Evening Star Newspaper, May 30, 1895, Page 9

THE EVENING STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 30, 1895—TWELVE PAGES. 9 MARKED AS HEROES Gen. Felix Agnus’ Oration at Ar- lington Cemetery. WHAT WAR AND BATTLE MEANT Eloquent Words Addressed to the G. A. R. Veterans. THE GREAT COMMANDERS =e ‘The orator of the day at Arlington ceme- tery was Gen. Felix Agnus, soldier and Journalist, of Baltimore. Gen. Agnus’ oration was as follow: Comrades, Friends ard Fellow Citizens: In the early wars, before the age of ex- plosi every legion as it entered into battle would detail an officer whose duty it was to watch the bravery or fighting * qualities of both friend and foe. This offi- cer would select an eminence nearby and carefully note the individual deeds of hero- ism, and all who died bravely were buried with great honor and ceremony. Even in our uvwn times, Sir Charles Napier reports that in one of his campaigns in the Upper Scinde,a detachment of troops were march- ing along a valley, the cliffs overhanging, which were crested by the enemy. A ser- geant and a small squad of men became Separated by taking the wrong side of the ravine, ich suddenly deepened into an . Felix Aguas. impassable gulf: the officer in command on the other side signaled for the party to return, but they mistook the signal for an order to charge. The brave fellows an- swered with a cheer, and with a dash be- wan to charge toward the summit of the mountain, where was a triangular plat- form, defended by a breastwork, behind which were hundreds of the foe. On and on went the handful of brave British sol- diers, and as there were but eleven of them, the contest could not last long; eight fell quickly In the charge, and the others soon followed in their efforts to get closer to the enemy. Among these wild hill men it was a custom when one of their great chieftains fell in battle to bind his wrist with a ribbon either of red, white or blue, the first denoting the highest rank and bravery. As was their wont, they stripped their enemy's dead and threw their bodies over the precipice, and it was there on the morrow their comrades found them stark and torn; but deeply as these savages hated their foes, round the wrists of every British hero they had twined a red ribbon, thus in death honoring them all as chiefs and mighty braves. ‘Today, as we look back over the deeds of our civil war, we feel that every soldier who lost his Ife for the Union has the mark of the hero upon him. And better than that, we plant upon his grave the most glorious flag the world has ever known. The Meaning of the Day. Standing on this spot, Gen. Garfield said: “Tf silence be ever golden, it must be here beside the graves of these 13,000 soldiers, whose lives were more significant than speech and whose death was a poem, the music of which was never sung.” With you I feel the best tribute fs the un- spoken gratitude of the heart, but it is right we should show by words and song our love for the dead. To me it is a great honor to stand before you in the midst of ' these memories, looking yonder to the cap- ital of our mighty nation and recalling the work which rewnited the Union and made all this greatness not only possible, but certain, for I tell you, my friends, that the civil war not only settled the questions of the past, but it also determined the lead- p of the future. It not only abolished slavery and brought the yawning sections -immovably together, but it prepared this nation for the larger destiny which means the extension of liberty to all the nations of the world. Within a quarter of a cen- tury we have seen every throne and every shackle of slavery banished from this hemisphere; we have witnessed the growth of free institutions in the other half of the world, and as an object lesson of what a republican form of government means we behold in France, which next to us Is the xreatest of republics, the nation that com- bines within herself a larger prosperity and more kinds of industries and resources than any country of Europe. The proces- sion of the world is marching to the tune of freedom and the republics are leading the parade. A Majestic Concourse. In every way the observance of this day is important. And it is pleasant to know that each year it grows more full and more tender. Think, today, my friends, of what can be witnessed in every part of this great country. Suppose we could call together in review before us the thousands of veterans, the hundreds of thousands of men and women and children who are in the thousands of places reverently homor- Ing the deeds of the heroes. Would it not be a majestic sight? Would it not stir your souls with love and thankfulness? Would it not show that not only are re- Publics not ungrateful, but that the great heart of the people cherishes more firmly every year the affections for the men who Gave their lives to the Union? Even during this week we record the death of the Secretary of State, but his achievements either as statesman or as judge disappear to make room for his ca- reer as a soldier. For it was in that fleld that he first earned his laurels, and hence- forth, on every 20th of May, Walter Gres- ham will be remembered as one of the Grand Army which did so much for this countr: ~ In our paintings the symbol of memory is always a beautiful goddess with a scroll. She is erect and precise, and In her is the dignity of severe justice. But the symbol of this day is the American mother, the ran daughter, with her arms full of s and her heart full of love, bending over the graves of those she lost,and ming- ling with her grief her pride in what they lid. God bless her! If it had not been for her faith, her strength, ker devotion, her charity, her self-sacrifice, you old fellows who went through it all would not have been worth half as much as you proved yourselves to be when the fighting was fast 1 the rations were short. A letter from her has made a hero of more than one discouraged soldier who felt like giv- ing up. And it is to a great extent because the women sanetify this day by their love and their attention that it grows all the time in observance and significance. Another National Holiday. We have four strictly national holidays: On the 22d of February we honor the name of Washington. On the 4th of July we exalt the Declara- tion of Independence. In November we give thanks to Almighty God for His blessings to us as a people and a@ nation. On this day we consecrate our thoughts to the Union and pay our tributes to the men who saved