The Raymer enterprise., 1921-05-26
Nations Neuu
3 Ideal Of & :
I Patriotism \
NfA.M/

The late war has brought us a new
ideal Of Memorial day. Services in
memory Of the dead have been held
at some fixed season of the year by all
peoples Of all times and all religious
beliefs. The growth Of civilization. in
fact. could almost he traced through
the evolution of these customs alone
from the time when the ancients
brought sacrifices and libations of food
and wine to leave on the graves. to
the present observances Of many coun-
tries.
It was after the close Of the Civil
war that Memorial day, or Decoration
day as we love to call It, first became
a great American holiday. A group Of
women Of Mississippi city went out
on this day. when all the most beauti-
full flowers Of the year were In bloom,
TO decorate the graves Of their loved
ones who had fallen In behalf Of the
Lost Cause" Many Of the southern
dead lay side by side with the enemy,
but there were no enemy graves when
they had finished, for all alike had
been flower-strewn. When the story Of
this was spread abroad, many northern
cities set apart a day month later,
when the flowers In the colder climates
were beginning to bloom profusely, and
went out and decorated all the graves
Of the soldier dead In their cemeteries.
One by one the state legislatures
passed laws making Memorial day
april 30 In some Of the southern
states) legal holiday. To US 1t has
been more familiar as day on which
the cemeteries are visited and the
graves, not only Of the Civil war veter-
ans. hut of all the dead, decorated,
than as an occasion for great patriotic
gatherings.
Reminiscent Of that first Memorial
day and the way In which 1t drew
North and South together with the
common bond Of their dead between
them is an incident Of how this holiday
was observed In France last year. A
great cemetery, where simple freshly
painted crosses row on row marked
the serried ranks Of American sleep
ers. had been built up near French
village. The simple folk Of this vii
lAge, With their own beautiful but sad
Jour des Morts, or annual day of pray
ing for the souls cZeheir dead, had
heard that the next was the day
on which Americans hU3ered their
dead. so they teaAsa request to the
American hosp1fH not far away, ask
ing doctors. nT. canteen workers,
and patients-RA no could-to Join
them -sarly on the folh sing SRfsning
at the entrance to the cemetery Just
at the edge Of the town. 4
The camions in which the Ameri-
cans would have gone were all pressed
into emergency service. and when they
finally arrived at the cemetery, 1t was
late afternoon. The French came to
meet them, disappointed, thinking
they had failed to make themselves
understood. All the children Of the
village. they said, had arisen at day
break and gone out into the fields
and gathered dew-wet flowers until
the graves of Les Americans had been
entirely covered from sight. When
they had waited as long as they could,
many of them went away sobbing that
the flowers, which were already begin
ming to droop. could not have been be-
held In all their freshness by those
who had known and loved the sleep
ers.
Those same graves will be flower
strewn by loving hands this year, and
wet again with the tears Of the SIM
pie folk who knew and loved our boys.
But the Americans whose loved ones
lie buried there will not spend the
lay in Idle tears. For the ideals with
which we went into the World war,
. and with which we saw 1t through,
have become a new ideal Of national
llfe, OF which we should be never 80
conscious as on Memorial day. 1t has