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Show DAY BELONGS TO THE NATION Since 1868 the Ceremony of Decorating Decorat-ing the Graves of the Heroes Has Been Observed. Memorial day, or Decoration day, ns It was at first called, Is said fo have "really originated with some southern women, In Columbus, Miss., soon after Ihe Civil war. In caring for the graves of (heir loved ones who had fallen only a few months before, they strewed flowers not only on (he graves of the Confederate soldiers, but also on those of northern soldiers who had fallen In the same battles. Three years after Ihe war Gen. John A. Logan, commander of (he Grand Army of the Itepiihlie, Issued an order In which he named May "0, 1SGS, "for the purpose of slrowlng with flowers or otherwise decorating decorat-ing tho graves of comrades wla died In defense of their country, nnd whose bodies lies in almost every city, village or hamlet churchyard In the land." The day Is now a legal holiday In practically all slates of thu Union, although nil of lliem do not celebrate May "0, the date being earlier ear-lier In some parts of Ihe South. In the South there Is also a separate memorial me-morial for the soldiers of Ihe "Lost Cause," and this Is called "Confi -dernlo Memorial day," In Louisiana it Is celebrated on the birthday of Jefferson Jeffer-son Davis (June ?,), who was the first and only president of Ihe short-llvel Confederacy. |
