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Show THE GREAT PARADE. The grand parade of the G. A. R. veterans vet-erans in Salt Lake City yesterday was nn event long to be remembered. Tt. was magnificent The turnout was fine. The nunibor attending from some of the States a long way off was remarkably large; and the distinguishing feature of the personnel of those who did attend is thar they' are for ihc most part stalwart, stal-wart, able-bodied men. The distance they had to come seems to have acted as a means of selecting those who arc robusL to come and retarding the infirm. And so we suppose there has not been at any G. A. H. encampment in any of the older States so few aged nnd infirm as at this one. We presume, ulso, ihni it must necessarily be true lhat a far larger proportion of those who were in aitendnuce at this encampment took part in the parade than on any other occasion. As a rule the men are sturdy, stur-dy, active nnd strong. They stood the march in splendid style, the only complaint com-plaint being heard from them being of tho stoppages which compelled them to stand still waiting for something, they knew not what; but those that dropped out of the parade wore remarkably few; nrncticallv all staid to the finish. And it was all magnificent. The regular troops and the National Guard turned out in handsome style; but of course the center of attraction was the line formed by the old veterans veter-ans themselves. The different States wore well represented, Illinois headed the column, having a long line, Wisconsin Wiscon-sin came next, with a fine representation; representa-tion; then the States in (heir order as it has been printed, the Utah posts forming the guard of honor and closing the column of march. The surviving remnants of the prisoners of war in attendance at-tendance were astonishingly fow; they carried banners naming the different prisons in which they were confined,-but, confined,-but, altogether they were only a small squnil. . . The weal her was auspicious, there ne-.ing ne-.ing light clouds which softened the sun's rays a good deal of tho time; when the clouds passed off from the face of the sun, it was warm, although ;ho gentle breeze, that was stirring saved the situation from being oppressive. oppres-sive. Directly after the parade disbanded, dis-banded, a shower came on,. making the temperature delightful. The beauty of the decorations along tho lino of march was universally praised, the street decorations especially, and the house front decorations also were much admired. The living Hag across Main street at the turning of the march on Seventh South street, was a beautiful sight, vastly appreciated by the veterans. It is "a thousand pities . that the childron 'composing' it wore so great sufferers from the heat of the'suri. There was a canopy provided for aud it' should have been put in aud shaded them. And so another of the great historic parades of the G. A. R. has been had in great form, and with a sufficient number to make it n glorious and inspiring in-spiring sight. We should say that there must have been as many as five thousand thou-sand men in line, and there w-cre extremely ex-tremely few casualties among them on account of tho exaction of the march; and this is an astonishing thing; it bears out the presumption that none but the veterans who are hale and hearty came to this encampment; the visitors aro grand men. strong, well formed, and of commanding figures, ft was a scene long to be remembered bv those who saw it. It is not likely that Salt Lake City will ever sec its like again; for in a very few years these parades must be given up; Hie men who take part in them earned that right by devotion to their ' country; it. is an honor that can not be bought, transferred or assigned: it is a personal per-sonal privilege and all who wero able felt it incumbent upon them to take part in this march; so doing they offered of-fered a 'spectacle to Salt Lake that has left a powerful influence for patriotism. patriot-ism. f.f we could sec its like every year it would be all the better for us. but that is not to be. We have seen the last thar will over march in our streets, and in a very few years now no city will be honored by the liko, for the G. A. "R. is fading away, and soon it will bo but a memory, a thing of the past, going into history as something some-thing to be written about, but never more to be seen. But a glorious record the great army has made; it will ever be illustrious in the annals of the Rc public. |
