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Show X ! . Memorial Day i . i .1. Cvl NLS is a day oC sacred memorial. .J. X pyvffl Decoration Day originated in the hour of affliction, while its wreaths and X 'TP fi jjjjj blossoms cling to the cross of Immortality. X T rXjfl Hjfl!( It is a- day of awakened loyalty, patriotism and love, a day when memory re- nces m1' forgotten yesterdays; a day of retrospection and of floral tributes. J 4- CTpo ft-1S to this children of our republic what the "Passover", day was to the chil- j fr?X-?a- ANjwJ1,on 0jj. jsl..lcj v a ? . II, is not a day lo panegyrize the dead or eulogize :lhe living, so much as il; is to emphasize the 4" 5 "'.Mighty Cause" that fired, with rational love and patriotism -the heroic hearts of loyalty in behalf ? X of conscience. . ' X An anniversary day of the time when "blood; oE our blood." dauntless and brave, marched $ proudly away to battle for adjust and mighty principle.-keeping step-to the stinging notes of the fife jr. and the roll of clattering drums. ,.. ; T. Almost half a hundred years have been gathered into the arms of receding centuries, yet Ihc f ? "Oriflammc" of an unquenchable fire burns uudimmed in the hearts of almost an hundred million of people, unfalteringly committed to an abiding belief in the doctrines of individual liberty and !-X !-X universal freedom, and in its mighty sweep of'.tho years, reaching from Bunker Hill to Appomattox, X and on lo '.Manila Bay. .... ..... . X 11 is an epochal day of valiant deeds of grizzled . veterans who bared 'their hearts to the X f bullets of treason; it is a day of fender memories of fhevaloiand heroic bravery of entire battalions jr who freely spilled their crimson blood on manya well-fought battlefield .'for .-the "old flag," for x j progress, for civilization and for humanity.. -. ; '.f This is the day when the tablet stones of memory arc washed anew with the tears of devotion 4 X and unfaltering palriotism: a. day of awakened love for the Stars and Stripes that salutes the living y If and shrouds the departed: a day when a mighty people pay homage at the shrine of patriotism and scatter flowers in profusion upon the scpulehers of its defenders and send them out on the receding f waves of the sea as messages of love to the sailor boys who sleep beneath ; a day when our hearts hold T communion with the dead and patriotic memory materializes sleeping dust. f It is a day that epitomizes the past, translates the present aud transfigures Ihc future into a j; j vision of glory. It is a day that rises triumphant on the pedestal of our Nation's history; a day we t consign countless flowers to "cemeteries of slumber" on land and sea wherever our heroes Iran- "j. quilly sleep, to the restful music of babbling brooks, of rustling vines, of caroling birds, or the T. deep diapason of fretful wavos, indifferent now to sunshine or to storm for they have pitched their X ;l; tents beyond the stars. Peace to their sacred dust. X y It is 'a day we cheer the battle-scarred heroes living, and weep in silent sympathy for the T slain, even those of a. "lost cause" who rest beneath the palmetto and the tearful willow of the sunny y ? south. We bring Eartlrs fairest floral tributes to our loved ones dead, north, south, east and west, II yet these offerings but lightly symbolize the fragrant rose of gratitude in our hearts that perfumes $ X the redolent night wind, in the garden of lenderest memory.- If. T Today, all the people of our Nation make their annual pilgrimage to the caravansaries of the . ' X dead a"nd with sorrowing hearts render both life and death more beautiful with falling tears. The' i hope and belief in immortality is not a process of the genius of Evolution, but a revelation from God T- Himself. ? Time may gather the centuries in its arms but it can never efface from memory or sweep into oblivion our Nation's love for her patriotic sons. X "We firmly believe even against the corroding influence of time and the confusion of countless f. ages the name and the fame of every soldier or sailor will forever remain as immovable in the hearts j, i of posterity as the mighty rocks of Gibraltar have withstood the restless waves of a restless sea. jj Peace to your ashes, brave arid immortal comrades; may your sleep be sweet and restful until T j the final reveille is sounded and the slumbering earth gives up its dead, and may your awakening ;1; j be into "'Life Eternal." f v "WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON. " X - , t 4- ,jt..j,.;..;..;..;..;..;....X-vvvv ' |
