Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-05-31

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glossy. You will marvel at the i'm
provementl
day, to have seen you and heard facts
of history confirmed by your lips, a
privilege which in years to come will
be national inheritance to be We'd
by those who knew you not.
AS l stand before you, Maine men,
bcrs of the Grand Army of the Re-
public, and gaze into your faces, now
marked by the inroads Of time, !
would not be true to my duty, If ]
did not first Of all, give forth some
expression to the emotion this hour
calls forth in my heart. This day is
made sacred to me, in more ways
than one. My mind wanders back to
history's pages. to which I have been
4 frequent visitor during the last sew
eral weeks and there aided by the
powers of an adventurous mind,
have imagined I was one of your
numbers over fifty years ago. / have
been with Grant and Sherman
through their victorious hammering
campaign.
Yea, 1 have seen Sheridan dashing
on his black charger from Winches-
ter, the distance of twenty miles as
1 he hears the terrible grumble and
roar telling him the battle is raging
orce more" and turn certain defeat
into victory.
! Thus. in imagination, I have fol-
lowed you through the entire four
years. to that glad and welcome day.
Taralleled only by Nov. II. 1918. when
along a five hundred mile battle line,
orders were signaled to cease firing).
glad and welcome for all, when at
Appamattox, Lee handed over his
command to Grant to- be followed a
| few days later by Johnson to Sher-
man.
| As I have thought on these scenes,
as well as the Rough Riders charging
up San Juan hills or the stubborn re-
sistance shown by our American
dough boys at Chateau Thiery and Ar
/ gonne. | have paused to ask myself.
row and again, the question. How
could mortal man. who can stand so
little. in the every day affairs of life.
sc through such awful scenes of
slaughter and even one come away to
tell the tale? But even as I would
ask that question. once more. / find
myself gazing into your faces and I
+, ad your silent answer, Il WAS
THERE.
1t is then realize my inability to
do you justice on this occasion. for
realize there is vast difference be-
tween fact and fancy. l know the
wars of our Nation. only as l have
read of them; you know them as you
fought them.
| fear too often when we have
been called together on an occasion
of this nature, when patriotic fervor
runs high, we have been prone to be
carried away by the martial music OF
the bands. the grand display of bunt-
ing, the patriotic songs of the choir,
and whether or no we haven't looked
on this day as n day for a general
good time. and 1 fear too often the
orator of the occasion has failed, in a
duty he should have performed, for
me n pleasure as well as privilege),
the instructing the boys and girls,
young men and women, yea all, who
have come to our shores from other
lands, JUST what relation you bear
tC every free born American Citizen.
I may not hit the mark at which
I aim, l may fail to convey the
thoughts of my own mind as I at
tempt to tell what this land has cost
you and all others. who have should
cred his musket and marched to the
battles front. We got n sample of
the cost of war as but few months
ago our boys marched away. But. I
believe from the depths Of my soul
that if there is one person above an
other, who walks our streets, whether
in the crowded metropolis Of the city.
or along the crossroads Of the coun-
try, who should receive the said hon.
ors. IT'S THE OLD VETERAN OF
eel to '65", who left his home and low
ed ones at a time when his country
needed and called hard after him.
What 1 have said thus far relates
particularly to the flag. The flag
that waves over this nation. Your
nation and mine. I would go deeper
today. / have thought of this nation.
now happily composed of forty EIGHT
states. This nation that leads the
world in manufacturing and commerce
and is daily forging its way to the
very fore front in education. The
granary Of the world.
We see it in all it's splendor. today.
It's ships ride every sea. Its tele-
graph. railroad and cable lines make
neighbors Of the most remote parts
of the globe.
Yet little do we realize. unless we
nave caught the vision OF the awful
ness Of warfare, what It has cost to
bring 1t up to tho present honor and
respect 1t bears among civilized ma
tions-yea even the influence It ex-
erts on the heather ones.
Fifty-eight years ago last month,
on the 9th day, there came to an end, |
enc of the greatest wars of all time,
and up to the one just closed, THE
GREATEST.
1t had cost billions Of money and !
millions of lives and left behind |
a. legacy Of wretchedness and !
ruin that half century has not |
wholly obliterated. Before delve in |
to some of the scenes Of that awful |
strife, it might be well for us to make |
a careful survey of facts, which ex-
listed prior to the days of secession.
Looking back we find that over
&c years had elapsed since the forma-
ton Of the Union under Washington,
to the days of cesession. In 1879 our
population was less than four mil
lions.
In 1861 we had y years later, in
creased to- over four times that num-
her Tn 1870 five cities wore all we