Year: 1879

N'N's' lHs


OConhor


Decoration day was observed in this city
yesterday with more than. usual exercises
and ceremonies. A general suspension tool
place in the afternoon, the tanks and mum.
ber of business houses and the postofice
being closed in the afternoon.


PROCESSION.


The procession formed at 1:3O o'clock, in
the following order:


Platoon of Police.


Fort Saelling Band.


Corps of Pythian Knights


One 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 &. Jones as aids.


AT LAYlIAN's CEMETERY.


Upon the arrival of the procession at open
grounds opposite the cemetery a hollow
square was formed around the stand, and
after selection by the band, Rev. E. d.
Neili, 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 to-day in compliance
with a e-honored custom. to decorate the
srares of those gallant MEN who lost their lives
II defense If our country. At the close of the
var we laid aside our arms and extended the
right hand of friendship and fellowship to our
former enemies, and entreated them to accept
Of the same IN the spirit of brotherly love. We
fought for the right, and had no concessions or
compromise 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 We're 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 men,
ory OF our fallen braves, and this we shall con-
tinue to do as long as flower blooms to fur.
nlsh us with an emblem of 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 60 forward in the paths which make
for us peace. And in view of this fact the
Southern people should meet us and render
their nnstlnted assent and acquiesence in that
popular verdict which has so Enthusiastically
proclaimed that ''the American Union must and
rhall be preserved" Sooner or later this con-
summation must be attained. When the
Hhirlwind sweeps through the forest tops, no
single bough can lift a naughty head in the
face of it's resistless force. As we'll might one
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 Of q bounteous continent of resolute
loyalty and rejoicing freedom. There is a
leaven in the minds Of nations and of men
tfhich must in time yield to the dictates of
reason and the voics of common sense, and
cxalt them above the base appeals of passion
and prejudice, and section and party into the
pure upper air of principle and truth. When
that happy time comes the problem of recon-
struction will be solved and we shall have peace,
and every incumbrance will be wiped away and
the busy fails of activity and enterprise and
wealth will be started all over the land


America stands to-day unrivaled in the pos
session of all the clements, natural and nation
al, of y mighty and prosperous career; but
there must be no hanging back; all must ac-
cept the results of the war and yield jealous
and honest adherence to the government of the
United States.


We meet here to-day with divided hearts





buoyant present-divided between the tender
and sacred memories of the dead comrades
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
md the stretch of the years, our thoughts can
hnt turn to those knightly gentlemen and SOL
dicrs who died that the country might live,
and whose brave hearts were the precious hOlo-
causts SO freely and zealously offered on the
red altars of war for the protection and preser-
vation @ the republic:


Whilst We 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-
&C, 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 are mute and no voice of theirs is
heard in our midst to-day. Let our own men,
cries then speak for them and our own hips
syllable for them the lofty utterance they were
wont to use. Let our own actions in every pc
riod and crisis of tho future, be but the out
spoken expression of the high purpose and un-
shaken devotion that signalized their lives; and
the bold and enthusiastic vindlcation of that
matchless cause in the defence of which they
persisted. So shall ftheir dead lips speak and
their graves become the hallowed shrines of the
nation.


When we recall the bleak dark days of 1861,
when so many important positions in the coun-
try were filled by men whose loyalty to the
government was 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


1--WE are coming, Father Abraham


1t exhibited degree of patriotism of which
every American. could bo Justly proud. Many
wives and children behind. never, never re-
turned. The country is filled with widows
and orphans, whose husbands and fathers died
that we might enjoy the blessings of peace and
restored union. These are the men whose
memories We this day honor by placing
our aud of nations gratitude.
And in this act we pledge anew our fealty
and allegiance to the great principles for which
they battled and we 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 80 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 a united brotherhood and to dc
honor to those. whose names are now on the
roll. call Of death. In this decoration we dc
not confne ourselves to the dead of Mime.
sofa alone, brt 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
proud kinship with their hallowed mold.


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 a nations