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warp, it passed on. And this procession had the freedom of the city. Not the Governor when he came, headed by drum and bugle, had a better right to enter there. Four soldiers, bearing a stretcher; upon it a wounded soldier, with a flag for a covering. And the soldier so taking his rest, was the color-sergeant of the 127th Illinois Regiment, and those hands of his, so feeble now, grasped the staff, as the eagle grasps the arrows, and planted the banner on the rampart, at the capture of Arkansas Post.

"And this man would see the halls the grateful land had built for his comrades and for him. Not for the pomp and circumstance of the big wars; not for pride or power, but for just this man, pale, silent, suffering, and for the thousands like him, is all this pageantry. Do you wonder there was a lighting up of his anxious eye? Was it a flash of sun without, or the light of a grateful thought dawning?

"Officers of the Commissions, noble President of the Fair, Chairmen of the Departments, true and earnest women, faithful as the Mary at cross and grave; bright, fair young girls, giving your days to unremitted toil, givers of the gifts around the world, you have robbed the angels of their mission!"

The foreign contributions to the Fair were hailed as gratifying omens of the sympathy of the masses over the water, with us in our struggles for the principles of universal freedom. Hon. N. B. Judd, our resident minister at the court of Berlin, and his patriotic wife, labored incessantly, and sent boxes filled with articles of vertu and needlework, of wondrous skill and beauty. These, with all other foreign contributions, and the California donations, as well as those from New York,

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed]

THE COLOR BEARER OF THE 127TH ILL. REGT. PLANTING THE FLAG ON THE RAMPARTS OF ARKANSAS POST.

P 432.

DENOMINATIONAL FEATURE OF THE FAIR. '.433

were artistically and tastefully arranged in booths, under the direction of Hon. Charles L. Wilson, former Secretary of Legation at the Court of St. James. Mr. James McHenry, of London, in addition to a donation of $5,000 to the U. S. Sanitary Commission, sent to the Fair a lady's dressing-case, costing $1,000. It was so adroitly managed by Mr. Wilson, that it netted to the treasury $3,000, and was eventually voted to Miss Anna L. Wilson, niece of the chairman of the department, and daughter of John L. Wilson of the Evening Journal.

The denominational feature of this last great enterprise was unique and entirely successful. The clergy of all denominations entered heartily into this effort. The Rev. W. W. Patton, D.D, Vice-President of the branch of the Sanitary Commission at Chicago, was Chairman of the Congregational Department, and with his wife contributed largely to its success; Dr. Z. M. Humphrey and wife labored and stimulated to the utmost, the zeal of the Presbyterians; Rev. Clinton Locke and wife, the Episcopal Department; Rev. Robert Collyer, the Unitarian; Dr. T. M. Eddy and wife, and Dr. Tiffany and wife, the Methodist; Rev. E. B. Tuttle and wife, the Universalist; and Bishop Duggan, with Mrs. Gen. Sherman and Mrs. Judge Arrington, as aids, made the Roman Catholic Department a complete success. This happy result proved, that on the broad platform of humanity and patriotism, all denominations could unite, to testify their grati tude to God and their brave deliverers. Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Philadelphia, had handsome and remunerative departments, managed and controlled by their able representatives, who accompanied the donations.

As I have said, the most salient point in this great exhibi tion, was the reception of the returning regiments and their leaders, Grant, Sherman and Hooker. These military men are so widely renowned, and have so ineffaceably written their record on the hearts of the people, by their brilliant campaigns and triumphant successes, that nothing remains to the historian, but a simple narration of facts. The spontaneous and overwhelming ovation, given to them at the last Sanitary Fair, opened by tumultuous applause and enthusiasm, when Mayor Rice introduced Gen. Sherman in an emphatic and happy manner, and a poem, written by Judge Arrington, was pronounced by Hon. George C. Bates, in his graceful style.

Gen. Sherman's brief, terse and direct speech on this occasion, harmonizes so entirely with the character and scope of this volume, and is so confirmatory of the status claimed in it, for the "rank and file" of the army, that I shall introduce a portion of it.

Gen. Sherman spoke as follows:

"I thank you, sir, for the kind welcome you have given me to-day, and to the gentleman who read the poem, I also tender my thanks. I can hardly hope that my voice will reach yon recess, and if those who are near me can only hear the few words I propose to address to you, it is all I ask. I am not a man of words, and deeds can only be recorded by others, not by the actors themselves; for we see not the scenes remote; we see not what occurs behind us, but simply the limited space in front of our eyes. I have been far away from you, but my feelings have been here quite as much as though my body had been within the limits

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