Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1907 — ONLY TEN THOUSAND [ARTICLE]

ONLY TEN THOUSAND

That Waa All Who Marched In th« Annual Grand Army Parade at Saratoga. MARCH WAB ONLY ONE MILS Been* That Wat Inspiring and Pa» thetic, Bays Oov. Hughes. Veterans Tramped Undaunted in an Increasing Rain Sun Comes Out In Benediction at the End.

Saratoga, N. Y., Sept 12. —The GraVid Army of the Republic has held its annual parade its forty-first In memory of the days of war. Ten thousand veterans, the remnant of the once victorious army whose scores of thousands passed In review at the national capital When the war was over, braved a driving storm to march again beneath their battleflags. Unmindful of the stress of storm, as In the days of “slxty-one” when youth and vigor and love of the flag knew no, physical bounds, those that were left passed in review over a measured mile through village streets a distance suited to their gathering years. Spectators with Heads Uncovered. And so 10,000 of these veterans of the nation’s days of trial stepped out to Inspiring notes of the old battle songs in a storm that must have brought to their memories the days of active soldiering. Thousands of spectutors with heads uncovered 1 watched the faltering lines bearing the old banners with unsteady hands. The rain fell with steadily increasing fury'as they marched, but through the drenching torrents they kept on. For an hour and more the veterans walked between lines of cheering people, keeping step to the music, which again and again right cheerily played “How Dry I Am’’ and “Walt Till the Sun Shines, Nellie.” Sunshine After the Storm. Governor Charles E. Hughes, his military staff, the national officers of the Grand Army, and distinguished visitors, stood on the reviewing-stand all the while, sheltered from the driving story only by a flimsy covering of cloth through which the rain swept unchecked. For an hour the veterans marched, and when the last faltering rank had passed in review the rain ceased, the skies cleared and the sun broke forth. The dripping, but undaunted old, soldiers found their way to lodging places, satisfied that a trifling rain storm had no more arrested their onward march than it had in the days of war. Was Inspiring 'And Pathetic. It was not a cheerful day, nor a good one for men burdened with the weight of years. “I have never seen anything so inspiring or so pathetic,” said Governor Hughes, when tin* last flagging, dripping veteran had passed the stand. ’When the serious consequences of tiie march through the rain to many of the veterans arc* considered it is a revelation of the courage and determination of the American people seldom seen. It should serve as an inspiration and an encouragement to us all. It was splendid magnificent.” Tfiirty-six veterans are in the local hospital, the condition of none of whom, however, it fs stated, is serious. These are nearly all men who who did not take part in the parade, but who suffered from the exeition of walking about the streets. United Spanish War Vets. Sandusky, 0., Sept. 12.—The fourth annual encampment. of the United Spanish War Veterans of America adjourned at Cedar Point. Boston won out for next year’s encampment. Officers were elected as follows: Com-mander-in-chief, Walter Scott Hale, California: senior vice commander, Henry W. Busch, Michigan; junior vice, John J. Carls, Illinois. Union Veteran Legion. Gettysburg, Pa., Sept 12—The annual meeting of the national encampment of the Union Veteran Legion, which has opened here, is well attended hy veterans from every section of the Union and every Union army in the field during the civil war. Survivors of the battle of Gettysburg are numerous.