It. And before Iong I hope to see another holiday added to these—a day in honor of the man who was to the cause of the Union what Washington was to the cause of Mberty—Abraham Lincoln. We owe it to his services and to ourselves to make his birthday a holiday throughout the land. My friends, I oniy wish that he were here to tel! you in his beautiful way ‘Fhe Story of the War. Certainly we have yet to see how great Jt really was. Like a towering mountain range it stands in the records of great achievements of the world, and we cannot appreciate its full proportions until we get far enough away to take in its whole mean- ing. Thirty years have come and gone and each year has added to our knowledge of its size. We have got away from the pas- sions which came to the best of men in these dzys of trial and tribulation and have reached the threshold of newer and smoother ground from which we can view the marvelous results of the greatest civil conflict In the world’s History. Acrcss the river we see Maryland, which, although a border state with firm and con- tending convictions, sent her full quota of men to the Union army, and of their bravery and the work they did history tells. The same manhood which saved the day for Washington in the revolution more than once; which drove the British from the Chesapeake in 1814; which achieved glory on the heights of Mexico in 1848, wrote new pages in the records of the sixties. If Maryland as a border state did her duty so nobly what words can I find to describe the heroes of those other states which sent their thousands to the front? I capnot understand how any man can look at the work of these men without profound emotion. I cannot understand how citizens of this country can jeer at the old wounds and the ragged sleeves. What War Service Meant. Go back with me to the early sixties. You zre a young man with good prospects and with a high ambition. Others look, to you for future support. The next five years are to determine your success. Your country is assailed. War is declared. A call for troops goes forth. Being a man with your intense love of country, with the ardor of youth and with the courage of your forefathers, you do not stop to calcu- late chances or to consider circumstances, but at once offer your services to the flag. From the comforts of home you go to the lowlands of Virginia, From the first expocure is your fate. Your food is coarse and often scant. Within a week you have probably taken (gto your system the germs of disease. Yow serve through the war, you give yourself to your country. Perhaps you are wounded, perhaps not. You return home. Your chances of suc- cess in civil life are changed. You are not fit for the duties you left five years before. There are only certain kinds of work you can do, and you have a hard time getting employment. In the course of time the dis- ease you contracted begins to show. Your earning capacity is only a fraction of what it would have been if you had remained at your desk instead of answering your coun- try’s call. Now, my friend, do you think you receive a pittance from this rnment that people look upon you as a pension bummer? No, a thousand times, no! it they did I would not profane this place and the memory of the men who lie buried here by trying to exalt the dead at the cost of the living. I have no sympathy with that mean spirit which would let the old soldier starve and then heap flowers upon his grave after he is gone. Beautiful as the tokens are and much as they mean, they cannot signify more than a crust of bread given to a hungry veteran or a cup. of cold water raised to the lips of the wounded soldier. The People Are Just. But, my old friends, you must not mis- judge the people of the United States. You must not measure their sense of right by the abuse of the few persons who care more for notoriety than they do for the truth. It has been the fate of the old sol- diers of every great war to suffer. Many of those who took part in the immortal charge of the light brigade were permitted by the munificent government of Great Britain to die in poverty. Men who turned the fate of nations have died in poor houses. It has remained for this country to do In a larger degree than was ever be- fore done in the world justice to those who gave their lives and their services to its cause. Over the dead it has erected monu- ments, for the living it has provided pen- sions. Because a man occasionally comes from obscurity and directs attention to himself by calling the old soldiers names proves nothing. He may be worth many hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it is quite safe to say that he would not give ten cents to aid the men he maligns and who enabled him to get the fortune he holds. You never heard Grant or Sherman or Sheridan or Schofield or Sickles or the great soldiers you followed declare that your pensions were not deserved. You know and I know that the millions of the people recognize that you are receiving only what is due. The great heart of the people is all right. They have not forgotten, and in all that is said you must remember that there is no need for you to show anger or re- sentment. Brave men know brave men, and only cowards throw mud at the vet- erans in blue. Honoring the Dead. In keeping green the memories of this day you touch the heart of all good Ameri- cans and fill the souls of young men and young women with larger and grander emotions of love and patriotism. I greet you, boys in blue, and join you in your loyalty to the flag, in your re- membrance of those who went down in the fight, im your exaltation of that American spirit which is true to the best and widest warfare of this nation. God grant that we may never have another war. But if one should come I know that your example and your work would carry Old Glory to victory agam. I know that the people would exclaim in the words of the pairiot: “Our country, however bounded or de- scribed—still our country to be cherished in all our hearts—to be defended by all our hands.” Though Dead Yet They Live. And with you and with them, hovering over and around you, would’be these who are dead, yet who are living in the ac- complishment of their work. Standing upon the parapets of eternity, watching us and those who come after us, they send their message of encouragement and command. We see the lost battalions marching in the light of glory. With them stand the great commanders, not on pedestals Leyond their reach, but as soldiers with the boys—Grant and Sher- man and McClellan