Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 76, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1903 — WORTHY OF HONOR. [ARTICLE]

WORTHY OF HONOR.

Those Whose Graves We Decorate, and Likewise, the Survivors. In every cemetery in the land on Memorial Day flowers are placed on the graves of the soldier dead. The flag, the potted plant and the bouquet are the tributes of young and old to the men who fonght valiantly in the wars of the Union. The great majority, of course, of the graves decorated are those of men who took part in the great Civil War. In commenting on Memorial Day and those rwhonr -it-ie- lntended primarily to honor, a writer says: “The like of that day st Appomattox has never been known in history. Not a guerrilla band survived the vanquished. Not a vindictive blow was struck by the victorious host. By the speediest roads of travel the men in blue marched back to their own abodes. They surrendered their arms to the keeping of their government; their flags they hung up in memorial halls; their fame they bequeathed to their country and to the world. “What have these men done since the bloody straggle ended? They have been building railroads, opening mines and making the wilderness blossom like the rose. They have been extending the »

blessings of self-government to wide and remote regions. They have become prosperous farmers, merchants, leaders in finance, captains of industry. Their blue uniforms have been replaced by uniforms of toil. They have brought to the sacred desk the devout service of consecrated powers and eloquent tongues. They who learned th'e weaknesses of human nature amid the horrors of the hospital have administered with the gentle skill of healing knowledge to the sick and afflicted, and in high tribunals of justice they have inscribed with the pen on the tablets of the law what they strove for with the sword. They have been making history. They have become Representatives, Senators, Governors, Presidents. In foreign rands they have illustrate<L.tlip dignity and glory of the republic, both in public and private stations. That some have fallen by the way is trne, but the uncountable majority have been worthy of American citizenship, and in the fields of labor, thought, purpose, invention, enterprise, daring and genius they have ranked with the foremost of this glorious country. They have inwrought the things for which they strove with the very fiber of the government and the fabric of old age. They have shaped constitutions and laws to the purposes of liberty, the unions of the States and the high destinies of the republic. Let the veterans all pass as the great leaders already have —those that bore rank and the undistinguished many. But what they did lives on and grows and brightens the passing years.” »