The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1920-06-10
DECORATION DAY ADDRESS
Written BY l. $. Drummond and read
BY County Superintendent W. l..
Henson, Decoration Day May 80.

BY County Superintendent W. l..
Henson, Decoration Day May 80.
Dear Old Comrades:
| wlite these words to you because
it is now very doubtful that the few
who are yet living will be able to an
swer the Assembly Call and meet to-
gether on this Decoration Day, be-
cause of physical weakness. The "old
wagons" are getting close TO making
| their last trip. The wheels are get
ting wabbly and groan on the axles
| like they were calling for help; the
body is wracked and worn, and the
whole contraption is about TO do as did
| the Deacon's Zone Hoss Shay" which
was built to run "for a hundred years
and day" all collapse at once. But il
the old wagons can be patched up then
| maybe some of them can be of scme
service yet; and if so, may have the
privilege of standing among the rest
e yc'. old wagons.
! My Comrades, we have arrived at an
age when we live in the past more
| than in the present or future. Our
memories drift back to the long ago
when there were fairies and gnomes
and wicked Wizards and witches and
warlocks; when pure and sanity white
ghosts were permitted to revisit the
scenes OF their young mortal lives;
but the ghosts of the wicked were
only allowed to wander on dark and
stormy nights, when the winds howled
and fought each other and the twisted
lightning split great trees and sent
them crashing TO the ground, while the
thunder roared its applause over the
victory of lightning. But the ghosts
| of the wicked were allowed only on
| such nights to visit the scenes of their
crimes. They could not go back to
| their childhood home, nor look upon
the faces of the living.
They tell me that all these things
which filled our childhood days with
thrills, have all passed away; that
there are no more fairies or brownies
| or gnomes or fearful giants; that the
margins of the running brooks and
grassy glades in the groves are no
more peopled with fairies and sprites.
/ don't believe it. l haven't seen any
| of them for many years, but they are
| there. They must be; for they were
not created subject to the decay of
time as mortals are. These are child
hood memories
Then came youth and young man.
hood. To most of US the years when
we were learning about Plymouth
Rock and the Puritans, George Wash
| ington and Ben Franklin the memory
was brighter, clearer than those of the
later years. The Indians were still the
| Savage Red Men and most of us had
! opportunities of seeing the kind of
| show "Lo, the Poor Indian" could put
on when he donned his war paint and
Came the Mexican war when our
| fathers and older brothers marcbed
away through forest wilderness and
desert to teach the Mexican that white
| people are entitled IN life ,;ho,+v and
| a few other things. Do Won remem-
| Der the weary weeks the neonle wait
! ed to hear the news o. the hattie field
How at last the word came of the VIC
tories at Buena Vista. Palo Alto. Cha
pultapec and MANY others Ana ~
last came the news that General Scott
| and his army had captIred the citv of
| Mexico, and the war was over? flow
| proudly glorious the Old Flag tha
Stars and-Stripes, looked then. The
| colors of the red and blue were redder
and bluer and the white shone wbiter
| than new fallen SNOW. How we loved
| the old flag.
We, who were then vounp fellows
but have become cold fellersi had not
| then seen trouble coming Rnt tbe
Mexican war made us uneasy. Our
| dea had been that war had been 10
right the wrongs of the Texans and fo
make the Mexicaus understand INST
where they belonged. But when we
understood that the object of the war
was really to open more territory 70
hold slaves, we didn't like it-that is
those of us who lived in free states
didn't. 1t began to look like the great
black cloud of slavery would crush
the light of liberty.
Tho how u,bo cr,.o,,, f.o,., al,;I.uI