Year: 1879

O'Comnor.


Decoration day was observed in this CITY
yesterday with more than usual exercises
and ceremonies. A general suspension took
place in the afternoon, tho tanks and num-
ber of business houses and the postofice
being closed IN the afternoon:


PROCESSION:


the following order: -


Platoon Of Police.


:, Fort Smelling Band.


Corps of Pythian knights.


,Cne Hundred Ex-Soldiers.


Mayor and Orator Of the Day.


Members of the Common Council


Citizens in Carriages.


The procession, including carriages, was
about mile in length. and was under the
command of George II. Johnson, with P. p.
Swenson, George Fox, E. A. O'Brien and
Jesse Il. Jones as aids.


AT LAYMAN's CEMETERY.


Upon the arrival of the procession at open
grounds opposite the cemetery a hollow
square was formed around the stand, and
Neill, chaplain of the First Minnesota, Of
fered prayer. ,


Mayor Rand made few appropriate re-
marks and then introduced the orator of the
day, Gen. r. w. johnson, of st. Paul, who
delivered the following address:


We have assembled here u-day in compliance
with time-honored custom, to decorate the
graves of those gallant men who lost their lives
IN defense Of our country. At the close of the
right hand of friendship and fellowship to our
former enemies, and antreated them to accept
ct the Same IN the spirit Of brotherly love. We
f6usht for the right; and Had no cuncessions or
pomprcmise to, make with those who had lifted
their murderous hands against the very life of
the nation: We desired that they should
confess their fault and the loyal people of the
country were ready to abundantly pardon
them. Time alone will tell if the magnanimity
of the northern people shall be properly ap-
preciated.


We have assembled to-day to honor the mem
ory OF our fallen braves, and this we shall con-
tiuue to do as long as flower blooms to fur.
nlsh us with an emblem of our admiration.
our love and gratitude; and with malice to-
wards none and with charity for all we are
willing to let the past be forgotten and hence
forth to go forward in the paths which make
for It's peace. And in view of this fact the
Southern people should meet us and render
their unstinted assent and acqu;esence in that
horular verdict which has sd Enthusiastically
proclaimed that the American Union must and
shall be preserved Sooner or later this con-
summation must be attained. When the
whirlwind sweeps through the forest tops, no
single bough can lift a naughty head in the
face of its resistless force. AS we'll might one
single square foot of the ice which enchains
the winter river, seek to maintain its identity
and rest undisturbed by the swell
ing waters when the spring thaw comes,
as for any section to remain an arid waste of
treason--an eternal protest against the very
existence and salvation of the government, in
the midst ct a bOunteous continent of resolute
loyalty and rejoicing freedom. There is a
leaTen in the minds Of nations and Of met
which must in time yield to the dictates Of
reason and the voice of common sense, and
exalt them above the base, appeals of passion
and pre- judice, and section and party into the
pure upper air of principle and truth. When
that happy time comes the problem of recon-
structlon will be solved and we shall have peace,
and every incumbrance will be wiped away and
The busy fails of &C tivity and enterprise and
"ealth will be started all over the land.
America stands to-day unrivaled in tho pos
session of all the clements, natural and nation-
al, of lightly and prosperous career; but
there must be no hanging back; all must ac-
ccpt the results of the war and yield Jealous
aud honest adherence to the government Of the
United States.


We meet here to-day with divided hearts
divided between that bloody past and this
buoyanc present-divided between the tender





whose graves billow every portion of our be-
loved country, and the bright, vital, genuine
happiness which fills and thrills US at the sight
of these living comrades who gather around us
to-day. Back over the sweep of the seasons
and the stretch of the years, our thoughts can
but turn to those knightly gentlemen and SOL
dlers who died that the country might live
and whose brave hearts were the precious hoIo-
chnsts 30 freely and sealously offered on the
red affairs of war for the protection and preser-
vation o f the republic.


Whilst NC grasp the warm hands Of the liv-
ing, we can but remember the cold hands of the
dead! While we gaze upon the radiant array
Of the living, we can but remember the heroic
army of the dead, who, with all their banners
set, and all their battle-harness on, soldier and
officer, chieftain and trooper, by ranks and by
regiments. by the hundred and by the thou
sand, are holding their long. last, solemn bivou-
ac, with the silent stars for their only sentinels.
Their places are vacant here. Let us make
for them, then, places in our heart of hearts.
Their lips mute and no voice of theirs is
heard in our midst to-day. Let our own mem
ories then speak for them and our own lips
syllable for them the lofty utterance they were
won't to use. Let our own actions in every Pc
riod and crisis of the future, be but the out
spoken expression of the high purpose and un-
shaken devotion that signalized their lives; and
the bold and enthusiastic vind1cation of that
matchless cause in the defence of which they





their graves become the hallowed Ehrines of the
nation.
When we recall the bleak dark days of 1861,
when 80 many important positions in the coun-
try were filled by men whose loyalty to the
government questionable, it is refreshing
to remember with what haste the loyal masses
of the country raised the battle cry, and from
city and from hamlet-from the marts of
traffic and the fields of toll with one accord
marched to the defense of OUR threatened
country to the music of


I'VE are coming, Father Abraham


1t exhibited degree of patriotism of which
every American could be Justly proud: Many
of those who rushed to tho rescue, leaving
wires and children behind. never, never re-
turned. Tho country is filled with widows
and orphans, whose husbands and fathers died
that we might enjoy the blessings of peace and
memories VIC this day honor by placing
oar pp" aad F of graves nnson shs smDsmi spattu Of
And in this act we pledge anew our fealty
and allegiance to the great principles for which
they battled and VIC can congratulate each
other, and the nation, upon the fact that the
efforts of our departed comrades were not all
in vain, and that in spite of the fierce scars
and bitter wounds of five years of desperate
conflict the Republic still survives and will
continue to survive.


The custom of decorating the graves of
fallen braves, which has been so regularly OBJ
served, must be continued, and every man who
wore the blue and glories in its memory,
should come up from year to year to drink
deep from the fountain of the past-to renew
the bonds of united brotherhood and to do
honor to those whose names are now on the
roli-call of death. In this decoration we do
not confne ourselves to the dead of Minne-
sofa alone, but we cast flower upon the grave
of every patriot who died for his country. In
life they were of us, and in death we assert
lr;r rcGS witt %La1r hol1 Ia


Here many brave men fell, the names of
some of whom We recall to-day by gently
placing upon the mound that marks their rest
ing-p'ace few flowers in token of nations
remembrance and gratitude. One of the pur-
est and best men I knew-one of the
grandest and noblest soldiers of the war, to