Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-31

ORRIN NJ. PRICE.
Commander
80: - sd
to interfere with their operation upon |
the. American continent. And that |
challenge was answered by the New |
conscience. by Garrison and
Phillips. by Sumner and Lincoln, by
two and three quarter millions of
young men who eagerly donned the
blue, saying These things shall not
be-: Over three hundred and sixty
thousand Of those boys laid down their
lives in the sacred cause before the
war closed and are nearly all bnrie
in our national cemeteries. OF those
who survived the great majority has
now answered the last roll call. But
in all the years of our convers alton
and reading we have yet to hear of
one who regretted that he had a part
in that great conflict for human Tree
dom. The compensations that nave
come to the patriot who answered the
great challenge are sweet. He now
sees an undivided country an unalloy-
ed loyalty that knows neither north
nor south, a new patriotism. 4
AT Appomattox-
The Blue and the Gray came to-
gether one day
And this is how it came true
The boys in blue were gray with
dust
And the boys in gray were blue.
The Blue and the Gray are together
again
But not in the selfsame way.
The boys in gray are now true
blue
And the boys in blue are gray"
After this war had ended and the
period of reconstruction was well
under way we, as an American peo-
pie got to dreaming. We dreamed
that the last great war had been
fought. 1t was freely predicted by
statesmen, scientists and preachers
that never again would this world be
shaken by the shocks Of war; that
war had become too deadly. that hos
tile armies would annihilate each 9TH
er while they were yet miles apart.
We settled down to a Self-complacent
security that seemed never to be dis
turbed. But in '98 another. challenge
| came to us that the manhood of the
nation could not ignore. 1t was the
challenge Of tyranny exercised by
/ Spain over its helpless dependencies.
! 1t challenged our sense of right into
action and there followed over four
months war with Spain. Long enough
| to test the metal and valor Of the
! American soldier and sailor and prove
/ their undininished virility.
/ Again our sense of security doni-
mated very largely our national life
and our Individual opinions.as.We kept
on dreaming even for months after
Europe was weltering in blood and
! suffering the horrors of the most crue
and relentless war that ever blasted
/ the happiness of homes and the peace
of nations. The fiendish ingenuity
and insensate fury of humanities mos'
| brutal foe finally found our nerve cen
tres and awoke us to the worlds inc
vitable testing if the challenge Of
vanity, egotism, tyranny and crime
was not answered. The call cau=
! from those ordained to die in the
words of that heroic Canadian who
wrote the words of In Flanders
Fields
And the answer thrown back from
a hundred million hearts:9
| Rest We in peace. ye Flanders dead
The fight that We so bravely led
! We've taken up! And we will keel
1
| With each a cross to mark mis- ped,
i And peoples blowing overhead
Where once his own life blood ran red
/ So let your rest be sweet aud deep
In Flanders fields!
4 Fear not that We have died for naught
The torch We threw to US we caught
Ten million hands will hold il high,
And Freedoms light shall never die
We've learned T.. the lesson that v
taught
- In Flanders fieldsi
-Four millions of Americas fines
young manhood were mustered int
service in answer to that chal!e lS
; and that call They are the grandson
of your generation of whom yoI hav
no need to. be ashamed, for the,
fought with the same courage, til
same intelligence, the same dogge
determination that you hal and tina
YOU put into their blood. The Ar
come, the lieuse and Chateau Thior
, ~ are. eternal refutatiens of til
. charge that the. quality IF valo-- ht
:, degenerated in the American soldier
| This Memorial Day would be inconl
plete if We did not remember til
seventy thousand lads who went fraT
~
. turn L we cannot place a wreat
: upon their graves today we can g
least lift a prayer that the nome
made desolate may be conforted an
| that their sacrifice may not il-4ze fc7
: in vain "
And nov we arc facing row cilal
q lenge the answer to Which we trus
2 will not result in an appeal u ann
: 1t is the challenge OF a World pein
G reborn. world that is impoverishe
sorrowing and pessimistic. 1t is tt
n | challenge of the submerged, the e2
+ plotted, the cruelty treated. AS a ne
. ton we have moved into new plac
: We can no longer IS by on II
g other side while bIe,tNIIfg hands al
d lifted to US in surplication. The. cha
: lenge must lie answered by all the re
g sources of a nation rich in materi
: prosperity. rich in educational II
Il sources, rich. in men and women
: large vision and of great heart. v
: would not be true to the heritage
l. liberty purchased by the blood of OF
e (Continued on PAGE Seyen)