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About The Falls City tribune. (Falls City, Neb.) 1904-191? | View Entire Issue (June 15, 1906)
THE FALLS CITY TRIBUNE , FRIDAY , JUNE IS , 1906. Discourse by Rev. Elmer Ward Cole on Memorial Day at Hutcbinson , Has. You have invited me here to day to help you properly celebrate this greatest of all days. There is a day in the religious calendar railed ' 1'All Saints' Day" but this pales into insignificance when compared with this day set apart to commemorate the heroism of a band of men who died because of their conviction for a principle. I am not come to you today to explain the mysteries of war , of pain , or of death , however , the mystery of death is no denser' than that which enmeshes lifeI The bow which the butter cup or Bolder rod makes to the young months of springtime punctuates as perplexing a puzzle as does the pang tugging at our hearts I ) when we stand at the bier of a giant oak , hero uf many a gal lant resistance , laid low by the arch enemy furious hurricane. Memorial Day has an attraction shared by none other of religious suggestive ceremonials , there is even a significance in the choice of months. No wire spun crowns or crosses interpret our feelings. The fresh fragrance of flowers brings greeting of a grateful pos terity to the regiments that garrison risen our cemetery. This Mem orial Day , redolent with the breath of roses , syllables a mes sage altogether different from that heralded by All Saints' Day in the bleak November. It vo calizes an appeal to the men and women who have harvested ) be cause the silent army and their sorrowing comrades have sown seeds amidst the Hood of trees , to see to it that the fruitage of those four terrible years of dire conflict is not frittered away or shamed by our neglect. The story of the valor of the brigades now bivoucking beneath yonder greenward is as fresh today as it was when it , with the imprcs- siveness of the recent occurrence , found its first rhapsodist. The reason for this perennial charm in the thrilling tale is self-evi dent. In other wars there has been courage wortli recording and feats that were glorious with the masterful strategy of a great cap tain , but never was there an other war waged for the posses sion of a principle so important to all the world as was the price of that fraternal dissension in memory of which we are today gathered. Our nation leaped in to self-conscious existence when Appamattox mustered out the million soldiers who had exchang ed the plow and the pen for the musket and the saber. Forty- live years have rapidly sped since the first note of the bugle called you into four years of service , se vere and terrible action. Often during that four years the re- velle awoke you from your slumb * ers , weary and half starved , to face the duties and dangers of another dav. You went into that day. not knowing what it would bring fourth , but 3011 went trusting in God as the Father of all light and the pro tector of the e who fought for liberty. You were contending for preservation of your country and the perpetuity of those prin ciples of government which make equal rights for each individual member of the body politic. You went faithfully , courageously , and loyally to answer the great call of a conviction for principle. That has made you stand out as the greatest heroes of the world's history. 1 can now hear the steady tread of the three hun dred thousand that answered the call with the words , "We are coming Father Abraham , three hundred thousand strong. " Your answer to that great call for ser vice has gone down into the pages of history as the most heroic thing the world has ever known Long after every battle-scarre < veteran that is here today has answered that last great roll call and laid down to sleep with his fathers , the principle for whicl he fought will still live. Sucl patriotism was never known be fore , nor has it ever since been known. Hence , we be lieve that this day should be ob served by the aged , and by the youth , and by the child. Every citizen of this great country of ours , whether he be in the germ or of the matured product , ought to be taught what this patriotism has done for America. The child of today cannot know too much of the history of freedom. When we. have learned the his- Uory of our blessed America , the greatest land that God's sun ever shown upon , this day will not be i observed as a day of pleasure 1 hunting , but as a day of medita- ition I upon those principles for ! ! which this great Hag stands. 1 Every child ought to know from memory the history of the siege of Vicksbury , the battle of Bull K u n. Chicamauga. Lookout Mountain , Missionary Ridge , ettysburg , as well as to have he biography of Lincoln , and Grant and Sherman and Sheridan UK ! many others , at their tongues' end. Every boy and girl of iif- ecn should know the names and ) laccs which have made Ameri can bravery famous throughout he world and which will cause t to blaze in splendor forever in he highest constellation of hu- uan achievements. Such a course of education in history can never be a loss , it will make the American - can citizen anxious instead of i n d i ff e r e n t as to the uanagement and the progress of he nation. It will save Ameri- : a from monopoly and 3aesarism from anarchy a n d rom centralization and dissolu- ion , from cowardly diplomacy and contemptible stinginess , from avarice and vice , from ambitious wealth and contended poverty , t will help to promote philan- hropy , benevolence and genero sity , yes , it will help to establish a nation where perpetual happi- icss will reign supreme. j i Comrades and friends , we