The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1929-05-30
MEMORIAL DAY

America turns in reverence to the aisles OF its silent
cities today. It is = halowed occasion, the time OF
paying tribute to the dead Of six wars for their knightly
valor, their shining fidelity to duty. their grim sacrifice
Of even life. that the nation should. first, be, then be
respected in its rights, then be saved and reborn and,
finally, that America should tilt tyranny from power
and raise up democracy in the seats OF autocracy.
For the record Of this land is written in the epic OF
Its own creation by struggling colonies imbued with an
unquenchable spirit demanding freedom; In the glories
OF 4 great naval conflict, when the mistress Of the seas
felt the proves Of the STRIPPING nation. even as Goliath
felt the prowess Of David; in a war Of empire that
rounded out the republics domain with the Incl
dental gain of the great southwestern commemorative;
In the mighty civil conflict which struck the shackles
from a million slaves and welded its fratricidal sections
anew in the fires Of war and on the anvil of recon-
struction: in the chivalric freeing OF a prosecuted colony
from a tyrannizing land Of decadence; and finally, In
the Armageddon Of a world war from which its sons
plucked tottering civilization itself from destruction BY
bitter but generous sacrifices in lives and wealth.
Memorial day was born Of the great civil war, Of its
Gettysburg and Chickamauga. its Antietam and Chan
cellorsville, its Wilderness and vicksburg. Donaldson and
Shiloh, Of its Grant. its Meade. its Mcclellan, its Sher-
man and Thomas and Sheridan and all that host of lead
es who led the armies of the Union in four years on
battlefields stretching from Sumter to spottsylvania. But
two subsequent wars, the one freeing Cuba, Porto Rico
and the Philippines and the other saving the European
world from destruction in the greatest armed calamity
since creation. have extended the scope OF this solemn
day. and today America bows its head in honor to the
dead Of all its wars, drops its tears on the graves
Of Valley Forge as well as on those Of 1861 -65, on those
of San Juan hill as well as those Of the Argonne. and
pays reverent tribute to oil its soldier sons who sleep in
the silent bivouacs of the dead.
All over the land the requiem to the mute heroes
aacends. blossoms deck deaths scars in millions OF
mounds b~lanketing the sleeping hosts Of war. silver
tongue and praising lips pour patriotic %eloquence into
reverent ears and the rededication Of a great people to
its ideals OF freedom and democracy is renewed in the
annual ritual of national memory.
What inspirations this day brings, what realization Of
how costly are a nations achievements in brain and
Drawn and blood for its perpetuation!
But 1t is good today for musng multitudes to stand
by some grave linked to the martial glories Of the re-
public, by the cenotaph OF the Unknown Soldier at
Arlington, by the tomb OF Washington at Mt Vernon or
the marble sepucler OF Lincoln at Springfield, or among
the lines Of imposing bronze and marble and granite
that mark the swaying lines Of Gettysburg's titanic
field. It Is an education for the heart in lessons OF
loyalty and sacrifice and service. In these there is the
glow Of an eternal flame and that flame is continued
patriotic devotion to the nation for which these dead
fought anu died. consecrating their land to right and
freedom and justice.