THE WEST SHORE.
178
MEMORIAL DAT.
IN EVERY state and territory of the union lie buried
the nation's dead, those who gave up their lives
that " government of the people, by the people and
for the people might not erisli from the earth."
Under the auspices of the Grand Army of the Republics
the thirtieth of May is obsorved aa a memorial day, ex
cept when, as is the caso this year, it falls upon Sunday,
when the following day is observed.
This Iwnutiful custom was established by General
John A. Logan, in 18(18, when, as commander-in-chief of
the G. A. R. he issued general order No. 11, in which
appeared tho following paragraph:
" The thirtieth day of May, 18(18, is designated for
the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise deco
rating the graves of comrades who died in defence of
their country during tho lata rcliellion, and whose bodies
now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet church
yard in tho land. In thin observance no form of cere,
inony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their
own way arrange such fitting service and testimonials of
respect as circumstances may permit"
This was followed by an eloquent tribute to tho mem
ory of the dead comrades whom he thus desired to honor,
and with a hoe that the observance thus inaugurated
would become a perpetual ouo. At the national encamp
mont hold in Washington, May 11, 1870, memorial day
was formally established as a poriotual custom. , The
day selected was chosen simply because it is the time
when nature makes her fairest floral offerings. Ry legis
lative enactment in several of the states memorial day
has been mado a legal holiday, and it should also m
mado a national holiday by congress, to lo observed by
the nation forever, as are now the fourth of July and
the day annually apxiinted by the president for national
thanksgiving.
Memorial day was observed in the various cities and
towns of tho Northwest on Monday, tho thirty-first of
May, and the usual ceremony of decorating graves by
the G. A. R. and citizens was ierformod. In Portland,
tho observance of the day was general. The G. A. R.,
escorted by the various military companies, paraded the
streets and then repaired t Ino Fir cemetery, where
tho usual ceremonies were oouductod, and details dec).
rated the various graves there and elsewhere. In tho
evening a largo concourse of jtnoplo listened to an ora
tion snd the rendition of an appropriate programme of
musio and reading. Sunday evening the O. A. It at
tended the Congregational church in a body and listened
to a memorial address by Rev. T. E. Clapp.
The brave are always chivalrous, and the heroes who
wore the blue were the first to forgive those who wore
tho gray, to honor them for their valor ami to ac.
knowledge tho full measure of their devotion to the
cause for which they so bravely but miigtiidedly fougjit
With this spirit they have made it a custom to derate
the graves of the few confederate dead who lie in North
trn coinatericM, wlrils in Hit Boutrtfhsr formally assist
in the ceremonies held by the wearers of the gray in
memory of thoir fallen oomradoe. Only a narrow and
unforgiving spirit can oondemn this graceful and proper
act, a spirit not embuod with true patriotism, since it
should be the enmet desire of a loyal hourt to cement
together by every possible means tho once hostile sec
tions of the union. Such people are those referred to
by General Grant as men "who did not get fairly
warmed up to the war until it was over," men who began
fighting when words, not bullets, became the missiles of
destruction. Happily their numliors decrease yearly,
and tho spirit of sectional hate is dying with them.
Throughout tho Southern states the custom of deeo.
rating with flowers the graves of the fallen bravo of Ixilli
the federal and confederate armies, is liocomiug yearly
more general. Tho people of the South are rapidly
learning to look upon tho success of tho union cause
and tho complete overthrow of slavery and tho oecession
doctrine as the greatest blessing that could have Wn
bestowed upon them. With the exception of a few, now
rapidly passing nway, whoso disappointed ambition and
embittered feedings have blinded their eyes to the bene
fits their country hits reaped from the failure of the
cause for which the men of tho South so bravely fought
and heroically died, the sentiment of loyalty to tho re.
stored union has become as deep-rooted and fervent as
was that more contracted loyalty which mado them take
up arms for their native state ngaiust the government
which alono had made that state possible. With this
feeding, while honoring tho memory of those who with
and for them wore tho confederate gray, they also
strew flowers on tho graves of those who wore tho blue.
They lie together, the blue and the gray, in the Inhcoiii of
mother earth; one common sward covers them, one com
mon Hag floats over them, aud the people of one com.
moii ami united country gather to honor their memory
and seal anew tho compact written in their blood, that
never again shall the brothers of the union rise up in
arms against ouch other. That the decoration of the
graves of fallen soldiers of Mb armies tends to soften
the feelings of hostility, to knit closer the Isinds of
union and draw nearer in a feeding of common sytupa
thy and brotherhood the iieoplo of the North and Mouth
is too evident to lw denied. Should occasion require it,
that same spirit of loyalty, contracted and inverted as
it then was, which sent the sons of the South out to fight
for their native states, will bring them again to the
front, musket in band, to defend tho integrity ami honor
of the whole union, where shoulder to shoulder with the
sturdy men of the North, they will stand as a bulwark
of defense against violence from within or without IA
as then, as the years go by and the veterans fall Ixifora
the sieklo of the great reaper, take up their work, and
in every city, town aud hamlet in the union gather on
the thirtieth of each succeeding May for all lime to come,
and place our floral tributes upon th grave of our sol
diers. Iu doing this wo kep alive that spirit of martini
ardor and honor to the bravo which will 1 the nation's
ruck of salvation in timet of truubla.