Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-05-31
At Penney Memorial Church


program rendered was as follows:
Invocation, Rev. w. L. Wood
Paraphrase of Plegers Hymn.
Augusta Cadet Band
| Reading of orders and Lincoln's Getlys..
burg Address, Adjutant McDavid
Poem. Judge G. T. Stevens
| ''Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp
ground, Augusta Cadet Bind
Grafton, Rev. +. S. Philbrook
"America, Band and Audience
Benediction, Rev. w. J. Layton
Rev. f. :. Philbrook of the Winthrop
Street Baptist church, who delivered
the Grafton, spoke in part as follows,
his subject being Our Country's
| CaH."
| Every nation has its great memo
rails. Crices, dcliverances and victories
are signalized BY fitting ceremonies
upon state occasions. Thus the coun-
| try's noble dead are honored and the
, memory of their distinguished deeds
| is kept green in the hearts of the liv-
| ing. Such occasions also furnish in
| struction for the young Of the land and
| feed the fires of patriotism in the
| breasts Of older citizens. The great
purpose of Memorial day is to com
memorate the delivcrance of this ma
! ton from the curse of slavery and the
| danger of disruption. and to do honor
to the men dead and living, who fought
| for freedom and union. A full half
century has rolled by and more, but
the soldiers of the Union who respond
| cd to Tic countryS call must not and
cannot be forgotten. We are enjoying
| the fruits Of their sacrifice in a nation
/ purified by fire. enriched by blood and
| destined to lead the world.
! The period since the Civil War has
been, undoubtedly, the most marvellous
| half-centGrv in the whole course of
human history. The surviving men of
| tho Grand Army of the Republic have
seen the nation increase in popula ton
from thirty-three millions to one hun
dred and three millions. They have
seen territory added to the United
states as great, approximately, as the
whole Of England. France. Germany
ard Austria. They have seen this
, country become a world power of first
magnitude. A thousand discoveries and
appliances change the course and tenor
Of human life. Electrical Instruments
have become at once the marvel and
the necessity of the age In the enei-
neering Of war the machine gun has
supplantcd the musket. The super
dreadnaught has been evolved from
1.-THE cheese box on a raft" The sub
marine, capable of submerging in a
minute and crossing the Atlantic in a
few days, is a new species from Simon
Lakes metal fish" The flying ma
chine exceeds in power and speed and
distance Of fight the widest dreams
Of Darius Green.
In moral and civic reform the out
standing feature Of the half century
has been the great movement toward
Temperance and the abolition of the
drink traffic. of 80 states and terrific
rieS, y are row or soon will be. under
the white banner of prohibition. and
nearly all the rest are getting more or
less dry" The water wagon has be-
come powerful and speedy automo-
bile and it is going now faster than
ever before. King alcohol has been I'M
masked and revealed as q demon He is
being Gethroned. May he go with the
Gar of Russia and the Emperor of
Germany to that place of infamy and
powerlossness where all three belong.
our "ountryS iCudeSt call at this mo-
ment IS not for money or for men, but
for the abolition of the wasteful and
destructive curse of strong drink
Another crisis has come to this ma
ton, with even more far-reaching re-
suits IN prospect. 1t is possible that
we are now standing upon the water
shed Of human history Since the birth
of Christ there have been few events
comparable in Importance with those
winch arc now transporting. The free
dom of the world is at stake. The
mighty test is on, whether democracy
or military autocracy shall rule the
planet. The destiny of the human
race is being decided.
The present demand is emphasized
by awful wrongs and hideous atroci-
ties upon land and sea and under the
sea and in the air. Earth and sea and
sky are crying out for vengeance and
for the vindication of right against
might. Savages in Africa use bows
and poisoned arrows while savages in
Europe use machine guns and poison
gas and liquid fire and Zeppelins. Bel
gian slaves are butchered without
cause. women are outraged. the hands
of children are cut off and little babies
are spiked with bayonets to their
mothers breasts. Nurses are shot. A
mother sees her daughter fall before
she receives the fatal bullets of the
firing squad. Babies float as lifeless
corpses upon the ocean while Ger
many declares a holiday that their
children may sing the praises of the
brutal pirate who launched the tor
pedo. The Red Cross is the target for
Teuton rifles and the hospital ship is
especially hunted by the buccaneers of
the under sea. No cruelty is too out
rageous, no sin against humanity too
enormous for these opponents of "kul-
I tur' to indulge. And this orgy of bru-
tally is not the outbreakings of undis-
ciplined soldiery but a policy of or
ganized terrorism.
our country's call todae Is made
powerful by impending CANCERS. There
are reasons to believe that the German
leaders have, from the first. planned
an attack upon America, believing that
this nation would prove an easy prey
for Prussia. Germany now stands be-
fore the world unmasked. The con-
quest of middle Europe" and the alb
sorption of the Turkish Empire were
to be stepping stones to the disruption