier and sailor dead. A
fine parade was held in the forenoon
One of the features of the parade was
the long procession of little school
children, numbering perhaps 500,
The parade was headed by the Mer-
chants Band. Comrade L. l.. Cad
we'll was the officer of the day and
led the parade riding a horse and
we must say, for a veteran who nas
passed his eightieth birthday Com
rade Caldwell showed up like a young
general, and handled his mount ID
directed the parade in a most cap
able manner.
The procession marched to the West
Decorah bridge, where flowers were
strewn upon the waters in honor OF
our sailor dead. On the return, menl-
orial exercises were held at the
Grand. Prayer was offered by Dr..
&. s. Lakeland, and Comrade Cad
well read the memorial day orders,
and Supt. of schools Eva Nj. Fleming
gave the reading of Lincoln's Gettys-
burg address. Mr.. Caldwell then
gave the roll call of the dead, which
was followed by song by Misses
Alice Daniels and Miss Jennie Ed.
monds. The orator of the day, Atty
E. j. Hook, then delivered an in.
spring address which was listened
to attentively by all. and below we
print mis- address in full:
'@sIn accordance with a beautiful
custom begun by the wolsl and
children OF Columbus, Miss. about
two years after the close Of the Civil
War, of strewing flowers upon the
graves Of fallen so,diers--both Tn
ion and Confederate, buried i'll their
cemetery, and PEI iretuateH by Gen
eral Order of john y. Logan, in 1GCS
the Republic, we are assembled here
To-Day to pay this lri1ntr of respect
to the soldiers cal sailors of the
Union Army, and - revive the mem
or. OF their sacrifices and achieve
n,ents in preserving the integrity OF
the United States.
There are mingml emotions of sad
ness and OF Joy On tins occasion
There is sadness whe we look pIcn
the bent forms, the silvered lair, the
dimmed eyes All faltering step CT
these veterans, VIII, in response to
their country's CAL, H. the awful
days of 1862, marcnCl forth, in the
vigor of their yoith, with elastic
step, erect for, clel- eye, and with
high endeavor as their incentive, to
prove to the worl!, and especially Il
the Southern Consederacy, that this
Union was not rope of sand-a mer.
compact among The states To be bro
ken with contumeiy at the pleasure CT
each individual state.
There is sadness when mark the
thinned ranks Of ,E.; me ii Imphaal
Army in Blue; whal we realize how
the merciless hand OF time has pluck
ed from among ire heroic sIryiV ors
of that great conflict so many of the
old comrades in arms; when we know
only too well, thas in the space Of a
few brief years, ia, remnant IF that
once magnificent army IF one and a
half millions, wti.h marched tU TIE
front, endured the pr,ra.ichs of sol
dier life,-the heat Cf t--. so'llerr
sun, the pestilential fumes from
southern prisons worse than death
must, all too soon. be gathered with
;aeir beloved comfi;.eS INTO .he silent
city of the dead.
Then too, there is sadness when
we remember that thousands of the
noble boys in blue" the flower o.
the youth of the North, met untime-
ly death in the feat of battle, or in
hospitals, in Andersonville, or in
Libby Prison, and were not permitted
to join in the songs Of victory, at the
Grand Review, nor to hear the paeans
of praise from the throats of the
four million human souls who had
been transformed from beasts of the
fields into fellowIbeings in the sight
of mankind as well as of God, as the
fruits or that victory, ach1eVed al
such immeasuratle cost.
There is sadness when we contem-
Plate the millions who suffered that
this Nation, under God, might have
new birth, and that the truths oil
the immortal Declaration of Indepen-
dence might be fulfilled in that men
were TO be, indeed, free, and equal
TO enjoy the inalle nable rights OF life
liberty and the II rsuit of happiness
there is sadness when we remember
the thousands OF widowed mothers
and orphaned children, and bereft
sweethearts. who bade their sol iieI
lads farewell-yes, last farewell
and who, in honor of their memory
join with us today in this national
Memorial as the only solace to their
aching hearts.