With no one but her secret God
To know the pain that weighs upon her,
Sheds holy blood as e’er the sod
Received on Freedom’s field of honor.”
The boys, too,—the sons of Veterans—the young men and lads in whose veins runs the blood of the heroes who saved the Republic; the rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed young fellows who are your legitimate successors, my comrades,—what shall I say of them? The Grand Army will vanish as the years go by. Day by day its ranks will shrink and dwindle, as they did, years ago, before the fire of the enemy. They cannot be filled by recruiting. But I rejoice that such an organization as the Sons of Veterans will survive, to keep green and fair the deeds of their fathers, and to preserve the heritage of free government that their fathers maintained. The blood of patriot fathers warms the hearts of patriot sons, and I have faith to believe that any emergency demanding such sacrifices as those the people of this country were called upon to make from 1861 to 1865, would find millions of young men ready to brave all, suffer all, give all, for Liberty and the Republic.
“Mother Earth, are the heroes dead?
Do they thrill the soul of the years no more?
Are the gleaming snows and the poppies red
All that is left of the brave of yore?
Are there none to fight as Theseus fought,