Let me again cordially thank you for your interest and friendliness and to bid you good-night, and, as I must leave you to-night for Washington, to hope that the closing exercises of this grand and instructive week may be pleasant, and as the outcome of it all that there may be kindled in the hearts of you all, and of these comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic, a newer love for the flag and for the Constitution, and that this may all inure to us in social, family, and public life. [Applause and cheers.]
Quitting the Mayor's banquet, the President and members of the Cabinet, with Admiral Gherardi and staff, proceeded to Mechanics' Hall, where a joint reception of the Grand Army and Woman's Relief Corps was in progress. At least 15,000 people greeted the arrival of the distinguished visitors. On the platform with the President's party were Miss Florence Barker, first President Woman's Relief Corps; Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, National President; Miss Clara Barton, President Red Cross Association; Mrs. Mary E. Knowles, Massachusetts Department President; Mrs. Cheney, National Secretary; Mrs. Lynch, National Treasurer; Mrs. Nichols, National Inspector of the Relief Corps; Department Commander T. S. Clarkson, Nebraska; Department Commander P. H. Darling, Ohio; Governor Brackett and Congressman McKinley. George H. Innis, Commander Massachusetts Department, welcomed the visiting comrades. Other speakers were General Sherman, Commander-in-Chief Alger, and Vice-President Morton.
General Harrison was introduced as Comrade Harrison, President of the United States, and was greeted with tremendous applause. He spoke as follows:
Mr. Chairman and Comrades of the Grand Army of the Republic—I had impressions both pleasurable and painful as I looked upon the great procession of veterans which swept through the streets of this historic capital to-day; pleasurable in the contemplation of so many faces of those who shared together the perils and glories of the great struggle for the Union; sensations of a mournful sort as I thought how seldom we should meet again. Not many times more here. As I have stood in the great national cemetery at Arlington and have seen those silent battalions of the dead, I have thought how swiftly the reaper is doing his work and how soon in the scattered cemeteries of the land the ashes of all the soldiers of the great war shall be gathered to honored graves. And yet I could not help but feel that in the sturdy tread of those battalions there was yet strength of heart and limb that would not be withheld if a present peril should confront the Nation that you love. [Applause.] And if Arlington is the death, we see to-day in the springing step of those magnificent battalions of the Sons of Veterans the resurrection. [Applause.] They are coming on to take our places, the Nation will not be defenceless when we are gone, but those who have read about the firesides of the veterans' homes, in which they have been born and reared, the lessons of patriotism and the stories of heroism will come fresh armed to any conflict that may confront us in the future. [Applause.]
And so to-night we may gather from this magnificent spectacle a fresh and strong sense of security for the permanency of our country and our free institutions. I thought it altogether proper that I should take a brief furlough from official duties at Washington to mingle with you here to-day as a comrade [applause], because every President of the United States must realize that the strength of the Government, its defence in war, the army that is to muster under its banner when our Nation is assailed, is to be found here in the masses of our people. [Applause and cries of "Good!">[ And so, as my furlough is almost done, and the train is already waiting that must bear me back to Washington, I can only express again the cordial, sincere, and fraternal interest which I feel this day in meeting you all. I can only hope that God will so order the years that are left to you that for you and those who are dear to you they may be ordered in all gentleness and sweetness, in all prosperity and success, and that, when at last the comrades who survive you shall wrap the flag of the Union about your body and bear it to the grave, you may die in peace and in the hope of a glorious resurrection! [Applause.]
[CRESSON, PENNSYLVANIA, SEPTEMBER 13.]
Nearly 1,000 veterans from the several G. A. R. posts of Altoona, Tyronne, and Holidaysburg visited Cresson on September 13, 1890, for the purpose of paying their respects to President Harrison. General Ekin and Col. Theo. Burchfield headed the delegation. Other prominent veterans were Post Commanders Painter, Beighel, Lewis, and Calvin; J. C. Walters, W. H. Fentiman, Rob't Howe, Maj. John R. Garden, George Kuhn, William Aiken, Oliver Sponsler, Wm. Guyer, Hon. J. W. Curry, Capt. Joseph W. Gardner, and ex-Mayor Breth, of Altoona. The President received the veterans at the Mountain House. After the reception J. D. Hicks delivered a congratulatory address on behalf of the veterans.
General Harrison, speaking from the balcony of the hotel, warmly thanked his comrades for their good wishes, and in mentioning the events of the war referred feelingly to the tragic death of the great Lincoln and the memorable words of Garfield on that occasion. His reference to the Constitution and the flag, and the love of the people for them, elicited a hearty response. He concluded as follows: "Now, my comrades, who have suffered and still suffer for your country, I wish in this world all good to you and your dear ones, and in the world to come joy everlasting."