Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 June 1881 — DECORATION DAY, [ARTICLE]

DECORATION DAY,

In Rensselaer, eras observed in accordance with the programme here, tofore published in these columns.— After decoration of the graves, owing to the threatening appearanca of the weather, further proceedings were had in the Opera House. The orations of Judge Hammond and Bev. J. W. Luder were well received by the audience. It is impossible for u 8 to-day to give the orations in full, and therefore extract from the address of Judge H. that portion referring to the close of the war and the observance of the day. He said: “The Union was saved, and not a star faded from our National emblem. The shackles fell from tfie limbs of he slave, and four millions of human beings upon whom had descended the injustice and wrongs of two and a half centuries of bondage were made free, elevated to citizenship and given the ballot. I speak of these matters -as historical facts and as not coming within the range of any political controversy of the present day. And now after many years of peace, and at a time when we may hope that the bitterness of the conflict has in a great measure disappeared, we come to-day in obedience to a beautiful custom, with music aud banners and floral offerings to do honor to the memory of those brave men who died that their country might live.— All honor to their names! but as they I are beyond the reach of praise and J encomiums, we pay these tributes of I re ’pect for our own good; to cultivate . and enlarge our own patriotic feelings nnd to impress upon the youth of the a id that next to veneration for their I Creator, their highest duty consists

in loving their country. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,”and while we desire and hope that the safety of our country will never again be menaced by an internal or a foreign foe, yet the youth of the land should be taught that if, unhappily* the emergency should ever come, It will be their sacred duty to fight for* and if needs be lay down their lives for their country, as did those whose memory we honor to-day. This world, without liberty, would not even be a respectable habitation. Hence we hopor our forefathers who upon many bloody battle-fields secured for this cation the priceless inheritance of freedom; and we give equal honor to those of the late war,’ who by their valor and witn the loss of their lives, preserved this freedom to ourseives and coming generations.” The Ladies’ Literary Society closed the exercises of the day with a very appropriate and instructive pro* 1 gramme.