The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-06-29
The Bronze Button.

| The amazingly few bronze buttons
of the Grand Army of the Republic
| now in evidence, even on the thorough
fares Of the larger cities, tell but too
plainly the sad story Of the RAPID
passing of the great host OF men from
the land which their valor sanctified.
To no one is this truth more pain
fully apparent than to the living frac-
tion of those who have been spared
yet little while longer ere they too
will answer the last roll call here, TO
join their comrades in the eternal
bivouac across the river.
To this waiting remnant, the wealth
of memory enshrned in the bronze but
ton they wear with so much and such
justified pride, grows more precious
and sweeter to recall as its final dis
appearance becomes more certainty.
The old guard is melting away like
the dew drops in the morning sunshine,
leaving fewer and yet fewer of their
comrades here to tell the story of nm
fading splendor and achievement, the
grand aggregate Of honor that viii gid
the traditions of endless centuries vet
to come.
We are in the last year of the six
decades since the 100000 boys (must
lyl who became men in a day, rallied
to the colors before the echoes of the
first call had silenced To those of
Use who yet linger on the edge of the
valley Of the Shadow" the mist of
those years thickens. Tears often fill
our ewes for comrades gone before,
but with those tears comes hope
fulness akin to joy that the nightmare
OF battle shall never disturb US more
And there comes, too, the great con- /,
ISOLATION that upon the ashes OF the !
10000 heroic dead who persisted in the
Civil war on field of battle. in prison
pen, of wounds, disease or captivity, /
and above graves of those who have |
since been called to join that array !
whose tramp, tramp, tramp, gives back |
no echoing sound (of recent years a /
hundred daily Ia new nation has been
reared. A nation broad and great |
enough, evidenced in the war with
have wiped out all traces of sectional /
difference that brought on the struggle |
betwixt North and South. A nation
of men who have marched together,
fought, lived and died together, fol
lowing Old Glory as one, hallowing its
every mandate.
But few of the younger class of the
present generation can appreciate tile
sentiment enshrined in the bronze but
ton worn by the volunteer soldier Of
the Civil war. A few of mature age
still nav reverence to it's wearer. A
smile. salute. the tender of a seat in
a crowded car are small things in them
selves. but they TEEN with gratitude
and reverence for the men who saved
America from dissolution. Their gen
tie courtesy. too, opens a we'll of liv-
ing waters in the heart Of the man
whose proudest title to-day is to he
called a soldier of Lincoln, whose rich
EST insignia of wealth is the bronze
button he wears in his coats lapel.
But this distinguishing emblem is
last disappearing from sight, vet ITS
,lories mus remain. The deeds of
which il speaks must ever illume the
pages of our country's history, and
he records of the men who wore il
sill be emblazoned through the ages
with the distinguishing mark of Volun-
Ger soldiers of the Civil war.-ieneral
George Byron Loud, in THE Sugle
Call"