The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1916-06-01
A Rainy Memorial Day.

Ht
illness.
A Rainy Memorial Day.
The weather conditions tuesday were a Bit
ter disappointment to the members of Thomas
! H. Marshall Post, G. A. R., who had made un-
usual preparations for fitting observance Of
the day. to their allied bodies, and to all inter-
ested in the Memorial exercises. In the morn
ing the sky was overcast and threatening, but
the committees in charge of decorating the
graves of the departed comrades in the city
cemeteries had finished their work before the
rain came. The mound to the unknown dead
in the G. A. R, lot at Grove cemetery was
never SO beautiful, as flowers are abundant
this spring and everyone was liberal with
them. The floral decorations on the great ma
jority of the graves were unusually fine. The
exercises at the G. A. R. lot were omitted on
account of the heavy rain at the appointed
hour. The march to the Lover bridge to scat
ter flowers .on the water in honor of the sail
or dead left Memorial hall at 10.l5 with J.
Harvey Stinson, marshal of the day, leading 10
veterans; body from the Sons of Veterans
under command of Fred A. Seward; the Boy
Scouts in charge of Frank Downes; Mrs. Net
tie M. Merrithew. chaplain of the Circle, with
the boys from the lower grades of the city
schools, and Mrs. Dora ]. Bridges, patriotic in
structor, with the girls. At the bridge they
were met by Mrs. Augusta Fletcher. president
of the Circle, Mrs. Belle Nickerson, patriotic
instructor. and Mrs. Emma Brown. chaplain
of Emma White Barker Tent, D. Of ", with
the school children of East Belfast--about 100
in ALL After brief prayer by the chaplain of
the Circle, flowers were scattered on the water
and the exercises closed with singing Nearer
My God to Thee" About this time the rain
came down in torrents and all hurried to their
homes, but one of the most impressive exer
cises of the day had been well done. The
street parade was given up on account of the
rain.
At p. m. the Belfast Band, the Post and its
allied bodies, met at Memorial Hall and march
ed to the Opera House. where there was large
attendance despite the heavy shower at this
time The band rendered the following selec-
tions very effectively under the direction of
their leader j. Lee Patterson: 1.-THE Old Friend"
and "Recollections of the War;" beautifully
arranged medley of old-time war songs. The
Assembly and Taps were by E. C. lockwood, a
member of the Band. Mayor William K. Keene
was greeted with applause he stepped for
ward to say few words of greeting for the
city government, in which he voiced his re-
spect for the G. A R. and expressed his ap-
probation of what they had done in our Civil
War for right and liberty. The applause which
greeted his patriotic sentiments showed that
he had pleased the G. A. R. and the audience.
The Gettysburg Address and the reading of
the General Orders were delivered from MEM
ory by Adjutant Thomas Cannon and were an
impressive p,rt of the program. MIR. Cannon
also read the roll of honor, which included the
following comrades who had died in the past
year; James Pattee of Belfast, William P.
Smith of Waldo, Silas S. Beckwith of North
Belfast, Charles T. Knight of Northport,
Wilder S. Grant of Northport, Thomas H.
Smalley of Northport. The Memorial Day
Flower Drill by children of the Mcclellan
school. and Old Glory by children of the Peirce
school, were prettily given, but several children
were absent on account of the storm. The
address of welcome by Capt. John w. Fergu-
son, Commander of the Post, was brief but
full of loyalty and good will. The prayer of
the order was repeated by Capt. George T..
Osborne. The vocal selections, with Miss Amy
E. Stoddard, pianist, were received with ap-
plause and all we're encored They included
solos by Arthur N. Johnson; ladies' quartet,
Mrs. E. P. Frost, Mrs. Thomas E. Bowker,
Miss Carolyn G. Hatch, Mrs. E. S. Pitcher; the
Mcleod Sisters quartet; the male quartet
Messrs. johnson, Charles and Selden Ham
mons and J. A. McMahan; solos by George E
White, the audience joining in the chorus;
mixed quartet, Mrs. Pitcher, Miss Hatch. Mr..
johnson and Mr.. McMahan, and America by
the audience.
The Memorial address by Rev. Arthur E.
Wilson, pastor of the Unitarian church, was a
delight to the Post and the audience and it
was regretted that so many of the Comrades
and of the townspeople should have been kept
at home by the storm and deprived of the
pleasure of hearing it. Mr.. Wilson spoke on
the general subject of War and Peace. He
likened Memorial Day, springing out of war
and ending in peacefully decorating graves of
soldiers. to the way war and peace shall one
day merge together. We thought the day of
universal peace was dawning; that we were in
a constructive rather than a destructive age
Now we find ourselves still in the war stage
brought about by the terrible conflict in
Europe. What shall we do? Shall we let go
our principles that we free and self
governing race because we hold to ideal peace,
because we think it unmanly to fight, because
it is I'M Christian to meet force with force?
God forbid! Life is not worth living unless it
be to serve and to be willing to sacrifice our
selves on the altar of true patriotism. A man
who dares to help his country, to stand for
what he knows to be right, is patriot. You
men of the G. A. R. stood for what was right
over half century ago. You saw the South
prepare for war and strike the first blow, that
found the North unprepared. Had Washing
ton in his time cried, "Let US have no war;
would our material, intellectual and spiritual
rrogress have been 80 great as it is today?
The pacifists of that day were tories. They
did not make our history glorious Lincoln
wished for peace, but when with precipitate
action the South sought to disrupt our coun-
try that Lincoln was under oath to preserve,
protect and defend. he had no other course