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Show 8 When We Honor the I I Heroes of Two Wars J I i--' L EMORIAL day, t-iT wrnlY ns t waa III I christened by B I ita sponsors, vnlW I tho Grand x)Pi J WJ Army' Docorn y- tho peopl'o at J largo porsist in calling it, although choBon by tho survivors or the war for tho union ns a soason lu which to honor the momory of our country'n defenders, comes to us from tho southland. It was tho women ot the south who Instituted tho custom of placing flowora upon tho grnvos ot not only their own dofondora nono tho less heroes becauso thoy died for a mlstakou Idea and a lost cause but also upon tho mounds that marked tho rosttng places of union soldiers. Realizing tho beauty nnd significant ot this conception, tho northorn peo-plo peo-plo did not long delay in following tho examplo set by tho south. In tho month of May, 18C8, Gen. John A. Logan, Lo-gan, thon commander of tho Grand Army of tho Ropubllc, issued an order for tho obsorvanco by that organiza tion of May 30 aa Memorial day a day to bo set apart to tho memory ot tho soldiers and sailors who foil in the war ot tho rebellion. This particular day waa choaon bocauso it was tho dato ot tho dlschargo ot tho laBt sol-dlor sol-dlor ot tho civil war. It is now a legal holiday In all the statos oxcopt ton. Until ten years ago It was difficult , tor thoao born alnco tho civil war to roallzo tho full slgnlflcanco that attaches at-taches to tho day that wo obsorvo so genorally. It Is truo thoy can gathor from history nil tho evonta ot that groat struggle In which brother tought against brothor and son against father, fa-ther, but thoy can form no ndequato conception ot tho constornutlon that pervaded tho north whan tho capital Itsolt was threatened. Thoy cannot grasp tho Import of tho victory of An-tlo An-tlo tarn; ot tho socond Uull Run; ot tho battlo of Fair Oaks; of tho Wilder-nossj Wilder-nossj ot tho llorcely oontostod battlo and, tho decisive ono ot tho war of Gettysburg, )n which 150,000 men were engaged ; nnd scoros of othor battles In which tho blood of heroes stained tho soil of tho soutli In that titanic strugglo botweon the atatos whon more than onco tho fato or the nation trombled In tho balance Although so many years havo passed since tho war of tho robelllon tho American people nre not oblivious or tho debt which thoy owe to thn men who fought, suffered and died that tho nation might Hvo, Tho recurronco of Momorlal day, with Its beautiful and pathetic coremonlos, conjures up visions of those dark days of tho past whon our soldiers In tho south woro rccelvlug their baptism of blood and flro and their frlonds at home were watting In drend, oxpectanoy tor "nown from tho front." And when it Is ro-culled ro-culled that thoro wero four long years of this warrnro thoso who havo appeared ap-peared upon tho atngo or Ufo slnco then may bo able to form nn idea of tho magnitudo ot whnt la conceded to bo tho greatest wnr In history. While Momorlal day has been, scrupulously scru-pulously obsorved In tho north for tho last 40 years, within tho last ten yoara it has been Invested with a now and solemn slgnlflcanco. It will bo a reminder that since tho closo oi tho rebellion tho country has again-boon again-boon shakon with tho throes of wai a conflict in which soma of its best blood was sprinkled upon tho altar ot patriotism. As tho veterans of '61 as-semblo as-semblo to pay homago to their dead comrades, and tho muffled drum and walling flfo sound a requiem over the horoea who mot death on southern battloflolda and in southern prisons, thoro will bo mourning also for th& patriots of '98 tho young men who, with courago nnd valor equal to that of tholr sires, toll by Spanish shot and Bholl that an oppressed peoplo nilght bo free. When tho chaplota -tfriro twinod nnd tho garlands nro woven foi thoso who havo listened to tlio Inst tnttoo they will also be laid upon an-othor an-othor gonorntlon of Amorlcan soldiers As the rites of the day are being obsorved In city, town and hamlot, tha solemnity of the occasion will ba brightened by tho knowledge that the country ia thoroughly reunited. Na iH sectional fooling nor bitter momorlca win now or overmoro nrlso to mar the JH harmony of the occasion. Tho- enmity that waa felt by a great portion of the south against its conquerors tins beon entlroly dissipated. And yet It was not the conquering guns of tho north- orn hosts that swept away sectional- .H Ism and removed the animosities en- ) gendered by that fractrlcldal striro. iH but rather tho cannon that thundered trom tho lleots ot Spain nnd tho vol JH leys that rattled from Spanish Mnu sera that welded together In ono hnr monlous nation the north and. south ;H When tho cnll to anna resounded through tho land in 1898 the. states south ot tho Potomac vied with, the H north nnd the west In responding tc tho summons to maintain the honor ol )H tho flag ngnlnst a foreign foo, nnd the first victim of that war was n son ol North Carolina. Tho south, with the jH rost of the country, can claim the vie tor's laurel even while her tears bo dow tho cypress that -marks her ho H Momorlal day will novor lose its Big nlflcnncn nnd Interest The ranks ol the Grand Army are becoming' do ploted with each succeeding year t Thoro vlll soon bo but n corporal' IjH guard of the members loft, for thoy aro bolng "mustered out" nt a rapid rate through age, disability and death Rut tho graves ot thoso who died fighting tor tho flag will not ba nog-looted. nog-looted. Memorial day ylll , continue to bo n day ot remcmbranco, The H Sons or Votornns will keep nllvo' the H patriotic flame when their ulrea arc . H no longer nblo to march to tho post jJH room and the cemetery. Then, too, tho Spanish war veternna will seo to JjBfl it that tho momorlOB of their fallen H comrades are kept green. H |