and Sheridan and Logan and Meade and the others. And in that vision we behold the great- est no greater than the least, and the least as great as the greatest. For the heart of the soldier was just as true, just as warm and just as immortal, whether he wore shoulder straps or went from the ranks to the presence of the One who commands us all, and under whom are the destinies of nations, the blessings of life and the hopes of the future. a WILL CARLETON Brief Tribute in Verse to the Nation’s Dead Defenders. Will Carleton, the poet of the day at Ar- lington, read the following poem, entitled “Cover Them Over.” Cover them over with tiful flow'rs, with garlands, those brothers of ours, flent by night and by day, years of their manhood’ away, 1 mark'd for the Joys of the brave, Waste in the sioth of the grave? . Yes, cover them over, Parents and brother and husband and lover, Shrine in your heurts these dead Leroes And cover them over with beautifal flow'rs! Cover the faces that motionless He, Shot from the blue of the glorious sky; Lips that are silent and bosom ail cold, Hearts tried and true resting now in the mold. e them the chaplets they won in the strife, e them the garlands they lost with their life; er them over, yes, cover thent aver, Varents and brother aud husband and lover, Shrine im your hearts these dead heroes of curs, And cover them over with beautiful fow'rs. LOVE OF COUNTRY Patriotism Demanded by Our Liv- ing and Dead Defenders. AN URGENT CALL 70 CIVIC DUTY Rev. Dr. Garrigan’s Address at the Soldiers’ Home. A GREAT TRUST TO KEEP ‘The oration at the burial ground attached to the “Soldiers’ Home was delivered by Rev. Dr. Garrigan, vice rector of the Cath- olic University. Rev. Dr. Garrigan, after an eloquent trib- ute to the day and its memories and the re- union of the nation, said: In order to this grand accomplishment hundreds of thousands of them laid down their lives on the field of battle; but they died not. Their spirits still keep guard over the sacred trust which they purchased with their blood, and from their last rest- ing places at Arlington, and Gettysburg, and Memphis, and Fredericksburg, and Co- rinth, aud Vicksburg, and Andersonville, and Chattanooga, and Shiloh, from one hundred hillsides they keep watch over the nation, and challenge for the password every man who would enter into our privi- leged citizenship and enjoy our liberties. And the password they demand is an epit- ome of all civic duty; patriotism—Amer- Rev. Dr. Garrigan. ican patriotism, in the best and broadest meaning of the word: patriotism they de- mand of us; love of country next to iove of God. Love of country from a natural and conscientious motive; because the God of nations has implanted this noble sentiment in the human heart, and has commanded that we give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, by. the same obligation that we give to God what is God's. Yes, next to God is country, and next to religion is patriotism. And this is the true principle of national life: the vital spark of natiénal honor; the pur well-spring of the people's prosperity, the shield of the nation’s safety. * lime,” says a patriot prelate, thusiasm and heroic oblations on the field of battle.” “Oh, glorious is he,” exclaims, in Homer, the Trojan warrior, “who for his country falls.’ It is sublime in the oft- recurring cares and labors of dutiful, hon- est citizenship. It is sublime in the exer- cise of the franchise, through the nonest vote of the humblest citizen may balance and even counteract the tainted ballot of the monopolist or syndicate millionaire. Sueh patriotism, pure, large, unselfish aud intelligent, and akin to religion, L call the virtue of patriotism; and this virtue in name and in deed our fallen heroes and their living comrades have made the pass- word of the hour, and the characteristic of true Americanism. A Demand for Patriotism. And it seems to me that the demand from the living and dead defenders of our common country for patriotism was never more timely than now. For seldom, indeed neyer in our history, were we subject to so great and unhealthy influences, foreign and domestic, as today. The spirit of anarchy or defiance of law; the greed of wealth at any cost, eating the heart of corporations and individuals; the servile seeking after titles; the influence of trusts on our state and national legislatures; the avoidance of such municipal and civie duties as offer neither high honors nor great emolument— all these reveal our aristocratic tendencies and contrast our present state sadly with the honest, unselfish, Joyal citizenship that distinguished the republic of our fathers. Many of these abuses are corruptions of decadent monarchies and are a foretgn growth on our social and economic life, and like diveased or disabled emigrants should be returned in the next ship to die on their native sol! and rest with their fathers. They are an unnatural graft on our young republican tree, and they will deform the fair growth of American life and manners and taint its golden fruit. There is no patriotism in the sectional legslaticn from which the country has suffered for the past few years. During these years our domestic industries were almost paralyzed, standing idle month after month, with thousands of operatives starving, and the whole country waiting and pleading for national legislation, which alone could bring relief. The relief came not from Congress, and it {s doubtful if those representatives of a free and intelll- gent people yet understand that the wel- fare of the whole country is of greater im- portance than that of a part or section, and “a fortiore’ is above the Interest of a trust or a syndfcate. Our legislators and Public officials too often forget that their positions are sacred trusts, confided to them by the people, to be discharged con- scientiously for the benefit of the whole country, and not for section or for self. It was not with this mind that Washington en- dured the hardships of Valley Forge, and founded the republic; it was not in this spirit that grant and Skerman and Sheri- dan, and, I dare add, Lee and Jackson, fought their campaigns. It was not on these narrow lines that Jefferson, Clay and Adams laid the foundation of our national and legislative executive offices. No; these were ali statesmen and patriots, who were actuated by one pure motive, and who had one high purpose always in view; they were actuated by a conscientious sense of duty and honor, and they rever lost sight of the welfare of the