REUNION ADDRESS.
* The Elmwood Reunion, participated in by six regiments,
came to a glorious close last evening. There were thousands
of people present. The city was gayly decorated with flags
and hunting, while pictures and busts of Col. Ingersoll were
in every show window. From early in the morning until noon,
delegations kept coming in, A special train arrived from
Peoria at 10.50 o'clock, bearing a large delegation of old
soldiers together with Col. Ingersoll and his daughter Maud.
He was met by the reception committee, and marched up the
street escorted by an army of veterans. When he arrived on
the west side of the public square, the lines were opened,
and he marched between, in review of his old friends and
comrades. The parade started as soon as it could be formed,
after the arrival of the special train.
Col. Ingersoll was greeted by a salute of thirteen guns from
Peoria's historic cannon, as he was escorted to the grand
stand by Spencer's band and the Peoria Veterans.
The reviewing stand was on the west side of the park. Here
the parade was seen by Col. Ingersoll and the other
distinguished guests, among whom were Congressmen Graff and
Prince, Mayor Day, Judges N. E. Worthington and I. C.
Pinkney, and the Hon. Clark E. Carr, who also made a speech
saying that the people cannot estimate the majesty of the
eloquence of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, keeping alive the
flame of patriotism from 1860 to the present time. .
The parade was an imposing one, there were fully two
thousand five hundred old veterans in line who passed In
review before Col. Ingersoll, each one doffing his hat as he
marched by. The most pleasing feature of the exercises of
the day was the representation of the Living Flag by one
hundred and fifty little girls of Elmwood, at ten o' clock
under the direction of Col. Lem. H. Wiley, of Peoria. The
flag was presented on a large Inclined amphitheatre at the
left of the grand stand, and was the finest thing ever
witnessed lu this part of the country.
Following the presentation of the Living Flag, Chairman
Brown called the Reunion to order, and Col. Lem. H. Wiley,
National Bugler gave the assembly call.
Following the assembly call a male chorus rendered a song,
"Ring O Bells." The song was composed for the occasion by
Mr. E. R. Brown and was as follows:
"Welcome now that leader fearless,
Free of thought and grand of brain,
King of hearts and speaker peerless,
Hail our Ingersoll again." ***
Then Chairman, E. R. Brown, took charge of the meeting and
introduced Col. Ingersoll as the greatest of living orators,
referring to the time that the Colonel declared, a quarter
of a century ago, in Rouse's Hall, Peoria, that from that
time forth there would be one free man in Illinois, and
expressing Indebtedness to him for what had been done since
for the freedom and happiness of mankind, by his mighty
brain, his great spirit and his gentle heart.
He then spoke of Col. Ingersoll's residence in Peoria
county, paying an eloquent tribute to him, and concluded by
leading the distinguished gentleman to the front of the
stand. The appearance of Col. Ingersoll was a signal for a
mighty shout, which was heartily joined in by everybody
present, even the little girls composing the living flag,
cheering and waving their banners.
It was fully ten minutes before the cheering had subsided,
and when Col. Ingersoll commenced to speak it was renewed
and he was forced to wait for several minutes more. When
quiet was restored, he opened his address, and for an hour
and a half he held the vast audience spell-bound with his
eloquence and wit.
After Col. Ingersoll's speech the veterans crowded around
the stand to meet and grasp the hand of their comrade, and
the boys of the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, his old regiment,
were especially profuse in their congratulations and thanks
for the splendid address he had delivered. His speeeh was
off-hand, only occasional reference being made to his short
notes. The Colonel then left the Park amid the yells of
delight of the old soldiers, every man of whom endeavored to
grasp his hand.
In the afternoon the veterans assembled in Liberty Hall by
themselves, the room being filled. Col. Ingersoll appeared
and was greeted with such cheers as he had not received
during the entire day. He then said good-bye to his old
comrades.—Chicago Inter-ocean and Peoria papers, Sept. 6th,
1896.
Elmwood, Ills.
1895.
LADIES and Gentlemen, Fellow-citizens, Old Friends and Comrades:
It gives me the greatest pleasure to meet again those with whom I became acquainted in the morning of my life. It is now afternoon. The sun of life is slowly sinking in the west, and, as the evening comes, nothing can be more delightful than to see again the faces that I knew in youth.
When first I knew you the hair was brown; it is now white. The lines were not quite so deep, and the eyes were not quite so dim. Mingled with this pleasure is sadness,—sadness for those who have passed away—for the dead.
And yet I am not sure that we ought to mourn for the dead. I do not know which is better—life or death. It may be that death is the greatest gift that ever came from nature's open hands. We do not know.