Show memorial day 1910 Count rys duty to heap honors on the thinning ranks of the veterans N the armies during the progress of the civil war there were enrolled a total of over 2 men tens of thousands of these nerl shed from wounds re eved in the struggle or from diseases contracted through the tha exposures a and n d hord hapa of f th oara n igns other tens of thousands re 6 arned maimed in limb or shattered I 1 health never to become again capable of on the natural struggle for existence and supremacy in the peaceful pursuits of life since the close of the war the ranks of the remnants of the union army have been thinned out con by the hand of death the expectancy of life left to these survivors of th ewar taking them in the mass the day that the great review was as held at arlington heights after peace was restored was much less than the normal term of human life still in spite of the thinning out of the ranks ranka there remain with us today a vast host of the old boys in blue who uhn left their homes and the peaceful pursuits of life to go to the front and protect the he homes of those left bo be hind hold up tile the flag of the country and preserve the union of the states this great I 1 gray host of the old sol diers presents a pathetic but inspiring spectacle to all of us this latest memo rial day when ihen we nie are called upon to commemorate their deeds of alor their patriotic devotion to the flag and and to the union and to fill our souls as at a pure fountain with a I 1 IP need splint of patriotism of greater love for our country greater appreciation for our adm hable liable institutions and a deeper and more devoted de termination it if the occasion should i arise to emulate their deeds and to be as true to the flag and the country as they were handing down to suc BUG beeding generations the union intact its institutions unimpaired as they did for us the united states has certainly stamped the old maxim republics are ungrateful as false there never was a country under any form of gov eminent which showed the measure of gratitude to the men who defended the flag and preserved re sered the nation at all comparable to the united states of america as shown shonn by the history of the treatment accorded to the sol adlers who mho fought in the great war aar year by year from that time cirile to this the scope of the pension list has been steadily dily enlarged almost a half century after the first call for troops by PI president dent lincoln in the spring of 1861 in spite of the hundreds of thou sands of the old army who nho have crossed over to the other side the government Is paying this year a baiger sum in pensions than was NN as provided the first year after the war and almost as much as aa in any previous ear car in all that have passed by As the years roll by we all should cultivate the spirl manifested by the government in c enlarging ging the scope of the 11 list s t As intimated stove this that the grateful hearts heart of I 1 americans are touched moro tenderly k if with a sense of the debt that we me owe the old soldiers as the years roll by those of us who ho see the old boys in blue marching through the streets on memorial day year by year can scarcely miss being by a sense of abo weight of years ye arshat rests upon of ilyf ti good gray eray aa remember it 0 more then a ego ago no as human life goeb goesY almost a gene generation generator raton and a half last recruit VAS enrolled in the army of khe ibe union just before the war came to its close there aie very few members of the grand army very few soldiers of the civil war who are only at the three score marl mark indeed are not many of them who are not at the psalmists term of life three score and abd ten there are but few alive who an answered sered the first call of president lincoln if the new recruit va were ere only twenty when that call went out ho he Is sixty eight now the soldier who was thirty la Is nearl eighty it Is 18 a touching thought to think of this noble army and took look back through the half century that 11 Is gone by and think of the bright promising sturdy youths buths with life all before them with quickened pulses with ith firm lindaver linw averin ing tread that shook the earth in the first army corps and biliades bil gades organ iced in the early days of the war nar when the great review was held near washington after peace was in mide ade the eyes of these boys in blue were still bright with hope their steps still firm and their hearts resolute un most went nent back to their homes glad the war ar waa as over they returned to the occupy eions they had bad laid down when the call to arms reached them chev have been through all these years of busl bus ne ness as good citizens law abiding indus arlous arious and self respecting taking care of themselves and of those dependent upon them as generally and as efficiently as those who mho never heard the rattle of musketry or the roar of ar tillery nor the shock of cavalry charging over the plain year by year their ranks are thin neng out now very rapidly year by year thousands of them drop they may never have another opportunity of experiencing a little joy begotten of the respect and gratitude shown by their countrymen it to Is fitting that the graves of those who are gono gone should be decorated with mith losers in memory of what they did and enaut ed but it Is still more important that we should show to those alio vho still remain among us our high appreciation of their patriotism ind and valor long live in thousands and tens tena 0 thousands the bois in blue may their ranks thin slowly may man 3 years pass by before taps Is sound ed oer the grave of the last of this great army of grizzled heroes and while athly live may americans of the present and of coining generations never lack in their admiration and gratitude to the men who protected the homes of america who bo upheld the flag of the country countr and who iho pre served the union of states intact with ith all the institutions institution framed by the fathers of the 11 awl I 1 I 1 11 loll 1011 |