whole commonwealth. Now, this is what the password of the cit- izen-soldier, ving and dead, demands of us today. This is true patriotism and true Americanism. And the veteran has a right to demand this of us, because he first taught us, and still teaches us, lessons of the highest and purest patriotism. Indeed, he is patriotism ftself personified. In the hour of his ccuntry’s danger he left home and all that the heart of man adores and loves, and, taking his place in the volun- teer ranks, went to the front, and there offered his noble young life to save the re- public from the shame of defeat and the loss of dismemberment. He forgot self- interest and ease; he gave wflling obedience to military law and discipline; endured heroically all the hardships of camp and battletield; bore defeat and victory with equanimity and evinced a morality and in- telligence rarely, if ever, found in an army of such vast and diverse proportions. The soldiers of the war of the rebellion, like their ancestors of the revolution, did not enter the army for gain or conquest. They brought no local Issues into the contest; made re) bargains. They fought for every state, and section, and class; they fought and bled and died, “pro aris et focis,” for our altars and firesides, for the whole country; for the maintenance of the federal be in ail its native integrity and splen- jor. A Rebuke to the Traitor. 5 Their intense love of country, conse- crated with their blood, is a silent but eloquent rebuke to the traitor who sells his vote, whether at the ballot box or in the halls of Congress. Their broad, unselfish patriotism should silence and shame, if shame be in them, the few noisy, fiery zealots, as ignorant of true Americanism as they are of true Christianity, who seek every opportunity, and even an occasion like this, to sow seeds of dissension in our land, to revive the dead issues of a “‘lost cause,” to range section against section and class against class, and all this, as they would have us believe, through love of country, which country, In their opin- jon, belongs exclusively to that portion of the people who have a certain quality of blood in their velns and certain religious and political in their brains. They forget that th ar is over, and to the joy of our wi country that we are now a united and happy people, whose in- terests and glory<are one and identical. They forget that the army and navy, whose patriotism is honored today throughout the=lerigth and breadth of our land, were largely composed of men whose ancestors never; inched in war, whose race and religion, however, they would now proscribe.,They forget, or will not know, that the blood of America, Ireland, of Germany ang 9f other nations was shed for the same sagred cause, flowed in the same stream and,drenched the same bat- tlefields; that the mangled bodies of these brave soldiers re deposited together in the same pit; tHpt the green grass of springtime breaks annually from their com- mingled dust, and that the dew falls con- stantly from heaven on their union in the grave. But why disturb their peaceful slumbers? No! Eternal rest to those noble spirits, and everlasting praise to their names! The disseminators of discord were not in the ranks; they do not understand the spirit of our Constitution; they are neither statesmen nor soldiers; they repre- sent only themselves, and in spite of them the republic will live, and will grow more pure and patriotic day by day—religious conscience and national honor nourishing the ardent patriotism of all its citizens. It has a glorious God-given mission; first, to its own people, and then to all the liberty-loving peoples of the earth, before whose eyes it is the symbol of human rights and human liberties, and for whom its star-spangled banner is what the cross in the heavens was to Constantine—the em- blem of victory, peace and prosperity. For my part I have an unwavering faith in the republic of America; I believe in it next to my God, and therefore I love it next to my God. I have faith in a divine over-ruling Providence which governs na- tions as indtviduals, and directs the prog- ress of humanity; and I could not believe that liberty and human progress were per- manent gifts from the Creator for man if they should fail in America. I believe in the great, loyal, national heart of the American people, which is both just and generous, which clings fast to liberty and sighs continually for more enlightenment. A Great Trust to Keep. Fellow-citizens and soldiers, a great trust has been handed down intact to us by our brothers who fought and who fell in the late war. A trust as extensive as the lim- its of our great country, and as far-reach- ing in its influences as time itself. To preserve and perpetuate to coming genera- tions that for which those heroes fought and fell—the unity and. integrity of the republic in all its strength and majesty. This is the shcred trust, and this we can discharge faithfully, if we follow the teachings of religion and patriotism. I be- lieve that truth and duty, God and coun- try, will be the motto of the Arrerican peo- ple, the light of their minds and the rule of their actions. Then our country will be safe and its future secure. Different interests and different sections may be out of joint with one another for a time, and for a time dangerously jar; even the social organism may be feverish; but this is sim- ply the effort of new conditions and de- velopments moving toward readjustment. The clouds will pass; the fevered tempera- ture will lower; wise councils will prevail; pure politics and unselfish leadership will assuredly triumph, and we will thus per- petuate with increased honor and glory what the citizensoldier established in his blood. “And the star-spangled banner forever shall wave er the land of fhe free and the home of the brave. IS THIS THE END? ‘Thomas Calvert's’ Lines Read at Sol- diers’ Home Today. The poet of the day at the Soldiers’ Home cemetery was Dr. Thomas:Calver. He read the following stanzag, entitled “Is This the Enda?” 3 Is this the end—thé woxh-out soflier sleeping, ‘The requiem by the lowly, mossy grave, ‘The widew and the helpless children weeping, Gowers that breathe sweet bomage to the brave? ; Is this the end—the/mother’s fond heart broken, The boyhood. pertsalt on the parlor wall, ‘The lock of hair—afcetion’s dearest token— ‘The picture of a soldicr—is this all? q In this the end of: ties long and weary, Of vigils throu; cold gua stormy nights, Of wounds and sickness, prisons dark and-dreary, ‘And