OCR Text |
Show WILSON AT GETTYSBURG president in Addressing Address-ing the Gallant Old Soldiers Refers to the Battle, and What It Meant For the Upbuilding Up-building of This Great Nation Gettysburg, Pa., July 4. President (Cilscn In h'.s address to the veterans here this afternoon spoke as follows "Frlfndfl ar.d fellow citizens: 1 need bol 'ell you what tho battle oj Gettysburg meent. These gallant juen'ln blue and pray sit all about us bere. Many of them met here upon (his ground In grim and deadly struggle strug-gle Upon these famous fields ami hillsides their comrades died about them. In their presence It were an Impertinence to discourse upon how (ho battle went, how it ended, what It signified, but 50 years have gone by since then, aud I crave the privilege privi-lege of speeh ng to you for ;i jw minutes min-utes of what those 50 years have men nt. V hat have they meant? They have meant peace and union and vigor, and the maturity end might of a great nn non How wholesome and healinj; (be peace wi iitcu: t v ua luuuu one another again as brothers and :oniradcs iu anus, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, our battles lent; rnst. the quarrel forgotten ex-eepl ex-eepl thai we shall not forget the splen . tlour, tho manly devotion of the r 'hen arrayed against one another. AO? grasping hands and .smiling into other's eyes. How complete the union has become rind how dear to all of us how unquestioned, how benign jnd majestic, as state after state had been added to this our great family d free men! How handsome tttf rigor, the maturity, the might of the real nation we love with undivided hearts; how full of large and confi dent promise that a life will bo ( wrought cut that will crown its ' sirensfri with gracious justice and With a happy welfare that will touch r.ll alibe with deep contentment! W I are debtors to those 50 crowded years, j they have made us heirs to a mighty i heritage "But do we deem the nation com I plete end finlshca? These venerable ; in?:, crowding here to this famous field have set us a great example o: 1 devotion and utter sacrifice. They wtre willing to die that the people j might lire But their task is don- ; : Their da;- is turned into evening '1 he; look to us to perfect what they ettftb litbed. Their work is handed on to us, to be done In another way, but no' in another spirit Our day is not for-evor, for-evor, it is upon us in full tide. "Have affairs paused ? Does the na j tion stand still" Is what the 50 years have wrought since those days ot bai tie finished, rounded out, and com I I pletedt Here is a great people, gri with every force that has ever beaten In the life blood of mankind n i I It Is secure There is no one within I He borders, there is no power among the nations of the earth to m ike It i afraid. But ha it yet squared Itsell ' with Its own greal standards set up at its birth, when it made that first noh.e. naive appeal to the moral judg mem of mankind to take notice that a guvernnient had now at last l en ' established which was to serve men, ; not masters0 It Is secure in every-, every-, thing except the satisfaction that its life, is right . adjusted to the uttermost utter-most to the standards of righteousness righteous-ness and humanity The days uf sacrifice sacri-fice and cleansing are not closed. We I have harder things to do than were done in the heroic days of war, be cauBe harder to see clearly, requiring i more vision, more calm balance of j judgment . a more candid searching of the very springs of right. "Look around you upon the field of Gettysburg! Picture the array, the I fierce h?ats and agony of battle, col utnn hurled against column batten j bellowing to battery! Valour! ! Greater no man shall see In war. and self sacrifice and loss to the utter most, the high recklessness of e : ailed deotion which does not cou it i tbe cost. We are i u ? bj theat tragic, epic things to know what it tests to make n nation the blood an I i stcrlfice ot multitudes of unknown i tefn lifted to a greal stature In the , iew of ill generations by kn ! to limit ,o their manly willingness i I rve. In armies thus marshaled I from the rank3 of free men you will ee, 'as it were, a nation erabafcth I the leaders and the led, snd may know, if you will, how little except n form, its action differs In d M ol Face from its action in duys of war. "May we break cams now and bw lt ee? Are the forces that fight for tbe nations dlscr-rd, dlshandoned. lone to their homes forgetful of the Wtnmnn cans' " Are our forces dlsor-fanlred dlsor-fanlred without constituted leaders. Irrt th m:t,vn ..- -.. ,1 i-nnifilnnah uni- tJ because we contend, not with ar-alea. ar-alea. bir w,;ii principalities and pow-t? pow-t? f.cd wickedness In high places "Are we content to He still? Docs I Wr union mean sympathy, our peace : j content, our vigor right action, oui ' "Hturity pelf-comprehension and a . dear conscience in choosing what wc baU do1 War fitted us for action I lcd action never ceases. uave been chosen tne icaaer ui e nation. I can not justify the) choice by any qualities of my own, 'Jt bo it hs come about, and here 1 d. Whom do I command? The fwtly hoetc- who fought upon these ttlffleldB lone ago and art- gone' 7boi-e gallant gentlemen stricken in . tors whose righting days are over, g lr Con, Ron? What are the or- Jws for them, and who rallies them? ; tavein mv mind another host, whom J5 set free of civil strife in order they might work out In days ol lce and settled order the life of S ffcat nation. That host is the peo- themselves, the great and Uie gnH. without dabs or difference of " I Elisd or race or origin; and undivided H Interest, if we have but the vision 9 Guide and direct them and order lhfcir lives aright in what we do. Our constitutions are their articles of en-. en-. iBtrnent. Th s orders of the day are g I tn laws upon our fetatute books. What ,J K v8triT0 toe Is their freedom, their y "Wt to lift themselves from day to a7 and behold tho things they have Joped for, and so make way for still getter days i0r those, whom they love ra are u come after them. Tho roth emits are the little chfldre'h crowding i In. Tho quartermaster's stores are in I the mines and forests and fields. In thw shops and factories. Everv day! something must he done to push the campaign forward; and it must ic done by plon and with an eve to; Bomw Krcaf destiny. How shall we hold such thoughts In our hearts and not be moved? 1 W jld not have you live even todav ' wholly in the past, but would wish to' Stand with you In tho light that! Streams upon us now out of that great day gone by Here is the nation God I has builded by our hands. What shall 1 wo do with it" Who .stands ready to act again and always In the spirit of this day of reunion and hope and patriotic fervor" The day of our country s life has but broadened lnto morning. Do not put uniforms by. Put 1 the harness of tho present on Lift your eyes to the great tracts of life yet to be conquered in the interest of righteous peace, of that prosperity which lies In a people's hearts and outlasts all wars and errors of men Come, let us be comrades and soldlero yet to serve our fellow men in quiet Counsel, where, the blare of trumpets Is neither heard nor heeded and where the things are done which make blessed the nations of the world injj peace and righteousness and love. ' ' |