live ] ; n a great country ! And then the greatest of all , it is OUR country. This flag of stars and stripes , the ensign of our coun try , stands for three great prin ciples , upon which our nation has jeen founded and its superstate-j [ ture built. Some one has said j that man is threefold , one side is j | God , on the second side is self , ' and one the third side the other self. So a nation that is built upon true principles , stands forGed God , man , a n d native land. Bvery progressive nation in the listory of the world has been up on these three principles. Greece was a great nation. She strug gled of God but failed lo find Him. She left to the world art , j and letters , but she failed to reate and stimulate man. Rome outstretched her arms to Great Britain on the north , to the At lantic on the west , to the equator on the south and to the wilder ness of Asia on the east ; she was the mistress of a great empire , but she had only ten thousand citizens within her border. Ten thousand men all that she had discovered Is it any wonder that one failed ? A machine gun will shoot but it takes patriotism to guide its bullets. Spain and Russia are living examples of this principle. They have failed because their soldiers were mere machines , fighting by force and not by the inspiration of a great and patriotic heart. The golden age for little Switzerland with its brilliant past , for brave little Holland and for glorious Old England , was when patriotism was at its best , and at its best , because she was fighting for this three-fold principle , God , man , and native land. Switzerland was the first to discover God and hence was the first to discover man and to give him freedom and liberty. What we need in this great country of ours is a re vival of zeal for God , of ethics for humanity and of patriotism for native land. We love our country because we love God and our fellow men ; these three great principles are so interlinked that you sever one and the chain is valueless. The privilege given to every citizen of every land to cry out the exultant note "This is mine own , my native land. " but oh , how much more does this mean of our blessed America ! Do we have material wealth ? Ah , but lift up your eyes and look upon our great lakes , our sparkling rivers , our beautiful waterfalls , our magnificent moun tains , the most beautiful scencr } ' the world knows ; then our wav ing wheat fields , our vineyards and our orchards , our flocks and our herds , our million hills which reverberate with the bleat of sheep and the low of kino. Ah ! what wealth ! Do you know any that exceeds ours ? Then our history exceeds the history of any other nation in heroism for. . principle , for God , for man , for native land. Look upon the scenes of Bunker Hill and Valley Forge. Webster's struggle for liberty and union ; think of the victories of these men for the slaves , of our nation for the emi grant , of our schools for the chil drenof our hospitals for the sick , of our philanthropies for the poor , of our reforms for the criminal. Then of our halls of science , of our galleries of art , of our li braries and of our churches ; is there one that stands not for God for man and for native land1 If there is , let it pass at once into oblivion and let it be known no more. May this grand old Hag , born in the storm of the Revolu tion , bathed in the blood of the Civil War , and sanctified by the unselfishness of the Spanish- American struggle , never cease to stand for the three-fold prin ciple. When it ceases to stand for God , may lie forsake us - and when it ceases to stand for a land of liberty to become all that any man may become , may it be torn from its mast and be trampl ed under the feet of an incom ing nation who remember God and forget not His benefits. As an American citizen just entering the prime of life , com ing into existence ten years after the close of the Civil War , and knowing nothing from personal experience of the hardships that you endured , yet I defy any man to love 3'ou more and to admire your patriotism more than do I. If there is anything wrong in hero worship , I confess that in this field I am guilty. I admire a man and my highest conccptiqn of a man is that individual who died for his fellow creatures. "Thut whether on the switTold hljjh , Or In the battle's van. The fittest plaee for man to die , I-t where he dies for mini. " I have enjoyed the reading of the biography of the heroes of the world's history , but in none of them is there that interest which we find in American his tory. I like to read of our heroes ; the heroes of ' 70 , the heroes of 1812 , the heroes of MS and the heroes of ' 61 , the heroes of ' % . How like beacon light in the world's history stands the charac ter o f Alexander Hamilton , George Washington , Thomas Jefferson , Andrew Jackson , Abraham Lincoln , William McKinley - Kinley , and that present heroic statesman that stands at the head of our government. I speak of our honored president , Theodore Roosevelt. And then as boys , how we studied the biography of General Marion , who along with his men , subsisted on sweet po tatoes and of whom an English general said : "If this man loves the principle for which he is fighting , well enough to live on that kind of diet , we had as well return to England , for we can never conquer such men as that. " Then with such men as Ulysses S. Grant , who perhaps has done more to give the school boy of this country determination and gift than any other hero of the world's history. And then John A. Logan. William T. Sherman , and the dauntless Phil Sheridan , and Fightinf Joe Hooker , and others , yes , their name is legion , who fought for this great prin ciple of freedom. Then I would not forget , no never , the high private in the rear ranks. The bravest man that God ever gave to the world , is the man who is willing to fight where the cap tain puts him , satisfied to do what God wants him to do. in whatsoever place he wants him to be. Then 1 would not forget the women who fought the bat tles of poverty and misery and want in their homes. How anxi ously they awaited every scrapof news and how carefully they scanned every list of names , trembling lest there might be among them the name of a fath er , or of a boy. or of a sweet heart , and in our eulogy today , those women deserve an equal share with the men. JJut why did these men answer the call of "Father Abraham , three hundred strong" leave their homes , go forth not knowing whither they should go , or if ever they should return , leaving wives , mothers and sweethearts behind , to die , to bleed and suffer upon the field of battle ? Was it for money ? Say , friend , would a pitiful thirteen dollars a month and that very uncertain , induce you to leave your home , your family , your fireside , to live like these men lived ? Was it for glory ? What per cent of men in that large body of men who en listed in the service ever received special mention in press or upon the pages of any history for their valor and bravery ? Less than two per cent , if you please. No , it was not for glory they fought. Did they go for curiosity sake ? If they did , it was soon satisfied. No , it was a principle for which the } ' went , and for that principle the3' were willing to give and to hazard all the } * had. Incidental ly , I want to ask you who have opposed the pensioning of the old soldiers , do you now envy him ? Wasn't it worth it ? The grandest sight that man ever be held is the sight of an imperiled man standing true to a moral conviction , and such a sight was prominent when men were giv ing their lives for such a convic tion. No one doubts for a mo ment that they had this convic tion. The lives of such men have always been used as an in centive to patriotism. We ad mire the man who stands for a principle more than any other character in the world of action. For this reason , the worship of the world has always turned to wards the moral hero. In Bibli cal lore the names of Shadrach , Meshach , Abednego , stand out like mountain peaks in the range of Biblical heroes , because they refused in their college days to partake of wine and meat , be cause of the principle involved. Then as grown men holding offi cial position in the kingdom of Babylon , another test was put upon them. The } ' have secured places of power , but the1 have not forgotten the religious ideas of their boyhood. Luxur3 * and the easy chair had no effect upon their principles. Now an idol is made in the image of the king and tliC3r are asked to bow be fore him , but to them a principle was at stake , the fiery furnace was before them , and they heard the king'sdire alternative : "Wor ship the image or die in the fur nace. " The > ' stood in their place and said like men "Our God is able to deliver us. " They had never forgotten that loyalty to principle was the test of their re ligion. What is such a conviction ? A conviction is a belief that con vinces the reason , determines the will and fires the heart. It is a matter that grips the whole soul. The man who has a conviction of principle is , and will be , a hereunder under what ever circumstances he is placed. It takes the heroism of a great conviction to keep alive and make effective a great principle. Principles are of God , convictions are of men. Slavery was always wrong , but it took a Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to awaken the principle and to arouse men to the action of a great conviction. To be without conviction is to be the creature of circumstances , the plaything of excitement and the leaf of every breeze. A court preacher preaching be fore James the Sixth of Scotland , took for his text "lie that wav- oreth is like the wave of the sea , driven with the wind and tossed. " Then the audience smiled in deri sion for they knew it described their feeble and vacillating mon arch. The man who has failed to capture the spirit of a great conviction , has failed in the des tiny that God has mapped out for him. I came to you today with the message of "The Heroism of Principle" because 1 believe that the thing that made jou heroes is the heroism of a principle. But you ask me , then why are all men heroes who light because of a great conviction ? Principle is the motive , conviction is the action. A man may'have a con viction that a thing is right and yet that thing may be very wrong. He may be willing to light for that conviction and yet there ma } * be no great principle in volved. The youth who fired the Alexandrian library had a con viction that he wai removing one of the obstacles of progress. The Inquisition called itself an instrument of righteousness , called into action to crush out the destructive forces of its day. Paul was serving a conviction when he put the saints in prison , and let us , dear friends , today , credit the South for their hon esty of intention , for they with out doubt , had a conviction that they were right. They , along with us , now know that they were wrong. It is not enough that we have convictions merely , but that we have a conviction of principle that is wise and just. When a vessel sails around the earth , we expect to change our conviction that the earth is square to the conviction that it is round. A bad prejudice is unfortunate , but a badconviction | is worse. There is only o n e foundation upon