reckless carnage of the dreadful fights? Within my memory lives a viyid etching— A cottage home amidst the fairest flowers; Green fields and meadows sweet before it stretch- ing, * Past rippling streams and lovely sylvan bowers, Beside the cottage door a group is standing— A mother by so many charms endeared; A gray-balred father, with a form commanding, A fice to be remembered and revered. ‘Two blue-eyed sisters, with soft, shining tresses; A fair young wife—the dearest of t IL Abd in their m.idsi, receiving their careswes, A brown-eyed soldier, strorg, erect und tall. ‘The pulse of Time with moments quick Is throbbing; ‘The ditm is calling the departing son; ‘The kiss, the fond embrace, the tear, the sobbing, Must plead in vain when work is to be done. Arother scene within my mind is burning— A picture that is paiufal to recall— A worn, spent soldier from the war geese When iirst he Meets again bis dear ones all. ‘The form so beat, the face so wan and listless, The eyes so sad, the halting step so weak, The enpty sleeve, with eloquence rexistless Of War's relentiess cacrinces speak. The frightened, tearful visage of the mother; The father's drawn and sorrow-laden face; ‘The sister's sobs: the anguish of that other Who folds her her> in her close embrace. Is this the end of all thcse scenes so vivid, And others sadder yet, more bitter far— Wet eyes of love fixed on the features livid Of him whose spirit nears the gates ajar? Is this the end of never-ceasing sorrows, Of scalding tears and hopeless, breaking hearts, Of nights of woe that bring no kinder morrows, Save when the sobbing, painful breath departs? No! no! ‘Tis not sthe end! In voice of thunder A reunited natioN answers now, Ane shows the stars that once were far asunder, In one bright blaze of beauty ou her brow. ‘Tis not the «nd! The smiles of peaceful peoples, rane busy shove, the farms with frultage ote, e happy schools, the God-proclaiming steeples, ‘Are but the harvest of w noble strife’ ‘Then deck their monuments with wreaths of glory; Let Love's most precious tears fall on thelr graves And in cach’ happy home be heard the story Of what the nation owes her fallen braves. WHERE OUR HEROES SLEEP. A Poem by Bessie Beech Read at Con- gressional Cemetery. The poem written for the Memorial day exercises at Congressional cemetery, by Mrs. M. D. Lincoln (Bessie Beech), was en- titled “Where Our Heroes Sleep,” and was as follows: The sweet scented fowers, the fragrance of May, The glad golden sunlight that falls here today, "Mid roses, and gitrlands, sud crowns for the braves, Who quietly sleep in their flower-strewn graves, Sweet peace, like a halo; the reverent breeze That comes’ with its music to sigh through the trees, : Or waft on the aif’a cadence of song ‘To reach to the city where dwell the great throng. Here, echoes toda,’ our téquiem low, So sad with the pathos wyere tears ever flow; On the dust of our dead, disturb not by strife, In this city so stiMl, yet’ So throbbing with lifet We hear the wildelamor, we sce the vast throng Marching on to destructiop, the gallant and strong; We hear the deep thunder of hosts as they tread ‘To the mouth of the conten, or shell over head! Will none call a halt to’this carnage £0 vast, None break in the ranks-as thé victims march past; No angel of mercy, no hand stay the blood, ‘That sweeps o'er; the earth like a deluging’ flood? Ab, no; while the stars and the stripes led the host, None halted, none’ faltered, nor counted the cost; Onr country, our honor, ofr homes and our pride! And our gallants pe’er halted, as they marched side by side. ‘Oh, cruel the carnage; the victims our best, Our bravect and truest, who slumber and rest; See, now they aré coming, they linger today, Where thelr comrades these tributes so tenderly Not one has returned from the silence beyond, Tet) we) know; they (are! wexrjuss std taitueall and ‘They eagerly watch, and thelr message ts heard, Though ‘they utter’ no sound, and breathe not a wu ‘The flowers we strew o'er the tombs of our dead Will bring back a message wherever we tread; And the dew in the lilies’ fair calix tonight May glow with love's answer from the realm of Tight. ‘The drums’ muffled measure, the bugle’s shrill note, From the shore immortal may tenderly float; And harmonies sweet drown the tumult and strife, And make us more brave for the battle of life. Sa eeee eens Louis Sherezefsky, a Jewish rabbi, in charge of the Sharad Tefilla, was stricken with death in Indianapolis yesterday after- noon just after finishing his sermon, and his wife became a raving maniac. AMERICAN PATRIOTS A Theme That Inspired Rev. Dr. Easton to Eloquence. ORATION AT GRACELAND CEMETERY White Slavery at the North Not to Be Tolerated. DANGERS FROM IGNORANCE Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers Easton, pas- tor of the Eastern Presbyterian Church, was the orator of the day at Graceland cemetery. Rev. Dr. Easton’s theme was “Ameri- can Patriots and Their Deeds of Valor.” He spoke as follows: Patriotism is the highest virtue ascribed to the citizen. It dwells with generous and heroic minds and inspires lofty and magnanjmous deeds. It has been common to define patriotism as love of country, but it 1s something more. The love of our native land is merely the source in which this exalted principle has its rise. An enlightened and enlarged conception of what constitutes the real good of our coun- try and that sanctifies the sacrifices made in the nation’s salvation. A true patriotism embraces all the in- terests and happiness and prosperity of Dr. Easton. our loved republic and conscripts to its use all the genius, rank and wealth and eloquence to defend its civil and religious rights and institutions of freedom, so as to perpetuate and hani them down from generation to generation. Thirty years and more have come and gone since peace was proclaimed and the horrors of fratricidal war closed and the Union saved. Why should we assemble here to scatter tiese flowers over the graves of the sleeping heroes? Is it to per- petuate hate and keep open the old wounds between north and south? Is it to mero glorify the heroism of the northern armies? Not at ail. The purpose it to keep aflame true patriotic principles in the hearts of the present generation in these times of peace, assured that if we prove recreant to the gallant memories of Shiloh, Gettys- burg and the Wilderness and Sherman's march to the sea we may find ourselves destitute of heroes to save us in any future struggle that may arise from foreign foes! Four