New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-22
1.-The Spirit of Concord


an audience which was as wide as the
nation. the Spirit of Concord was COM
pretended in the will and the inspiration
Of the men who went down TO the Old
North Bridge on the morning Of April 10.
1915. and carried on the work that had
been begun on Lexington Common a few
hours before. But this Is only small
part of what the Spirit Of Concord really
means.
Eighteen years ago next May there
passed through the streets of Concord vii
lage a procession forever memorable to
all who saw it, In column of fours
cighty-one Of the young men of the vii
lage, only the officers over thirty, a ma
ioritv of all below twenty, the Concord
company marched. answering President
McKinley's call to the Spanish-American
War.
On either side of the column there
marched in single file line of old men.
the guard of honor. Some still kept step
and moved with mistaken vigor, but the
majority showed increasingly the burden
Of age and intirmity as the column moved
through the village. This guard of honor
was made up Of the surviving veterans OF
the Civil War.
In the company that was answering
the Presidents call there were boys whose
fathers or grandfathers had marched in
the same company in 1861. There were
also bows whose grandfathers' grand
fathers had stood at the Old North Bridge
or on Lexington Common on the April
morning nearly a century and quarter
before, when all our American history
began.
~ the railroad station the two lines
halted and then, between the lines OF old
men, standing uncovered. the company
nassed on to the waiting train For those
bows who were going the spirit Of advent
IRE which is youth struggled with the
sense of grief at parting, yet high courage
and firm resolve were revealed IN every
face.
But for the old men the moment
was harder. They had made their own
offering TO their country in the days OF
their youth Now they were sending those
perils they well knew and to sufferings
which were written in their own memory.
Yet for old men as for young there was
not the smallest sign Of regret-of falter-
D ing. This was the spirit of Concord In
ID 1898
= Worth remembering. perhaps, are the
words of Corporal Ralph ?. Iosmer, OF
that Concord company. His twenty years
of life had been spent in the village; fifty
miles perhaps measure the distance he
had travelled from home before. And
when the company went south, and the
Journey included some hours Of beauti-
ful spring day along the Hudson, he sat
looking spellbound upon the hills and
river. upon the things which have become
so familiar and meaningless for most OF
lis. At last he turned, with an enthu-
siasm he could no longer restrain, and said
10 a comrade. "Who would not be willing
10 die for a country as beautiful as this"
And he did die for it, far off among the
mountains Of Porto Rico.
Equally worth recalling. perhaps, Is the
ovample of Private Carl Hart of the same
company. He was sixteen, a pupil in the
high school when the second call came
and there was need of more Concord boys
20 bring the company to the new war
strength Il should GO he told his
schoolmates, because am big and strong
even if / am young" He also gave his
life in the fever swamps Of Utuado.
If one would know the spirit of Con
cord let him go to that village on Decora-
ton Day. In Sleepy Hollow Cemetery,
where are buried so many whose names
live in American literature, he will find
the pleasant hillside bright with the flags
that beautiful custom prescrlpes shar
mark the graves of those who have served
in war.
Row on row climbing the curving slopes
he will see the family lots bearing the
names so familiar in the simple and not
wholly insignificant history of the village,
and. almost as on parade, ne will see the
flags aligned. in some plots several and in
few none.
Rut such a visitor will see still more.
In the broad avenue at the foot OF the
hills. following the guns used in saluting,
guns themselves captured in a far-off
French and Indian war TO which Concord
sent a quota, he will see new Concord
company. new gathering of young men,
not alone acting as a guard Of honor TO the
surviving veterans Of two wars, but pre-
pairing for that service which may in turn
be asked of them.
The Spirit of Concord is not merely a
glorious memory-it is living fact. OF
five generations that separate April. 1915,
from May, 1898, three have marched. From
father TO soy .here has been handed down