Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-10-15
DIR. POOLE IS
SPEAKER AT /:
MEMORIAL
Norwich University HOnOrs
Its Dead Heroes at Gen.
tennial Exercises

Sunday was Memorial Day at
Norwich University. The Memorial
address was given by the Rev. DR..
Francis A. Poole of the South Con-
|gregational church, St. Johnsbury.
Before the memorial services the cad
cts paraded to the graves of Norwich
men and decorated them.
The Memorial Service was under
the direction of the Rev. James B.
Sargent, University Chaplain. The
program included Call to Worship,
Responsive Reading ending with the
Lords Prayer, an anthem, Scripture
Reading, Prayer by the University
Chaplain, hymn, the Memorial Ad-
dress, hymn and the benediction.
A part of DR.. Poole's address is:
"A memorial service may be a
sacrament, or again, it may be sham.
1t may be a sign of reverence and de-
votion, leading to the acknowledge
ment of debt, resulting in honest
dedication to cause. Or it may be
the easy, formal expression Of vapid
sentiment, to be forgotten in a trice,
with no lasting impression on char
acter and no worthy effect on human
action.
abraham Lincoln believed in the
former kind. His words spoken at
Gettysburg a generation ago may be
with little adaptation, to
this occasion. "It is for us, the liv-
ing, to be here dedicated to the un-
finished work which they fought in
the great war have so nobly advance
ed; it is for US rather to be here dedi-
Gated to the task remaining before
us, that from these honored dead we
take increased devotion to that cause,
for which they gave the last full
of devotion; that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall
not have died in vain"
81 assume that those who are re-
sponsible for this memorial service
agree with Lincoln. And on this as
speak
"In the early days of the war there
was much confusion as to what the
ssues were. But gradually these be-
came clear. They were defined in
political terms as, Autocracy versus
Democracy, in moral terms as, "Might
makes Right versus Right makes
Night"
"And when the issues became clear,
t also became exceeding clear that
America must enter it.
"Thc Norwich men played their
,art like heroes. The record of this
University in the great war, as in
'ther wars, has been a proud one. OF
wing Norwich men of military age,
3 and 4-1O per cent were enrolled in
ervite. Of living Norwich graduates
# military age IA and 4-1O per cent
nlisted. While of these 86 and 6-1O
er cent were commissioned as Off
ers. And we are met here this, day
n memorial service because thirteen
aliant Norwich men yielded up their
ives, gave their last full measure of
eviction.
1--WE have no doubt that our souls
ay tribute to these men, that we are
etermined to hold them in everlast-
lg remembrance. Then our course
clear. The greatest of Americans
oints the way. 1t is for US to dedi-
ate ourselves to the completion of
he unfinished work; it is for us to
ledge increased devotion to the
ause of democratic world for which
ley gave the last full measure of
eviction. To speak fervent words of
ibute while we do nothing to make
and moral right, the we'll
eing of humanity and the spirit of
ue religion dominant in the earth,
ould be about the meanest sham, the
west, foulest hypocrisy of which our
nd has ever been guilty.
"The heroism of the Norwich mar
rs, typical of all AMERICANS who
ught and fell, dedicates us, as we
ould be worthy of them, to Demo-
acy's unfinished task"