Year: 1867

Memory, or the faculty of memory, is one


Of the most blessed constituents Of the hu.


man mind. 1t serves as kind Of repertory in


the secret chamber Of the soul where every
event OF importance in the past occupies ita


proper place and can be called up at pleasure
without the slightest effort on the part Of
the various attributes of man nature. This
attribute or faculty of man possesses quality
so strong that it treasures up every event in
the past whether honorable or dishonorable.
On the contrary, the peals Of those mighty
thunderings that seem to shake the very
foundations of Gods terrestrial empire are
not more appalling than the manner in which


busy, meddling memory thunders in the
ears Of our recollection Of our dishonorable
actions. Reader, let us wander down the
vale Of the past, and while we proceed, let
memory collect for US ell the important
events Of our nations history. With the
quickness Of lightnings fash, she conveys
US back to the days Of our nations former
glory, when she was looked up to, as an
asylum for the oppressed Of all nations And
our government was looked up to as the
model government Of the world. Our boun-
daries extending far and vide from the At
lautic to the Pacific Ocean from the bor-
ders of Cancda to the Rio Grande, when
there was wider diffusion Of education and
a higher appreciation of religion, and more
pure and exalted morality than ever existed
in any government since the foundation Of
the world. But since our government has
fallen from honor to dishonor, we have be-
come hiss and q by-word for all nations.
Thus busy memory ever portrays to us in
our reflective moments scenes for whicE the
heart Of every Constitution loving man
North or South yearns; thus memory brings
to us those halIowed associations Oh, what
undying memories cluster around our fallen
country; what bliss, what hopes, fears and
purposes were connected with it Since it
was established by those men who struggled
together in l776 on the battle fields Of the
Revolution, and when the Declaration was
penned and sealed by the blood Of our fore
fathers, and watered by the dews of heaven;
when the door of peace rested on those
fields 50 lately dreuchsd by the blood of the
sons of toll, she carries US on to the epoch
when we felt the mighty shock. She por-
trays to us the memory of absent ones and
the blooming hopes Of father, mother and
little ones, whispering in their ears, thy
home once happy is now niserabe thy
family in which grew the flower of hope,
and that sweet flower has been blown upon
by the winds OF commotion, and false legis-
lation, and now floats upon the waves of
time mere wreck" Memory also portrays
to u false legislation in the various halls,
and points to another, charging him With
the most fragrant violations Of the most SOL
elnn VOWS; VOWS recorded in Heaven and on
earth, charging him with the sin Of mighty
tyrant: saying, you have broken the peace
Of the pat.cn and in your efforts to heal the
breach you have only widened it by your
false legislation. and have fastened upon her
ten thousand sorrows. yeu have clothed
cur once happy nation with the sackcoth Of
infamy, and have fallen in your grave, ieav-
ing memory to do her work On your former
career, while others she brands With viola
tion of the laws Of our nation, and their
God, which will remain unknown to all but
God and memory, and the perpetrators, till
The Judgment day. Their dishonorable and
unholy actions we labor to forget. Ger
them we would sing their funeral dirgc.
while We vainly attempt to bury them, hop
ing they may never have q resurrection.
But 10! the power of memory, like mighty
lever, brings them up cut CT the grave i'll
which ve have endeavored TO bury them, in
direct opposition to our strenuous exertions
to forget them In our reflective moments
they pass like panoramic view before u.s.
Tar memory will last while God lives and
eternity lasts; SO long will she upbraid them
WITH their unho!y actions and broken vows,
while memory should be engaged in different
scenes than those upon which we have dwelt.
But she comes laundering in our ears the
recollections Of absent ones. l can picture
to m-self, with fencys pencil, that bright
and blood,ing youth, those fearful eyes, that
beautifully modulnted voice, uttering trem-
ulously, farewell who is now laid in the
grave, on a far distant, sea-girt shore; why,
we ask, has he fled from the society Of
friends and family? Memory comes to our
help, and the problem is solved; some
treacherous hand has been stretched to sun.
der the chords that bound our union togeth-
er, and error comes forth in the form Of
truth and gives renewed energy to the con-
Hict, which reused the passions and spread
the starry banner as free as the breeze on
which she ever floated while the bosom of
our bleeding country heaveslike the breath
ing of giant, from the corrupt legislation,
and the serpent Of error turks in some OF
her noble bowers, feeding upon the agitating
questions of the day, and is now tempting
some weaker one, even than Epe, to reach