Show memorial day 11 we pause today in the midst of the never ending duties of life to give expression to high and noble tributes to the great armies of our heroes and to commemorate their virtues and their deeds with fitting and appropriate ceremonies As we undertake to view the mar development of a great nation with its mighty wonders we turn in to the soldier and in glor lous ious epitaph we would write of his courage his loyalty hia his blood car nage making possible the foundation of our country a greatness and build ing a structure that will stand for all time as an imperishable memorial of his love for humanity the purple of the evening and the billows of silver and gold of the morning paint the flowers and grasa grass and hide all that is mortal of young lives crushed out on cruel fields of war and where er they sleep in field or on mountain or in the silent deep where coral and the amber ride in youthful bloom or boyhood pride these grand heroic builders of his tory are transfigured into the light of his countenance memories rich with the years of half a century with their posthumous glories are before us glories at talked by heroes who have long been sleeping a long and dreamless sleep attained also by those who came back from the battle fields of the south land scarred and footsore to still give to the greatest nation on earth the best of their manhood they were not great as the world calls men great for they came from ham let and harvest field from lark tor four ests and rural solitudes they came in the strength of their young man hood with iron nerve and sinew the revealed possibilities of a amigh ty patriotism it was not the deed that made them great it was the mo me tive that prompted the deed the soldiers of america are great because they have never entered war for the sake of conquest tor for the sake of territory but always and only tor for the equal rights of their fellow men and today we gather the iris from the rushes the daisy from the mea dows the wild rose from the prairie and out of the secret woodland we watch the chariot of springtime bringing her choicest chaplets to our brave ones the same prairie and the same woodland that gave them birth now weave in choicest blossoms their tributes of love and all the nation joins in the sympathy of the solemn litanies of the past and sings a joy ful song unto the lord and our sur biving heroes of 61 in their last long march like israel are looking for ward to the promised land where there is no sound of battle only palms of victory and crowns of glory from the silent cities of the dead a great cry goes forth with an ini press lve and never ending injunction while the volcano across the seas still pours out its deadly missiles let us have peace Mp memorial morial day must not be wasted in sent sentiment ment that means nothing on this day we renew our consecration our fidelity our loyalty our vigil ance and prepare tor for the vision of the future that vision must be the perre lation of tl e principles of a groat great country and we assure our belv s hat that v chile hile we will keep the faith our fathers kept we will pray that ur footsteps may be timed to the r thin of the march of peace down tho the dark future through long generations the echoing sounds grow fainter and then cease and like a bell with solemn sweet vibrations I 1 hear once more the voice of christ say peace national tribune |