The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1916-06-01

one great tabernacle-the taber-
nacle of Gods building, the only
one that would hold the throng-
the blue sky of heaven. and have
before he the people of America
and talk to them.
what does it mean - these
professions, these gatherings.
these demonstrations, this cast
ing of flowers on the graves of
soldiers, these speeches along pa
triotic lines? Are the people seek
ing relaxation or entertainment?
No, they are too busy with their
own affairs for that. No. it means
that after all these years the
heart of the people still throbe
with appreciation of a duty we'll
done at a time of crisis in our
national life. ID means that The
people of a great country realize
thai words have not the power to
express their gratitude to the
living and the dead of that body
of men who. at the call of colln-
try, exchanged the comfort and
contenlmcnt of the farm and the
factory, and the ircsidc of the
home for the fields of Gettysburg,
Antietam. Bull Run and The Wild
erness, and became actors in
those scenes We lately saw de-
spictcd and re-enacted on the
screens of this. theatre. who sur
rendered home and family. even
life itself, that they might be par
Elephants i'm the vcritable Birth
of IL Nation" II means a full real
ization of the fact that the pos
sihility Of words to glorify and
tell of the patriotism of these men
was exhausted when they them
selves answered "present" at the
call of the country's roll.
ut means i'm a large way the
same thing that it means when
strong men cross a continent to
sit alone al a mothers grave, or
when a mother brushes away the
dust of years from the attic chest,
smoothc out old musty garments
and fondly handles a baby's shoe.
| cannot tell what such things
mean. because they are not ex-
pressed in terms of words. That
is why we resort to acts and deeds
ut means also that we want to
assure ourselves that we have not
forgotten. To forget is so easy. TO
rcmbmher. so hard. 4 JohnstOwn
is swept away in Pennsylvania,
carrying {" death 10000 people,
and we now dispute with each
other whether ii was 10000 or
200. 4 tidal wave sweeps over
Galveston and carries thousands
hack To death i'm the Gulf. \ wave
of horror spreads over the coun-
try and subsidies as quickly as the
tide, and we listlessly speculate
with each other how many years
ago it was, whether seven or
twelve. \ San Francisco, with its
thousands of lives is destroyed by
earthquake, and we have forgot
ten whether it was before or after
1908. We woke up and shuddercd
one morning a few years ago
when we read of the burning of a
school house with as many child
rem as are here in this building
today. Yet, we have forgotten
whether il was i'm New York or
Ohio. and if it is mentioned we
don't remember whether the talk
nf rebuilding our own school so
the doors would open outward was
put into effect or not. Verify, we
arc a nation of forgetters. But the
kin and the ncighbors of these
little ones sacrificed on the altar
;of carclessness have not forgot
ten. and so in this larger matter
we. as a nation. have not forgot
ten. Gettysburg was not local but
impressed itself on every COM
nunity. and our memory pro-
claims that all the country is kin
Last of all this great spectacle
of the country gathered as we are
reviewing it in Imagination PRO
claims the fact that we are not
unmindful of our duty as set forth
by Lincoln in his Gettysburg adj
dress where he said:
> "Our continuing appreciation
prOclaimS the fact as nothing else
could Of our >teadfastnesS of pur-
pose to apply ourselves as far as
may he necessary to the task of
seeing that the Government of