Connecticut western news., 1916-06-08
DISREGARDING THE DAY.


 timely editorial lecture to the people wAe could find time for anything else s8R Memorial Day except even the smallest attention to the purposes for which the day was originally set part. We infer from the conclusion of the editorial utterance that there was a general popular "observance" of the day, in New Milford, as elsewhere.
 -"Could we uot,' says Editor
 Seiple, flor one brief hour give up
 our picnic plans, our automobile
 outings, our dealings in the mar
 axet place? Could not those of us
 wflo feel that no holiday is con-
 plete without a few drinks, defer
 our drinking until later hour?
 Nh fact, could we not we'll afford
 ito let everything else go for an
 hoEr and gather, not ill scores but
 ln massed hundreds, to prove by
 actual doing that we feel and real
 ize the significance of all occasion
 50 peculiarly sanctified by remem
 brance of heroic sacrifices and
 great deeds for country's sake?
 Eriends, do not those of us who
 neglected to take part in Tuesdays
 ceremonial make a rather sorry ap-
 pearance ill our own eyes-now
 that we come to think it over ?''
 New Milford is probably no more delinquent in this respect than other towns, where Memorial Day has been appropriated by the. people generally as a festive holiday, conveying license fer all manner of sports and recrea- IS no objection to the people enjoying themselves on Memorial Day-their opportunities for enjoyment are none tSo plentiful, goodness knows. The Iamentable feature is the tendency to disregard entirely the chief object of 4sae day-the honoring of the dead soldiers and co operating with the sur viving ones in paying tribute to their znemory.
 It was gratifying, here in Canaan, to 4fear the veterans comment. with ex. glrassions of deep and sincere satisfac- 4iocn, On the fact that there seemed to be more general disposition than usual on the part of the townspeople, to manifest an active and sympathetic interest ill the Memorial Day cere- monies It is to be hoped this disposi- Ghsn will intensity rather than dimin. 1sa1; and it should intensity as the ranks of the survivors grow thinner.
 1he ranks are thinning at an appall ing rate. More than IA, ,OOO members .9s< the Grand Army of the Republic eaaad within the last year; and the GfeAth. rate. in proportion to member ship, is bound to be annually greater Gdurlng the few remaining years before 4aae last survivor is laid to rest "beneatf Gilat low green tent whose curtain Hlever outward swings''
 We still have privilege which tht H,ext generation will not enjoy-th' Ea-ivilege of mingling with, and being of assistance and comfort to men wht actually fought in the great wal whicl snded more than a half-century ago And it would entail no sacrifice on tn part of any citizen to defer, for al 4acur, as the New Milford editor says @four automobile outings, our picnics &our dealings in the marhet-place, an our drinking" and gather together t rsiuow respect for our soldier dead an our seldiers living.
 1t is doubtless heedlessness rathe a;han willful disregard of the purpos 6o which the day is dedicated, that Ina so largely transformed it to a day c festivity and sport. The memory c afae heroic deeds of the "boys C "6a -765" will live, whether or not tn wazrpsse of Memorial Day is entirel Eost sight of. AS a Hartford Time editorial says:
 But whether few years from nov .Glnsre shall be parade and the decore eaon of graves and the formal recall i