Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-06-08
Miss Florence Minis Takes Part
in Northern Memorial Day
Celebration.
Dear Advertiser

celebration.
Dear Advertiser:
They say here in Aurora that il
rains on May 3Oth' every year. The
3Oth of May is the Northern Memo.
rial Day. 1t looks as if the northern
er might outwit the elements by
changing the date of their celebra-
tion.
Though the day was damp and
gloomy, the rain did not fall until
later, so that we might sit out on the
platform in the cemetery with un-
covered heads.
The people were very much sur
prised to find that we celebrated a
different day for the comlnemora-
tion of the southern dead, ard / had
no explanation to make except to
state that the circumstances seemed
to require some difference of date:
The exercises were in charge of
the American Legion and when the
post commander invited me to give
Lincoln's Gessytburg Address on the
occasion, he seemed to be very un-
decided whether or not / would ac-
cept the invitation, since both my
grandfathers and one of my great
grandfathers fought under flag
that was very different in design from
the present national banner, but I
told him I had no grudge and rather
looked up to the good Lincoln and
his admirable Gettysburg address.
Whenever the subject was mention
ed again, however, I could not help
but laugh, to think in one sense of
the ludicrousness of the situation,
when my state was the first to secede
from the union, fact that can
never think of except with glowing
pride, the reason of which, ! cannot
to save my life explain. think I
liked their daring.
1t would be foolish to carry any
prejudice into a part of the country
at once so remote and so foreign.
There are no civil war veterans here,
living or buried, and no Spanish
American war veterans, and the only
past battles which these particular
inhabitants are interested in are the
petty strifes that took place in their
European homes and in the recent
world war.
The procession, led by the post
commander and the speaker of the
day, Mr.. Clarified of Duluth, and fol-,
lowed by a band and the American
Legion and Auxiliary, marched from
the City Hall through the town and
out to the cemetery.
The ground was veritable marsh
with a wooden island, namely the
platform, which I was glad to take
refuge on. I do not think I ever en-
joyed reading anymore than 1 did
that day, to the lines of men in uni
form who as foreigners were in the
kindergarten school of democracy.
At one end of the line stood the
superintendent of the school district,
Mr.. Stanley Adkins, and at the other
end certain John whose other for
eign name I do not know, the janitor,
in one of the buildings. The khaki
uniform literally transformed him
and thought then, as I have thought
before, what very leveller the army
is.
thought of the great difference
in such celebration in Aurora and
in Edgefeld. In the former place
there could be no feeling, for there
had been no knowledge and no suf-
fering during the war or the recon-
struction, for the ground on which
the audience stood was in the SOS
and afterwards covered with hardy
trees and forests.
In Edgefeld, there are memories,
memorials and associations with the
War Between the States which Au-
rora could not well imagine.
The idea of the Aurora Memorial
Day service centered around nation
alism rather than sectionalism,. and
around citizenship in the nation
rather than in the state alone, which
is the only idea that can well be in
stilled with profit into people who
have so recently become members OF
our national family.
FLORENCE MINIS.
Arroro Minnesota