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 M Memerial ^ervke for 
 
 HOSEA W. ROOD 
 
 Department Patriotic Instructor 
 
 Grand Army of the Republic ^-4^^ i 
 
 Madison, Wisconsin 
 1913 
 
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A MEMORIAL SERVICE 
 
 SAILOR - SOLDIER DEAD 
 
 It is coming to be the custom on IMemorial Day to visit the 
 waters flowing to the sea, Avhether brooklets or broad rivers, 
 there to strew flowers' uj^on their surface in memory of the 
 sailor-soldier dead who gave their lives for the life of our na- 
 tion. This little service book is printed for such an occasion. 
 It may be used by Grand Army men. by any of our patriotic 
 societies*, or by schools. It is particularly adapted to the use 
 of schools, for without the presence of a company of boys and 
 girls all our memorial services would lose half their significance. 
 
 In the presentation of this program the Leader may be the 
 commander or patriotic instructor of a Grand Army Post, cor- 
 responding officers of any other patriotic society, a teacher or 
 older pupil of a school. It would be Avell to have the part of 
 the leader committed to memory. 
 
 Where practicable the service may best be held upon a bridge, 
 whence the flowers, having been dropped upon the water, may 
 be seen floating away toward the sea. 
 
 Let those Avho recite or speak bring bouquets of flowers, and, 
 while speaking,— where the words' make such action appropri- 
 ate, — strew the blossoms upon the water. Every one on the 
 program may well bring his or her floral tribute, dropping it 
 upon the stream at a fitting time. It would not be out of place 
 to have a few minature flags among the flowers. 
 
 The children may be divided into two groups, one to pass 
 along the edge of the bridge — dropping flowers — jus*t before 
 each of the two recitations. 
 
 If thought best, some one who can speak to a purpose might 
 be -invited to give, just after the second song, a brief talk upon 
 
— 2— 
 
 the significance of this iiieuiorial service. This talk s'hould be 
 as impressive as practicable. 
 
 Country schools near a rural l)ridge — flowers all about — may 
 make much of this water service. With s'ome modification it 
 may be used at a riverside or lakeside. 
 
 PROGRAM 
 
 Our National Hymn. America, hy all present. 
 
 a:\ierica 
 
 ]\Iy country 'tis of thee, 
 Sweet land of liberty, 
 
 Of thee I sing; 
 Land wliere my fathers died, 
 Land of the pilgrims' pride. 
 From every mountain side 
 
 Let Freedom ring. 
 
 My native country, thee. 
 Land of the noble free, 
 
 Thy name I love ; 
 I love thy rocks and rills. 
 Thy woods and templed hills, 
 ]My heart with rapture thrills 
 
 Like that above. 
 
 Let music swell the breeze 
 And ring from all the trees. 
 
 Sweet Freedom's song; 
 Let mortal tongues awake, 
 Let all that breathe partake, 
 Let rocks their silence break, 
 The sound prolong. 
 
 Our father's God, to thee. 
 Author of liberty, 
 
 To thee we sing. 
 Long may our land be bright 
 With Freedom's' holy light; 
 Protect us by they might, 
 Great God our King. 
 
 ^=2^ /7 
 
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 ^T'/P. 
 
— 3— 
 
 ADDRESS BY THE LEADER. 
 
 Not all the fighting for our Hag was done on land. There 
 were battles on the sea, and some of the most heroic deeds were 
 done there — some of the most brilliant victories won. Brave 
 men on battleships coasted up and down our shores' keeping 
 close guard over our seaports and intercepting blockade run- 
 ners, while others sailed away to distant seas in pursuit of 
 armed vesvsels whose business it was to destroy our unarmed 
 merchant ships. 
 
 Union gunboats accompanied and aided our armies in all 
 their battles along our great rivers. It is doubtful if, without 
 the help of our warships, the Union forces could have got 
 •possession of New Orleans; or. without our ironelad gunboats, 
 could have taken ^.Icksburg, opened up the :\rississippi river 
 and thus cut the Confederacy in two. 
 
 It would have been all but impossible for our army to come 
 into possession of IMobile had not the intrepid Farragut — lashed 
 to the mast of his flag-ship — fought his way into ::\Iobile Bay 
 and captured the almost impregnable forts that guarded the 
 city. 
 
 Had not that new-fangled little gunboat, the ^Monitor, ap- 
 peared in Hampton Roads in just the nick of time to destroy 
 the Confederate ^lerrimac. that formidable ironclad Avould no 
 doubt have made its* ^\'ay up the Potomac to Washington and 
 battered down our national Capitol; and then gone even to 
 NeM' York and Boston and had those cities at her mercy. 
 
