The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1920-11-13

DAY-REv. MICHAEL O'BRiEN
GAVE ADDRESS ON OUR SOL.
DER DEAD-MEMoRIAL TABLET
DEDICATED.
On Armistice night, November II,
the Minneapolis Council of
the K. C.'s dedicated a memorial
tablet to all it's members who were in
the recent war-whether as soldiers,
sailors or as K. G. Secretaries. The
exercises were held at the Curtis
Hotel. There was a banquet and pro-
gram.
Rev. Michael O'Brien gave the fol.
lowing address:
Father O'Brien's Address.
Every generation has made use of
bronze tablet, or sculptured figure, or
craven arch to keep alive che memory
of high effort or of striking deed. The
profession of arms, in particular, has
never failed to affect the imagination
and to crystalline upon the lips of men.
Wars of conquest, it is true, have
blanched the cheek of the victim be-
fore they redeemed the page of the
historian; but, on the other hand, the
struggles of national defence or of
altruistic chivalry have been the white
lights on a nations horizon to offset
the lurid and the crimson glow
The greatest of the Athenians, in
in his encomium on those who fell in
battle at Samos, likened them to the
immortal gods; ''for," said he, 1--WE do
not see the gods themselves, but only
by the honors we pay them and by the
benefits they do us, we attribute to
them immortality; and the like at.
tributes belong also to those who die
in the service of their country" To.
night, by our memorial service and
our memorial tablet, we render an
of our Hennepin-M Minneapolis Council
who fought in the service of their
country whether on the steep banks
of the Marine, the level fields of
Flanders Or among the tangled woods
of the Argonne. Civilians by calling
mostly, they became soldiers from
duty; and the tide of foreign war bore
them forward as champions or else
swept over them as martyrs.
Survivors and slain alike, we, who
for one reason or another were not
privileged to go to the front as you
were, "less, yet your brothers," salute
you with reverence and perpetuate
you with pride. And those men of you
who chung fast to the battle-zones and
were no mere camp-followers, those OF
shared the dangers of the bridge head
those of you whom the overseas sol
der recognized and respected and
welcomed, yours was an equal privi
lege and you deserve and you have an
equal thanks. You did not think your
duties of aid discharged with the last
echoes of the foeman's artillery; but
by many substantial token, aye, and
copious largess, you have. continued
to evince that interest in the moral
recognition of the eX-soldier which
you yielded, while the shock of wal
was still vibrant, to his welfare as a
combatant.
A Soldiers Trade.
And this interest in the soldier is
natural: it is not confined, I must
say, to any particular group or organi
cation. For ''the soldier trade" as
John Ruskin says, sis not Staying
but being slain" This without well
knowing it's own meaning, the world
honors it for.
A bravo's trade is Staying, but the
world has never respected braves;
the reason it honors the soldier is be
cause he holds his life at the service
of the State. Reckless he may be
fond of pleasure or adventure-al]
kinds of bye-motives and impulses may
have determined the choice of his pro
fession and may affect his daily con
duct in it-but our estimate of him is
based on this ultimate fact that, put
him in the fortress breach with all the
pleasures of the world behind him
and only death and his duty in front OF
him, he will keep his face to the front;
and, as he knows that his choice may
be put to him at any moment, he does
in reality die not only once but daily
He is citizen of deaths grey land
drawing no dividends from times to
morrows. And that is the reason why
militarism loved to surround itself
with such pomp and circumstance, tt
cover with it's gay staggering apparel
the inevitable dangers of it's pursuit
and to mask the uncertainty of life
under the romance of it's trappings
and the outward lure of it's appeal
You recall the jingle:
o the sight enhancing
OF war-steeds proudly prancing,
Of men arrayed with helm and blade
And plumes in the gay wind dancing
But the gay plumes no longer fluttel
in the wind, the brilliancy of uniform
no longer distinguishes the individual
wearer or fascinates the public eye;
the modern soldiers garb is drab and
colorless-it is meant for efficiency
and not for show. The attraction nc
longer lies in the apparel but in the
man himself and in his cause.
Soldiers Went Joyfully.
But some one may say, do not speak
to me of the soldiers cause: he has te
go. Our American soldiers had to go