People's Pilot, Volume 4, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1894 — WITH FEEBLE STEP. [ARTICLE]

WITH FEEBLE STEP.

Aged Veterans of tho Late War March to the Old Tune a The Grand Army Parade at Pittsburgh Probably the Last—Thousands of Old Heroes Tramp Through the Streets. IN THE BANKS AGAIN. Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 12.—Forty thousand men who fought to save the union marched through the cities of Pittsburgh and Allegheny. The old familiar war tunes, to which they and their comrades rushed to victory or to death, filled the air and echoed back from the surrounding hills. The music made their hearts beat as in the stirring times of thirty years ago, and brought the flush of patriotism and cosirage to their cheeks. But while they stepped out boldly and bravely, they could not straighten their bent forms nor conceal their gray hairs and furrowed cheeks. They carried no heavy rifle with its glittering bayonet, but aided their aged limbs with walking canes, while here and there in the line of blue came a comrade on crutches. They marched no more beneath the yawning muzzles of frowning cannon, but past battery after battery of bright eyes while the fair enemy waved white handkerchiefs and applauded witii sweet voices. On every street corner and vacant, lot rose tier after tier of human faces, and as the veterans passed cheer after cheer greeted them. Every window along the route, the fire escapes and roof tops were crowded, while the sidewalks were packed solidly from the building line to the wire rope stretched along the curb to prevent interference with the free movement of the parade of the Grand Army of the Republic. At 10:30 o'clock the parade started from the historic Monongahela house, on the banks of the river from which it takes its name. First came company A, second battalion naval reserves, N. G. P., guard of honor to Commander in Chief Adams. Then followed the departments of the Grand Army of the Republic in the following order: Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York. Connecticut, Massachusetts, New .Jersey, Maine, California, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Potomac, Virginia and North Carolina; Maryland, Nebraska, Michigan. lowa, Colorado and Wyoming; Kansas, Delaware. Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, South Dakota. Washington and Alaska, Arkahsas, New Mexico, Utah. Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, Florida, Montana, Texas, Idaho, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama. North Dakota, Oklahoma, Indian territory, Indiana, Pennsylvania. This was probably the last time the veterans will turn out in such force, as it is seriously contemplated by the grand army officials, in view of the advancing age and infirmities of the members, to abandon this most attractive feature of the national encampment. Therefore they proposed to make the last parade a success, and tramped over the two miles of route with the same determination that characterized them when they marched against the southern armies.