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The Call Sunday Edition

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SAN FRANCISCO, SUNDAY, MAY 28, 1899.

The New Memorial Day

"LET OUR FL^G WJiVE OVER THEM,LET OUR FLOWERS DECK, THEIR GRAVES"

Oup Soldier Graves in Cuba.

General Nelson (\. Miles, Commander-in-Chief, U. S. (\.

SIIKgraves of our dead soldiers command the respect and veneration of all. Particularly this year, when there

are at Arlington a large number of new-made mounds; when or. the hillsides of Cuba and Porto Rico, and aboutthe swamps of the Philippines, other American soldiers are buried, we should think of and decorate the gravesof our heroic dead.

This custom comes to us from the ancient and refined Athenians. They were accustomed to celebrate thevirtues and commemorate the memory of the heroic dead by decorating their graves each year. For us to do

the same thing is certain to result in o'ir benefit. It will perpetuate the spirit of patriotism in our youths and helpthem to emulate the example of the men who died bravely. :;ot only iii our Civil War. but in our recent war withSpain. The idea of and the ceremonies ofDecoration day are beautiful. Its purpose is commendable. This year, of allyears, should be observed with patriotic devotion.

During the last twelve months nearly twelve million of people who were living under a tyranny and despotismhive been freed from their serfdom arid have become a part of the? population of these great United States. Thoseamong them who really know the changed condition hail the change with joy and gladness. Their gratitude is like thatof Lazarus toward Christ. They realize that the American people has not been slow to offer the flower of its manhoodto rescue them from thralldom and that, if it is given time, it will establish a stable government under which theycan live in peace and happiness. Of course Ido not know more than any one else what is likely to happen in thePhilippines. With other good citizens. Ihope that the contest will be short and that the people in our new posses--!"U-- wiil be willing to listen to reason instead of compelling us to further use force. Our troops there have mani-fested the same bravery, the same heroic fortitude and spirit of self-sacrifice as were shown in Cuba and Porto Rico,and have been sho\?n since the beginning of American history, and as will be shown until American history ends. Wehave !<>-t good men. In warfare those who die are naturally those whom we consider best.

When Memorial day conies there willbe new graves. Out at Arlington now the freshly turned earth showswhere the men who died in Cuba and Porto Rico lie buried. Not all of them are dead. Green mounds on the sides ofthe hills near (iuasimas. and about San Juan, willbe decked with the rxnl. white and blue on the 30th of May. The menwho died in Cuba, the men who died in Porto Rico, the men who died ami are dying in the Philippines, are just a*

much entitled to commendation and consideration as the men who died in any war in our history.Let our flag wave over them, let our flowers deck their graves wherever they may be; let our reverence, let our

respect, let our love, wreathe their memories.Heroes all! They deserve all that we can grant them

—they deserve more than we can give them!

XKLSON A. MILES. ' * Our .New Sraves at Arlington.

MEMORIAL DflY OF THE FUTURE By Edward Marshall, War CorrespondentBy henry Harrison Lewis, Special Corespondent

Special to The Sunday Call.

_,__HE removal of the soldier deadj^"" from Cuba and Porto Rico dur-

Oing the past few months hasserved to make vacant a greatmajority of the graves in thoseislands, but the transports, de-

spite their frequent trips, have . not;aken all. There are still enough downhere to make the celebration of May!0, lS9f». a celebration unparalleled in

>ur history.. •

There are men—

soldiers who _have

{night other foes on those pestilentialitiores than the Spanish— who have a:laim for the honor and reverence ofheir countrymen. The earth upon theirgraves is" newly turned and about themLho silent colony grows

—augmented

lay by day by. the stricken ones fromthe hospitals.

The action of the United States Gov-tnunent in transferring to ..heir ownland those who fell in its service is un-precedented. And it is a source ofwonder to the Cuban native*. These\u0084,\u-v have seen, great transports load-id with the dead sail away from theirisland many times since the f.rst or theyear, and they marvel at a nationwhich is willingand eager to spend

Lime and money in moving those whoseusefulness is past.

And they will marvel still more atthe spirit which will prompt the Amer-ican soldiers on Memorial day to deckwith -flowers and flags mounds ofearth and weep at the memory of com-rades gone to the last call.In the vicinity of Havana and other

large cities the day will be carefullyobserved. The great grave in whichthe 'boys of the Maine lie side by Bide,and those smaller ones filled since thateventful week in March, 189$, willcomein for the due- share, but in no part ofthe island will the day be one of suchtender ceremony and importance as Inthe vicinity of Santiago.