 If the ever-vigilant T^nion warship, the Kearsarge, had not 
 caught and sunk the formidable Confederate privateer, the 
 Alabama, she might have gone on indefinitely destroying our 
 merchant vessels, with millions of dollars of property belong- 
 ing to loyal American citizens. 
 
 Some of our naval battles were among the fiercest ever fought, 
 and nowhere were more brilliant victories won than on the sea. 
 Thousands of our sailor-soldiers were killed in defense of Old 
 Glory or sank with their ships into watery graves, the old flag 
 floating over them being the last sight to greet their closing 
 eyes. 
 
 It is in memory of heroes such as these that we to-day strew 
 flowers upon these waters on their way to the great wide sea, 
 
— 4— 
 
 where they gave for the life of our nation the last full nieasure- 
 of devotion — their own young and joyous lives. -May this 
 simple, grateful service increase our love and devotion for the 
 old flag under which they died. 
 
 PRAYER 
 
 Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we remember as in- 
 dividuals and as nations our dependence upon thee for every 
 good and perfect gift. As our fathers in the days of old trust- 
 ed in thy love and thy guidance, so do we now trust in thee. 
 Help us to be as thankful to thee as we are dependent upon 
 thy wisdom and power. 
 
 With tender thoughts we recall to-day the heroic devotion 
 and unselfish deeds of those who on land and sea served their. 
 day and age, thereby bequeathing to us the priceless blessings 
 of civil and religious liberty. We strew these tiOAvers upon the 
 waters flowing to the sea as our tribute on behalf of a hundred 
 million people in this and every other land who are sheltered 
 and protected by our flag. Our comrades who went ''down ta 
 the sea in ships" met there not only the fateful engines of 
 death, but also the many perils of the mighty deep. Without 
 their service and self-sacrifice the stars on our flag could not 
 to-day shine in their stainless glory — and our republic be un- 
 divided. 
 
 ]\rany of our soldier-sailor dead rest to-day a hiindred fath- 
 oms deep in graves we cannot mark, yet thou knowest them all, 
 and they are in thy loving care ; for thou boldest the waters of 
 the earth in the hollow of thine omnipotent hand until the earth 
 and the sea shall give up their dead, and "mortality shall be- 
 swallowed up of life." 
 
 May thy rich blessing rest upon this simple service; and 
 may the spirit and influence of its observance abide with us^ 
 and our children's children," exalting our nation in righteous- 
 ness," until thy will be done among men as it it done in Heaven. 
 
 We ask all this in the name of Him who tasted death for 
 all of us. Amen. 
 
— 5— 
 
 RECITATION 
 For Water Service on Memorial Day, 
 IT. W. R. 
 
 We've searched tliroiigli raeadows. fields and woods, 
 
 God's own fiower gardens bright, 
 For roses red and violets blue, 
 
 And daisies pure and white. 
 With grateful, loving hearts Ave bring 
 
 These fragrant, s-veet spring flowers 
 In memory of the honored dead 
 
 Who saved this land of ours. 
 
 We strew these blossoms on the stream 
 
 A-flowing to the sea, 
 A tri])ute to the sailors brave 
 
 Who fought for lilierty. — 
 Who died a-fighting for our flag 
 
 Upon the ocean wave ; 
 And far away from home and friends 
 
 Found there a wat'ry grave. 
 
 And as we watch them float away 
 
 Toward the great wide sea 
 Where sleep our sailor-soldier dead 
 
 Of honored memory, 
 We think with loyal gratitude 
 
 Of those brave men who gave 
 Their lives and all that they held dear 
 
 Our country's flag to save. 
 
 Long may our starry banner bright 
 
 Float over land and sea, 
 Proud emblem of the land we love, — 
 
 Of law and liberty. 
 Long may our land in peace abide, 
 
 And righteousness prevail ; 
 May courage, purity and truth. 
 
 With love, among us dwell. 
 
Let us he soldiers for the right, 
 
 In these blest days of peace, — 
 Enlisted for tlie eoinnion good, 
 
 Our s'erviee ne'er to cease. 
 Let us stand up against the wrong, 
 
 As brave and true as they 
 For wlioni we l)ring these fragrant flowers 
 
 On this ^lemorial Day. 
 
 SONG FOR WA*TKR SEK >^ICE. 
 
 EBEN E. REXFORD 
 
 Air: "W< Shall M,<l Bui Wc Shall Miss Him." 
 
 Sweetest blossoms of tlie spring-time, 
 . From the meadows and the hill. 
 Scatter o'er the graves of heroes* 
 
 Who, tho' dead, are living still. 
 But, alas, how many l)rave ones 
 
 Who their lives for Freedom gave. 
 Sleep the sleep that knows no waking 
 
 Underneath the ocean wave. 
 