which we can build and judge our principles , and that founda tion has proven itself to be the foundation of the Sermon on the Mount , laid down by the Great Prophet of Nazareth , the man of Galilee , the Son of God. Loyalty to a principle is a cost ly experience. It cost John the Baptist , his head. Jesus his crucifixion upon the cross. Peter boiling in the cauldron of oil. he Apostle Paul - the severing of his head upon the block , him dreds of Christians their lives in the Roman arena and many a man his life during the Reforma tion. The number of men who have lost their lives lighting for liberty and freedom of humanity can only be counted by the mil lion. The reward of his loyalty and conviction to a true principle is sufficiently great that men are yet willing to give their lives for the perpetuity of a great principle. That soldier who said that "A live coward is worth a regiment of dead heroes , " de serves to be branded as a great falsifier. One dead hero is worth a regiment of live cowards. This is true , first , last and all the time. Popularity is beautiful and every man has a right to carve itf but the man who wouh buy it at the sacrifice of principle deserves to be branded as a crim inal. Principle is more than pop ularity , popularity is superfida and principle is profounded anc eternal. The more costly a prin ciple , the greater becomes tht man's conviction of its righteousness nessIt matters not , however , how costl3' becomes our princi ples , we must never lower our standard of rectitude and help fulness by reason of any fear. Principles are to be preserved , cost what such preservation may In the true man is but one fear , and that fear , to do wrong. There was never a time in tht history of our country , when we needed a strong conviction oi principle as we need it today. This country of ours is not in immediate danger of a conflict of arms , though great problems confront us. There arc problems today that are as great as was the problem of slavery. There were four million blacks who were crying out for freedom and today there are many times this number who are as truly in slav ery as was the black man before our civil strife-some slaves to ignorance , some slaves to passion slaves to appetite , and slaves to that green eyed monster the trust. In each and all of these problems is involved a great principle. It is true that we in this day , conclude that principles are not as clearly defined as they were a half century ago. In part this accusation is just , a half century ago a wrong was a wrong , a sin , today we are finding a difficulty in distinguishing between right and wrong. Their colors seem to blend. This is a day in which the art of diplomacy has gained great foothold. It has become a. purl of our church life , it is taught in our public schools and practiced in the avenues of busi ness. The father says to his sou "Succeed , John , do it honestly if you can , but succeed. " With this feeling in the atmosphere toda > we find it more difficult to cope with the problems of the day than we have ever done before , and because of this state of af fairs , it is extremely necessary that we keep well in hand that strength of conviction of prin ciple that characterized the man of half a century ago , There is still extant a spirit of war. The form of courage which nanifcsts itself in war , has su- > reme attraction for a great nany people , old and the young. Witness the sale of books that lave warlike courage for their theme. Xola's "Downfall , " Tol- itoy's "War and Peace , " these ind a number of othersuch books lave had an immense sale and ill because theme is courage and bravery. There is no doubt in in any of your minds that war is i relic of barbarism. We have iilways been taught that the millcnium would only come when the swords shall be beaten into plowshares and man shall turn his genius into the avenues of peace and industrial progress. We agree with that great gen eral who said "War is 'hell. " Man only needs to witness that this great statement is true. We hope as younger men that we shall never witness another great war on this continent. We an not now looking for war , but we do know that there is a courage needed today as badly as courage was needed in the ViO's. It is still a courage for principle as much as it was a courage for principle in the time of the great war. We need a courage that will illuminate the day book of our commonplace affairs. Physical - sical courage is a plant so native to our American soil that to root it out is harder than to root the weeds from out the farmer's field. The present day demands not a physical courage , but a courage of mind and heart that are per haps as difficult. We need in this day , that splendid courage that can tear aside all veils and subterfuges and see the thing for what it really is--an then to spurn it from our pathway. Are there not times of peace when temptations come to you to sacri fice a great principle for your own selfish pleasure , and is it so hard to meet this crisis as it ever waste to face the enemy with artiller- and musketry ? That temptation comes to young America today and if he accepts the reward of the tempter , he destroys himself and imperils his nation. There are many of our-young American men that are facing the tempta tion of graft , the satisfaction of an appetite the gratifying of a passion , a selfish hunger and am bition for popularity , who little think that the safety of our in stitution depend upon their cour age of conviction to stand by the principle of right in these hours of crisis. The supreme test of our courage and bravery is to face ones self and bid that solemn ( Continued ou page 6)