The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-05-25

We are fortunate that we behold this
day. The heavens bend benignly over
us; the earth blossoms with renewed
lie: and our hearts beat joyfully to-
gether with one emotion Of filial graft
tude and patriotic exultation. Citizens
OF q great, free and prosperous coun-
try, we come hither to honor the men.
our fathers, who, upon this spot and
upon this day, q hundred years ago,
struck the first blow in the contest
winch made that country independent.
Here, beneath the hills they trod, by
the peaceful river on whose shores they
dwelt, amidst the fields that they sowed
ana reaped, proudly recalling their
virtue and their valor, we come to tell
their story, to try ourselves by their
Io1ty standard to know IL we are their
worthy children; and, standing rever-
ently where they stood and fought and
died, to swear before God and each
other In the words Of him upon whom
In our day the spirit of the revolution
airy fathers visibly descended, that
government OF the people, by the
people, for the people, shall not perish
from the earth.
This ancient town, with its neigh
pors who share its glory, has never
Ialleo TO htly commemorate this great
day OF its history. Fifty years ago,
Whlle some soldiers of the Concord
ngnt were yet living; rs years ago,
Whlle still few venerable survivors
nngered-with prayer and eloquence
and song. you renewed the pious VOW.
BUT the last living link with the revo-
luton has long been broken. Great
events and mightier struggle have
ABSORBED our own generation. Yet, we
who stand here today have a sympathy
with the men at the old North Bridge,
which those who preceded us here at
carrier celebrations could not know.
win them war was name and a ira
ultlon. SO swift and vast had been
the change, and the development of
the country, that the revolutionary
clash or arms was already vague and
unreal, and Concord and Lexington
seemed to them almost as remote and
historic as Arbela and Sempach. When
they assembled to celebrate this day,
tney saw a little group Of tottering
forms, eyes, from which the light was
fading, arms nerveless and withered,
thin white hairs that fiuttered In the
wind; they saw a few venerable relics
OF a vanished age, whose pride was
that- before living memory, they had
been minute men Of American indie
pendence. But with us how changed /!
war Is no longer a tradition, half ro-
mantle and obscure. It has rayaped
how many Of our homes! It has wrune
now many OF the hearts before me!
North and south, we know the pang.
our common liberty is consecrated by
common sorrow. We do not count
around us few feeble veterans of the
contest; but we are grit with a cloud
o. witnesses. We are surrounded every
where by multitudes in the vigor of
their prime. Behold them here today
sharing in these pious and peaceful
rites, the honored citizens, LEGISLATORS,
magistrates-yes, the chief magistratr
or the republic-whose glory 1t Is that
they were minute men Of American
liberty and union. These men of to-
day interpret to US with resistless elo-
quence the men and the times we com
memorials. Now, If never before, we
understand the revolution. Now we
know the secret of those old hearts and
homes.
No royal governor, indeed sits in
yon stately capital; no hostile feet for
many year has veXed the waters of
our coasts; nor is any army but our
own ever likely to tread our soil. Not
such are our enemies today. They do
not come proudly stepping to the drum
beat, with bayonets flashing in the
morning sun. But wherever party
spirit shall strain the ancient guaran-
lees OF freedom; or bigotry and ignor-
ance shall lay their fatal hands upon
education, or the arrogance Of caste
shall strike at equal rights, or corrup-
ton shall poison the very springs OF
national life, there, minute men of
liberty, are your Lexington Green and
Concord Bridge; and as you love your
country and your kind, and would have
your children rise up and call YOU
blessed, spare not the enemy! Over
the hills, out of the earth, down from
the clouds, pour in resistless might
Fire from every rock and tree, from
door and window, from hearthstone
and chamber; hang upon his flank and
rear from morn to sunset, and so
through land blazing with holy in
dignation, hurl the hordes of ignor-
ance and corruption and injustice back
back, in utter defeat and ruin.
George William Curtis.