Back of that city the battlefieldstretches' for miles. It. extends coast-wise* in the direction of Baiquiri,. andaway to the mountains on the El Ca-ney road. It was fought over Inch byinch, sprinkled .as . with a . Bummershower by the blood of the combatants,

and then sown with the graves of thosewho fell. Little care was possible un-der the circumstances, 'and where mendropped they were buried.'- Some wereenshrouded in the canvas of their shel-ter tents, "but the majority had as theircovering only their uniforms and theclods of mother earth.

Where the Dead Lie.There was no orderly arrangement,

no rows and aisles and plots and sec-tions, but merely the convenience ofvicinity and the haphazard use of theSpanish. and American trenches. Onthe Santiago battlefield, after the ces-sation of hostilities, the density of thecraves served as an undeniable evi-

dence of the mortality at that particu-

lar point. At the foot and on the SanJuan Hill they were sown as thickly

as tenants in the God's acre of a popu-

lous city.By permission of the American .Gov-

ernment disinterring has been carriedon in a more or less desultory fashionsince last September. Despite the facttha"t disturbance of graves in semi-tropical countries like Cuba is strictly

forbidden within five years from dateof burial, friends and undertakersflocked to the Santiago batttlefield,

armed with permits.. from the War "De-partment at Washington, and removeda number, of bodies.It was only through the strenuous

efforts of General Leonard Wood that'yellow fever victims .were left undis-turbed. In one case an

"undertaker

from a Maine town insisted on disin-terring an officer who had died of yel-low fever, and he yielded only to force.

The hasty method of burial followedduring the excitement after the siegenaturally led to' wrong identification inmany cases. When convenient a bottlecontaining a paper hearing the name,regiment and company of the deceased,was.buried with him. Rude boards ud-un which were painted similar inform-ation were planted at the heads of themounds, but despitevthese precautionsthe identity of the soldier often re-mained problematical. *

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When a delegation of Spanish officialsvisited Santiago for the purpose of

removing the remains of the brave de-fender of El Caney, Genera] Vara delKey. they experienced great difficultyin finding the grave. They were led bya Cuban guide to a mound in th vi-cinity of the blockhouse, but on open-Ing the grave disclosed to view theremains of an army mule. It was adespicable, Blur and insult cast uponthe memory of a gallant warrior bynatives, whose sense of refinement isnotably absent.

In strong contrast to this is the pa-thetic sympathy felt by the living sol-diers around Santiago for their com-rades in the trenches. There are .veryfew graves on the battlefield that havenot .beert the object of tender care.Decoration day has lasted many longmonths in that part of Cuba.

This sympathy has been manifestedin strange ways and in unexpectedquarters. Last October a negro team-ster was discharged from the servicein Santiago as incorrigible. He was anative of South Carolina, and was apeculiarly vicious specimen of a viciousclass. He had been arrested and pun-ished so many times without effect thathis dismissal was finally ordered..

He was paid off—

poor little sum—

and given a pass on a transport to theUnited States.

• Sailing day, this de-praved negro visited all the shops inSantiago and, buying, as many Ameri-can flags as his money permitted, wentout to the trenches and decorated anumber of soldier graves —black, white,American and. Spanish indiscriminately.Then he returned to his evil" ways. -.

By General Marcus P. Miller, Comroander of the lloilo ExpeditioQ.

THEMemo/iaL day of th^ futtire

will mean much more to the

American people than in thepast. Its significance will bebroader, deeper, more truly na-

tional.It will mean not only the commem-

oration of those heroes. who fell fight-ing for the preservation of the Union,"but, for the first time since its institu-tion, it "illbe an anniversary of acommon sorrow, the surest and mosteffectual peacemaker either in familyor nation.

The Spanish war 'has done more for

Memorial day in the space of one shortyear than could have been accom-plished by the homilies of a millionpreachers.

The descendants of the heroes of bothNorth and South, fighting, suffering,dying tog-ether in foreign lands, in de-fense of their country's flag, must serve

<;LY in the bare red of its mo--1 Inotony of newly turned clay, thef Inew graves of the soldiers, dead

in the Spanish-American war,will pitifully bear their flowersthis Memorial day.

It was Sunday afternoon when 1drove out to Arlington. Holiday-makersswarmed into the great national grave-yard as ifitwere a picnic, ground. Thespreading trees and rich turf of the oldcemetery were green and peaceful.