long years—years filled with alter- nating hopes and discouragements—victo- ries and defeats—they battled on. Brilliant statesmea quailed and talked about “peace at any price.” Sagacious theorists suggested “compromises,” and cowards fled to Eng- lish soll when new drafts were ordered, but the army never once wavered, and the mighty hosts of God drove on and never uttered one regret or m-urmur or failed un- til Lee surrendered his sword to the man whom all the nations of the earth honored —a name enshrined in every American pa- triot’s heart—Ulysses S. Grant. ‘The veterans that surround me are but a remnant of that army of heroic yolun- teers who, when the solemn and decisive crisis came, and he who sat at the helm of the nation at the White House, a man raised up by God for special deliverance of a great cause, and fell a martyr to liberty— a_name that thrills every soul with pa- triotic fervor—Abraham Lincoln—when he called for reinforcements answered back— “We're coming, Father Abraham, Six hundred thousand strong,” and rested not until the effulgent light of a righteous peace illumed the face of every man in the land, and which intelligent and heroic valor consecrated forever to Lib- erty! Dii I say intelligent? The Dangers of Ignorance. “Ignorance is the strong ally of oppres- sion, and more dangerous in republics than in monarchies, because it transforms the masses into plant tools of demagogues and gives power to the corrupt and unworthy and inflames the passions of the populace, and under tne blight of ignorance the ex- periment of popular goverrment must fail. The best education is: that which teaches the people their rights as men and their duties as citizens, and the essential dis- tinctions between true Hberty and a false license! There is but one way to secure this ard so preserve our inheritance, which our dead heroes gave to us and to our chil- dren, and that is your preserving the com- mon free schools, over which waves the sacred emblem, the stars and stripes! “Our American homes represent about 13,- 484,572 of school age, representing every race and conditton. They are advancing at the rate of a million a year. Every citizen ought to interest himself in the personnel of our educators and insist that patriotism shall be taught in all our public schools, for the very existence of our republic de- pends upon it, as it is what Lincoln has so eloquently said, ‘A government of the peo- ple, by the pe»ple and for the people.’ American Labor. “We desire to see the memory of our he- roes held cear, so that the coming man- hood of the nation, whether it toil at the forge or at the loom, or in the bowels of the earth, deep down in mines, bringing out nature's hoardings for the benefit of our 70,000,000 population, shall be defended against dgbasement and serf-like tyranny and toil for less than man should take or man should give. Having ended forever slavery in the cotton fields of the south- land, we must not tolerate white slavery at the north! Monopolies and oppressive corporations must not tread upon the rights of American labor! “Ill fares the land to sickening ills a prey, Whose weaith increases, but whose men decay.’ “The immortal Lincoln led his country up to the sublimity of resolving that in a republic of freemen there should not and could not justly exist a slave, and his mas- terful American spirit inspired the party of liberty, inspired the legions of glorified heroes who followed the path marked be- fore he sank to rest, and It is ours to stand up and deciare over the graves of the sleeping martyrs that there is not an inch of soll on which there shall be found a white slave of labor! Said Daniel Web- ster: ‘The world’s deep and awful anxiety is to learn whether free states may be stable as well as free.” The war of 1861- 1864 proved beyond all,debate, and settled the question forever, the stability of our free states and made all the states free, in fact, what our forefathers had held in the- ory, let us teach the truth, not in bitter- ness, but in love and just patriotism, that all who come after us shall know the truth and avoid the rocks that nearly stranded and wrecked the grandest republic that ever rose upon the shores of history!” The Peroration. The orator closed with an eloquent trib- ute to the departed Secretary of State, Walter Q. Gresham, and finished the ora- tion thus: “Oh, land of liberty, my heart loved thee before my eyes beheld thy consecrated shores, and longed for the day to come wher I should be numbered with thy sons. ‘That day came long ago, for which I never forget to render thanks to that loving prov- idence which hath made thee glorious, and thy destiny blessed. Today I am thy son and thou art my country—my proudest boast, the noblest of my free, unfettered spirit, is I am an American citizen! Were I now, oh, my country, sweet, beautiful Columbia, the Kohinor among all the na- tions, to express for the last time on earth the wish of my heart for thee, I would plead, may the Providence that hath sus- tained thee and raised up invincible de- fenders for thee in times of peril, whose graves we garland today, grant thee in thy future need the guardianship, protec- tion and defense of like incompatible fi- delity, broad intelligence and unconquer- able patriotism of the heroes whose dust is dear to American freemen! Hail, beau- teous, sacred ensign of the nation, hope of humanity and pride of freedom. May mor- tal eyes never see a film of darkness on one of thy radiant stars, nor blur of defeat on thy proudly swelling folds, and when the beams of the expiring sun shall shed the Nght of day upon the earth for the last time and the heralds of Jehovd® shall sound the dread call of the ving and the dead to judgment, may thou, oh, flag, float serene, majestic and impassable over this western world, revered, unrivaled, unsullied and be- loved, bearing witness to the deathless fi- delity of Americans to liberty!” iy John A. Joyce. OAK HILL. Poet Joyce’s Tribute to the Distin- guished Dend. The following pcem was read today by Col. John A. Joyce at the memorial services at Oak Hill: Grand Home of the Dead! we mourn as we tread Near the forms that crumble below; sad and how stiil the graves on’ Qak Hill, "Neath the sunlight in bright golden glow. Here's a rough, rude stone, moss-grown and alone, Where old Time has left’ not a trace Of the name it bofe in the days of yore, After brain and body ceased race. Vain, vain is the thought; no one ever bought Exemption from final decay— To live and to rot, and.then