The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1920-06-03
TRIBUTE PAID TO DEAD


NN Na. .IHa .N. r AUS. aEFaN
age The secession Of the southern
States sas for The ayowed purpose
of perpetuat.ug that institution with
all OF its terrible horrors. its terrible
life dramas. and its prostitution Of
the constitution and the flag.
No greater inspiration was ever
whispered TO men TO face death upon
the battlefield. than the just cause
which inspired the men Of the North,
who wore the blue. No more worthy
foe ever measured steel with an au-
versary, than the men Of the South
who believed they we're fighting for
the right, and wore the gray. No
more bitter warfare was ever waged
than in this unfortunate conflict be
tween men of the same blood. Fam
lily ties were broken and severed,
and on the fields Of carnage brother
crossed swords with brother. Hearts
were lacerated, extreme bitterness
engendered and at the close of the
war prediction was freely made that
this could never become a united Re
public; that the people Of the North
could not dwell in unity and harmony
with the people of the South.
Time has indeed proven these pre-
dictions erroneous. The scared
wounds of defeat have long since
healed The yictors were Americans
and consideration and generosity to
the vanquished went far to sweeten
the bitter cup.
On the death of General Grant the
great chieftain of the Union forces.
in 1855, the men who wore the gray
were proud to escort his body on its |
last pilgrimage to the banks of the |
Hudson, and stood shoulder to shoul- |
der and mingled their tears Of sorrow
and grief with those of the men who
wore the blue, about the open grave.
as the great soldier was laid TO his
final rest.
During the recent world war the
son Of the soldier of the Confederacy
fought shoulder to shoulder with the
son of the Union soldier of the North
in a common cause, and today CRATE
ful hearts and hands are placing flow
ers of love and appreciation on the
graves of the many who remain sleep
ing side by side in Flanders field.
Soldiers of the Grand Army, l
know of no more fitting term by
which to address you than that en-
ployed by Daniel Webster when at
the dedication of the Bunker Hill |
Monument in 1925. He addressed
the veterans of the American Revol-
ution as Venerable Men who have
come down to US from a former gen.
Grafton"
To my mind nothing is more beau
tiful, more touching TO our most
tender emotions than the scene we
witness at this time.
For more than fifty years these
venerable men have on each Mem
orial Day unfurled the Stars and /
Stripes so valiantly borne by them
throughout four years Of terrible
warfare. years of suffering. priyation,
danger and death, and gathered about
the graves of their comrades who
had responded here" TO the final roll
call of the Supreme Commander. In
love and tenderness to plant there
their country's flag and place there
on the fragrant blossoms that are
but emblematic Of their deepest emo
tions.
Each year has counted a depletion
OF their ranks, each year the Supreme
Command has taken its inevitable toll
from their roster.
Venerable men, some of whom
bear the honored scars of battle.
whose heads are whitened, whose
steps have grown faltering, whose
lips are withered, but in whose hearts
unquenchable burn the fires of pa
triotism.
Venerable men, who now live
largely in the past, whose shadows
are fast falling to the East, when
they, too, shall have answered here"
TO that final roll call, when they shall!
have rejoined those of their comrades
who found their way to Heaven on
the field Of battle. l would chisel on
the granite that shall mark the eter-
nal repose Of their ashes, in the Ian