Where lay the dead heroes of our CivilWar was solemnity, but no sadness.The scars of that great conflict hadbeen obliterated by time. But wherethe new graves are is this great redblot

—a tremendous wound in the sward

to tel! a^Btory, awesome and as full ofheartache as it is of glory.

Almost precisely a year before Ihadtraveled about from camp to camp andcome to know our soldiers. Ihadmessed and camped with the gallant

Ninth Cavalry: Ihad gone to Cubawith the surgeons and the hospitalcorps; Ihad gone Into battle with theRough Riders and fought with themand bled with them. Among the brave,black troopers of the NinthInumberedscores of friends. Among the RoughRiders there wns scarcely a man whomIdid not personally know. Day afterday, since the time when battle anddisease began among these my friends,Ihad watched the records, and Iknewwho were dead. Iwanted earnestly tofind their graves. Rut on the long rowsof tiny '

tombstones there^ were no

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to make Memorial day what it shouldbe, a. day pet apart to do honor to ourheroic dead.

The day should he sacred as God'sday —

holy as Sunday—

righteous as -theresurrection of Christ, for he needednot the intercession and tender solici-tude of humanity.

From the battlefield of Fredericks-burg in 1863 to the Philippine IslandsIn 1599 is a far signal, but its colorshave floated all these years. The beau-tiful sentiment of a handful of South-ern women, mothers, wives and sisters.who laid wreaths and (lowers upon thedesolate graves after the Fredericks-burg carnage, christened the customof memorial and hallowed its remem-brance. And now,, wherever "OldGlory" may wave, whether rising overnative soil or striking colors againstthe unfamiliar background of bambooand palm, the 30th of May willbe ob-served with a new spirit, the patrioticoffering of a united people.

The American people to-day, live inthe prospect of a glorious future, afuture not only great for themselvesbut fraught with happiness and libertyto the downtrodden millions whomtheir valor and justice have made free.

It is not alone that we honor the

names; Each had its.inexpressive, un-romantic number. On one or two somereverent one had scratched a name inlead pencil, but they were all strangenames to me. A pleasant man camefrom the office of the cemetery with, atfirst, some merriment. He showed methe map of the. graves. Ilooked at itwith eager interest. Ilooked away asquickly when Isaw the long rowsmarked "unknown."' Itseems to me apity that our Government does notmake some plan by which the identityof the men who go out to fight for itshall be certainly preserved.—

One Little Decorator. ..... .Then 1 drove back to the graves.

They were not wreathed with flowers,as one would have. expected them to bejust after they had been made, butfrom each one floated a little flag. Theywere pitiful little flags, those bits ofcolor on our soldiers* new graves. Theywere made of. the cheapest cloth, andthe red and the blue in them was sten-cilled on with cheap paint, which willrun down and spoil the white stripeswhen the first rain comes. On one ortwo of all .the thousand graves weretiny nosegays. _ Ifancy that they hadbeen put there by a little .girl thatmorning. Isaw her going about weep-ing, with some other bunches of flowersin her hands. She told me that no oneshe knew had been buried there, butthat her "bigbrother" had been killedin the Philippines.

The graves were dug by contract,doubtless, and are arranged in rows soregularly that they make straight linesno matter in what position you standas you view them.-+—$> -+-&-+-$>-»-<s-*-<s> -»-<?>-\u2666-«> -\u2666-$."\u2666-0

brave on Memorial day and bedeck thegraves of those fallen, that freedommay be perp< tuated, i>ut we make it;) day of consecrated joy that we stillpossess the blessings sn richly won.The nation has a profound sorrow forthe warring Filipinos and the uncon-tented Cubans to whom as yet thesetributes can have no meaning. Thefirm, kind hand of Justice seems tothem only an exchange of masters, butthey will in days to come venerate thememory of the American soldiers whosacrifice d their lives to give them lib-erty. They will remember their deedsof valor, their steady discipline and on-ward rush, and they will not foriet thegrand exhibition of personal heroism,which was not courage born of the ex-cjtemeirt of the hour,' biit wns'theirs bybirthright of American citizenship. •

Memorial day will yet be hallowed bythe :people who now spurn our' Hag'sprotection and it wi|l be made the sreatloving reunion to honor the heroic deedsof those still spared.It is a festival of memory made eter-

nal by the women of our nation, whosetender recollections cherish the deedsof those heroes of ours.It is a day of glad grief that freedom

and unity still reign.