be forgot, ‘The fate of the quick of today. The soldier and sage from age unto age Have slept ‘neath these towering trees; The young and the old, the bright and the bold Are sung by the breath of the breeze. Brave Babcock In peace here finds his surcease From sorrows that troubled his life, And rests with his God, beneath the green sod, Away from this cold world of strife. Here Reno retires from war's flaming fires, To shine with immortals above, And bivouac there, devoid of all care, In realms of infinite love. Here Morris. the brave, a king of the wave, Doth slumber beneath the old flag; Hero so grand, on the famed “Cumberland,” And bold as‘a tall mountain crag. While ocean shall roar on rock-beaten shore The memory of Morris shall be, A great loyai light for freedom’s fair fight ‘On river, on land and on sea. And Stanton, the grand, stood out for this land When Rebellion reared up its fierce face; Calmly reposes ‘neath beds of sweet roses— A lone hero tn war's ruin race. His great iron arm kept the Union from harm, While he smashed all the foes in its way— As great Lincoln, his cblef, looked om with deep grie! 2 At the war ‘twixt the Blue and the Gray. As years roll along, with sorrow or His name sball grow braver and brighter— A Purltan true, who knew what to do With soldiers and Grant, the great fighter. Here sleeps fine Van Ness, who knew no distress, While Burns expended his gold— A Senator true, who b’lieved in the Blue; A gentleman honest and bold. Great Lorenzo Dow, who never knew how ‘Yo garnish his truth with a lie, Sleeps under these flowers through May's golden hours, Tlummed by the sun and the sky. Here Corcoran, the sage; Bishop Pinckney, broad gauge, Repose under marble so white They've gone to a land, bright, blooming and grand, Where never, up there, is a night. Here Jobn Howard Payne sings again that refrain ‘That thrills us wherever we roam; O'er land or o'er sea, our hearts still shall be The Mecca of dear’ Home, Sweet Home. O'er the flight of the years, with smiles or with rears, ‘The memory of Payne shall remain; And inillions unborn, in twilight and’mora, Shall sing his immortal refrain. Let soldier and sage from age unto age Richly have all their merit and praise; But the poet will be a light for the free To the end of our last, dawning days. Count Bodisco sleeps here, where trees shed a tear O'er the grave of the Muscovite peer— Away from all ill, he rests on Oak Hill, A memory from year unto year. Dick Merrick lies here, a bright, brilliant seer, A lawyer of lingering renown, Who fought every wrong of the cruel and strong In county, or city, or town. Here rests the bright Blaine, in sunshine and rain, Who left bis imprint on the Nation— A keen, brainy mind, devoted and kind, Well fitted to fill a great station. shaft marks bis grave, to tell traveler or slave Where that proud, loyal heart lowly lies; Yet the tall pines of Maine sigh in sorrow for laine, As they toss their green heads to the skies.- Our sweet lttle child, so simple and mild, Sleeps here, under roses so fair; Yet, soon we shall go to a clime where no woe ‘OF sighs can corrode us with care. Mother and sister, sweetheart and wife, Repose from their labors on earth, Testing alone, away from all strife, Where the soul finds a happy, new birth. Yet the citizens dead have always been wed To Liberty, Friendship and Truth— ‘Must be honored as well as soldiers who fell In the pride of their brave, loyal youth. ‘Then, strew sweetest flowers o'er the soldier, But remember the eitizen, too, Who stood by his conscfence in trouble— ‘And supported the Gray or the Blue. GQ bless our grand Nation forever; God bless every heart, fond and true; God bless any soul that’ won't sever ‘The Gray from the Red, White and Blue, AFIER THIRTY YEARS. Union and Confederate Veierans Dine Together in Amity, The banquet of the federal and confeder- ate veterans in Chicago last night marked an epoch in the history of the united north and south. Before the regular toast list was called Gen. Stephen D. Lee of Missis- sippt was called upon and sa‘ “Chicago's hospitality knows no section- alism. No American is a stranger. This great city, the future metropolis of this country, is catholic. This event will be historic. We make no war on the dead, and we, the vanquished, come to the home of the bravest victors. We accept the friendship in the same spirit it is offered. Come and conquer us of the south again, not with your bayonets, but with your commercial men.”* Gen. Wade Hampton presented a resolu- tion in regard to the death of Gen. Gres- ham, and the 200 guests silently drank to his memory. Acting as toastmaster, Col. Henry L, Turner, commanding the first Infantry of the Illinois National Guard, welcomed the southerners as “comrades,” and offered his tribute in the form of a poem. “The Army of the Tennessee” was re- sponded to by Gen. Longstreet, who was greeted with an outburst of applause. The banqueters applauded a touching tribute to Grant. In response to “The American soldier in history,’ ex-Senator Butler of South Caro- lina placed him in the first rank of the world’s soldiers. I do not think any other city onthe face of the earth would have had the audacity to invite us rebels here to- night. It is to your everlasting honor and glory.’ Gen. Black of Illinois responded to the toast ‘‘Here’s the hand of fellowship.” Gen. Fitzhugh Lee responded to “Shall the south not grasp it? A hearty greeting was extended to Gen. Hampton when he arose to respond to “Southern chivalry from 1776 to 1865." He said: ‘The people of Chicago have done something that is the most honorable act that was ever performed in the history of this country. Bigots may blame you or us, but this act pf yours is the grandest thing of the century. It is magnificent chivalry that you should raise a monument to the confederate dead.” Other speakers were Solicitor General Holmes Conrad, Senator John W. Daniel and Major Gen. H. Kyd Douglas. ‘ A. SAILOR’S TRIBUTE Lieut. Young's Eioquent Address at Arlington, FOUNDING THE AMERICAN NATION Messages Left Us by the. Patriot Dead. AMERICANS OF THE FUTURE One of the interesting features of the ex- ercises at Arlington was an address by Lieut. Lucien Young of the navy. Lieut. Young said: © Grand Army of the Republic, ladies and gentlemen: We are here today to celebrate the vernal festival of American patriotism. A grateful people are again assembled to show their appreciation of the heroes of the nation. They wiil decorate the graves of our martyred dead and renew memories of