Show medolla day 19 I 1 0 country s duty to hea heap honors on oil the thinning ranks of the veterans at N the armies during the progress of the civil war there were enrolled a total of over men tens of thousands of perished from wounds received in the struggle or from diseases contracted through the exposures and hardships of the campaigns other tens of thousands returned maimed in limb or shattered in health never to become again capable of carrying 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 constantly by the hand of death the expectancy of life leatto left toj J these survivors of the war taking them in the mass the day that the great review was 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 there remain with us today a vast host of the old boys in blue who left their homeland homes home sand and the peaceful pursuits itts of life to go to the front and protect the homes of those left behind hold up the flag of the country and preserve the union of the states this great gray host of the old soldiers presents a pathetic but inspiring spectacle to all of us this latest memorial day when we are called upon to commemorate their deeds of valor their patriotic devotion to the flag and and to the union and to fill our souls as at a pure fountain with a renewed spirit of patriotism of greater love for our country greater appreciation for our admi admirable raVle institutions and a deeper and more devoted do determination if the occasion should arise to emulate their deeds and to be as true to the flag and the country as they were handing down to succeeding generations the union intact its institutions unimpaired as they did for us the united has certainly stamped the old maxim republics are ungrateful as ab false there never was a country under any form of government ament which showed the measure of gratitude to the men who defended the flag and preserved tle the nation at all comparable to the united states of america as shown by the history of the treatment accorded to the soldiers soli I 1 who fought in the great war year by year from that time to this the scope of the pension list has been atea steadily dily enlarged almost a half century after the first call for troops by Preil president dent lincoln in the spring of 1861 tn in spite of the hundreds hundred of thousands of the old army who have crossed over to the other side the gover government ament Is ia paying this year a larger sum in pensions than was provided the first year after the war and almost as much as in any previous year in all that have passed by As the years roll by we all should cultivate the spirit manifested by the government in enlarging the scope of the pension list As intimated above tilts this proves that the grateful hearts of Arfie americans ricans are touched more tenderly el A with a sense of the debt that we owe the old soldiers as the ache years roll by those of us who see the old boys in blue marching through the streets on Ale memorial morial day year by year can scarcely miss being struck by a sense of the weight of years that rests upon the shoulders of this good gray army remember it Is more than a whole generation ago as human life goes almost a generation and a half since the last recruit was waa enrolled I 1 in the volunteer army of the union just before the war came to its close there are very few members of the grand army very bev soldiers of the civil war who are only at the threescore mark indeed there are not many of them who are not at the psalmists term of life three score and ten there are but few alive who answered the first call of president lincoln if the new recruit were only twenty when that call went out ho is sixty eight now the soldier who was thirty is nearly eighty it is a touching thought to think of this noble army and look back through the half century that is gone by and think of the bright promising sturdy youths with life all before them with quickened pulses with firm unwavering tread that shook the earth in the first army corps and brigades organized in the early days of the war when the great review was held near washington after peace was made the eyes of these boys in blue were still bright with hope their stops still firm and their hearts resolute U unlike n most other armies they went back to their homes glad the war was waa over they returned to the occupy dons they had laid down when the call to arms reached them they have been through all these years of business good citizens law abiding industrious and self respecting taking care of themselves and of those dependent upon them as generally and as affa clentry as aa those who never heard the rattle of musketry or the roar of artillery nor the shock of cavalry charging over the plain I 1 year by year their ranks arethia are thinning 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 is fitting that tho the graves of those who are gone should be decorated with flowers in memory of what they did and a ad endured but it is still more import important ant th that at wo we should show to those who still remain among us our high appreciation of their patriotism and valor long live in thousands and tens ol of thousands the boys in ill blue may their ranks thin slowly may alay many years pass by before taps is sounded over the grave of the last of this great army of grizzled heroes and while they live may americans of the present and of coming generations never lack in their admiration and gratitude to the men who protected ti tub ie homes of america who u upheld the flag of the country and who preserved the union of states intact with all the admirable institutions framed by the fathers of the republic |