 Chorus: — Brooks and rivers, bear love's tril)ute 
 To the dead in stream or sea, — 
 Tell them how a nation honors 
 
 Those who died to make men free. 
 
 Dead are they, but not forgotten, 
 
 Tho ' their graves we cannot see ; 
 And to-day we pay our tribute 
 
 To each brave one's memory. 
 Scatter blossoms on the waters 
 
 Soon to merge with ocean's wave, 
 And tile tide Mill bear the message 
 
 That we send to every grave. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
Wind and wave, take thou the blossoms 
 
 That to-day we give to thee; 
 Tell the dead that we remember 
 
 Heroes' of the land and sea. 
 Bear them where the dead are lying 
 
 In death's last untroubled sleep, 
 Freighted with love's tender mes'sage 
 
 To our heroes 'neath the deep. 
 
 Chorus : — 
 
 *This tune may be found in mos't collections of war-time songs. 
 If thought liest a sliort talk may be given here. 
 
 RECITATION 
 
 FJmv Goifh/ On 
 
 MRS. OLYETTE ELLIS 
 
 Flow gently on, shining stream. 
 Flow softly as a pleasant dream ; 
 Pause not where dimpling eddies whirl. 
 Nor where the water lilies s'wirl ; 
 But down through larger streams, glide. 
 And on through rivers deep and wide 
 Keep these -fair flowers we trust to thee; 
 lentil they reach the boundless sea ; 
 Then let them rest upon the waves 
 Above our honored heroes' graves. 
 
 Flow on where smile the gentle hills 
 That feed thee M'ith their laughing rills ; 
 Flow on through pleasant meadow land, 
 And on where rocks in grandeur stand ; 
 Flow on where bridges span thy way, 
 And on, though clouds obs'cure the day ; 
 Flow on where trees lean fondly down — 
 On, on past busy mill and town; 
 And bear these flowers to coral eaves 
 Where s'oldiers sleep in sailors' graves. 
 
Float on, bright blossoms, to the seas, 
 
 And bear our tear-fraught memories 
 
 To those who died our flag to save — 
 
 And sank within an ocean graA'e. 
 
 Brave souls! they heard their country's call 
 
 And deemed it joy for her to fall. 
 
 Float on beneath the sunshine bright ; 
 
 And on 'neath starry skies at night ; 
 
 INIay flags and flowers we send to-day 
 
 Sink on some hero's breast, we pray. 
 
 We honor you, patriots brave, 
 
 Wlio loyally and freely gave 
 
 Your lives to save our UNION grand 
 
 From ruin by a hostile band. 
 
 We honor you, and place each name 
 
 In annals of our Nation's fame. 
 
 Boys of the Navy, brave and true. 
 
 Who sank beneath the waters blue. 
 
 Sleep on, sleep on 'neath crested waves, 
 
 Rocked gently in deep ocean graves. 
 
 SOME SUGGESTIONS 
 
 Let it be remembered tliat in Wisconsin there is a IMemoriai. 
 Day Badge — for everyl)ody, young and old. It is a miniature 
 flag, to be worn in front of the left s'lioulder. 
 
 From the very nature of the case, we survivors of the war 
 for the life of our nation must by-and-by answer to the last 
 roll-call; and then the loving service of strewing' flowers over 
 the little mounds where sleep our patriotic dead must be per- 
 formed — if at all — by those who are now our little citizens 
 It is well for us who still live to seek to cultivate the most 
 cordial relations with our boys and girls. It should be our 
 pleasure to attend theii" patriotic exercises at s'chool on the 
 birthdays of Washington and Lincoln, but especially those in 
 connection with IMemorial Day. — not to talk unless urged to 
 do so. and tlicn lirictiy and witli a ])atriotic purpose in view, — 
 but to listen to their prepared programs; and then to thank 
 both them and their teachers* for what they are doing to cul- 
 tivate a love for the country we fought to save for them, and a 
 reverence for our country's flag. 
 
— 9— 
 
 It is coming to be a custom — a most fitting custom — to plant 
 in the school yard a Grand Army ^lemorial Tree ; or, where 
 there are already trees enough on the grounds, to dedicate the 
 best one of all to the Grand Arui}^, and to name it after some 
 man who was once a good soldier and has been since the war 
 a worthy and useful citizen. Let me suggest this as a part of 
 the program at school this year in which comrades, teachers 
 and pupils may well unite. 
 
 "We do well to lionor and preserve our patriotic traditions'. 
 
 I shall be glad to receive from comrades and school people 
 either written or printed accounts of patriotic services of all 
 kinds in connection Mdth Memorial Day. Please send them to me 
 at the Capitol. ^Madison. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 013 785 205 6 •