Rec'd this from a subscriber of one of my lists and thot that I would send it on..... It sure fits the occasion... Jeannie <>< ------------------------- found this in our local newspaper in May 1899, I believe it was in the Republican Newspaper in Shelbyville, Indiana. I thought it was very moving. Janet Memorial Day, May 1899 Do you know what it means, you boys and girls Who hail from the North and the South! Do you know what it means This twining for greens Round the silent cannon's mouth; This strewing with flowers the grass-grown grave; This decking with garlands the statues brave; This planting of flags, All in tatters and rags; This marching and singing, These bells all a-ringing; These faces grave and those faces gay; This talk of the Blue and this talk of the Gray In the North and the South, Memorial Day. Not simply a show-time, boys and girls, In this day of falling flowers, Not a pageant or play, Nor a holiday Of flags and floral bowers; It is something more than the day that starts, War-memories a throb in veteran hearts; For across the years, To the hopes and the fears, To the days of battle, Of roar and rattle- To the Past that now seems so far away, Do the sons of the Blue and the sons of the Gray Gaze-hand clasping hand-Memorial Day, For the wreck and the wrong of it boys and girls, For the terror and loss as well, Our hearts must hold A regret untold As we think of those who fell. But their blood, on which ever side they fought, Remade the Nation, and Progress wrought. We forget the woe; For we live and know That the fighting and the sighing, The fall and the dying, Were but steps toward the Future-the Martyr's Way! Adown which the sons of the Blue and the Gray Look, with love and with pride, Memorial Day. Author unknown >Resent-Sender: KYNICHOL-L-request@rootsweb.com > >