the illustriovs men who unified this na- tion and perpetuated its free and indepen- dent institutions. Thousands of old soldiers and sailors are today turning aside in the walks of life to visit the silent encampment of dead comrades who once fought by their sides, As year after year the band of the living grows smaller and the circle is narrowing, the band of the dead is increasing. But Lieut. Lucien Youn: you who are left, though your hands trem- ble with age, will today strew flowers upon the host of valiant brothers who rest from the toils of life in that deep, long sleep whose reveille shall be the resurrection. Silent, still and undisturbed is their rest in this consecrated place, overlooking the cap- ital of the nation. They lid their honor, their patriotism, their integrity and their fortunes upon the country’s altar, and sealed those gifts with their blood and rat- ified them with their death. Sleep on, ye fallen ones! No wily foe can burst upon your camping ground, or drive you from your lonely bivouac, while the great Poto- mac chants your eternal requiem, and God’s angels keep watch and ward above your graves. When you are all gone we of this genera- tion, and those coming on, will guard these graves with sacred vigilance, and permit mo wanton foot to tread lightly on their hallowed ground, no vandalism, no avar- ice, no neglect and no ravages of time shall bear witness that we have forgotten the cost of a free and united republic. Over the ashes of these quiet sleepers will be kindled anew, each year, the perpetual fires of eternal greatness. Foundations of Nationality. The heroes of the country, alive or dead, constitute the foundation of American na- tionality, and as heroism is by divine reve- lation the tie which binds great men to other men it unites us today with every hero on the land and in the sea who fell for his country, making us a nation in which the states of this Union will, like the stars of the great planetary system, hereafter differ from each other only in glory, while revolving around that celestial sun, re- splendent with the living light to irradiate the world with the sublime doctrine of divine right of the people to self-govern- ment. We have not the power to roll away the great curtain which separates the present from the future, and we are profoundly ignorant of the events of gladness or sad- ness that le across our naiicaal pathway. If the dead past were left to bury its dead the morrow would bear no blossoms of hope; its weird branches would sway in un- fruitful nakedness before us, withering every aspiration, striking to palsy every ambition, suffocating every generous im- ulse of the soul. The yesterdays of time e fretted their traces on the shores of eternity since eternity began. No day was ever without its yesterday; no day shall ever live unlinked with a tomorrow, until the sun and its vaster system has grown feeble from sheer old age and died of in- anition. Without the promise of a tomorrow we should die today of despair; without a yes- terday there cguld be no today; in the prea- ent alone we cannot live. Today is already spent—we live and execute in the tomor- row. We toss from hand to hand, we gather and number and fondle the accomplish- ments, the trophies, of yesterday. We are enlightened and directed by the accumu- lated wisdom of the ages that have flown. To forget the past is to abandon hope of the future. To allow these graves to be overgrown with the brambles of neglect would be to become indifferent to the per- manence of the republic. Americans of the Future. Who and what manner of men shall they be? They shall not speak to us, but we may communicate to them our hopes and aspirations, we may hold communion with them as our fathers have with us, we may transmit to them that one lesson which has been echoed down to us through all the sounding canons of time—that Hberty is to be had only at the price of unsleeping vigilance; that its watch fires, once suf- fered through the temptation of inexpedi- ency or the neglect that comes of over- confidence to grow cold in extinction, ere never again to be fanned into life and flame. The message which our fathers have left us was emphasized and impressed in the awful roar of cannon, whose thunder we may fency is yet faintly but distinctly echoing around this restful spot. This is the message which yon towering shaft of white proclaims; this is the message which yon glorious figure of bronze crowning its majestic dome delivers from the very vault of heaven. This is te assurance and the prayer that exhales Hke a perfume wafted on the breath of spring, floating on the bosom of the evening, aromatic in all the verdure of the year’s tenderest youth, murmured in the whisperings of the breezes, mellowed in the sunlight, reflected in the blue heavens, mingled in the odors of this plain strewn deep in flowers, that come 10 us from the restful, glorious files and platoons and regiments of heroes who for- ever encamp within these more than holy confines. Would you in patriotic pilgrimage behold with enraptured vision, touch with rever- ent hand, slake a thirsty soul aglow with love of country, before the palpable real- ity of the sacred corner stone of the re- splendent shrine of our freedom? Would you gaze entranced upon the foundation of the Pantheon of our liberty, which has quickened and developed such wondrous political and economic results, which has within so brief a space transformed a con- tinent of wilderness into a mighty repub- lic, instinct with progress, stored with all that science, letters and human genius ean yield, and over all of which arches the rainbow of sweet content? Seek it not in yellowing scroll nor fading script nor in cunning marble nor fashion bronze, seek it not under yon proud palace of gleaming white; not in monument, col- umn nor statue. There is but one founda- tion; its corner stones are many. They are these wreathed headstones that gleam in honor above these veterans discharged, who, dying for liberty’s sake, enjoy an eauality of glory. Here rests the founda- tion of our freedom roa equality. Here is the shrine of all our glory. Then never let the graves of our patriot dead be forgotten by the hand of affeo- tion. Let the sepulchre of the brave be made worthy resorts of weeping freedom. Let the solid stone tahiee over lumbering bodies of our roes. the inarbie shafts spring above thelr ony dwelling places. Let the moraine. ning sun play upon these grass: symbotic: of the showery benedictions this and coming generations,