CHAPTER XLVI NINETEEN HUNDRED ELEVEN INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS. TIME'S CHANGES IN METHODS. MEMORIAL SERVICES. GENERAL HORATIO C. KING, ORATOR. ExTRACTS FROM HIS POEMS. SOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC AT PROVIDENCE. THE FORTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY. LOSS OF COMRADE WILLIAM M. OLIN. MINOR EVENTS. SKETCH OF COMMANDER WILLIAM PARK. T the first meeting of the year, in the presence of seventyfour Comrades and Kinsley Associates, the officers were duly installed by Past-Commander Bowdoin S. Parker, Assistant Department Inspector, Comrade Charles E. Pierce, as Officer of the Day. WILLIAM PARK. WILLIAM E. MURDOCK. NEWMAN W. STORER. OLIVER P. RICKER. ARTHUR HOOPER. HORACE E. MARION, M.D. REV. EDWARD A. HORton. JAMES D. LEATHERBEE. HENRY J. BARDWELL. J. HOWARD SULLIVAN. EPHRAIM B. STILLINGS, Ch., BOWDOIN S. PARKER, JOHN C. COOK. CHARLES B. AMORY, Ch., WILLIAM H. ALLINE, GREENLEAF A. GOODALE. ALBERT W. HERSEY, Ch., TIME'S CHANGES IN METHODS As time passes, its influence may be distinctly traced in the changes in methods adopted by the Post. Formerly the mem bers were quite willing to turn out as an organization upon parades and celebrations of a public character, together with semi-public social functions. The foregoing pages fully attest the numerous occasions upon which the Post has taken a conspicuous part. Now, all is changed in this respect, and the social meetings, musicales, lectures, addresses and papers, heard and enjoyed only by the members, the Associates and specially invited friends, have quite superseded the former general functions for which the Post was so justly celebrated. During the present year these very interesting home events averaged more than one each month, affording many delightful hours and drawing the members together into still closer companionship. MEMORIAL SERVICES On Sunday, May 28, the Post attended, by invitation, Tremont Temple, and listened to an interesting address by the pastor, Rev. Courtland Myers; his subject being "War." MAY THIRTIETH Memorial Day was fittingly observed by the usual loving duties and tender ceremonies. First came the decorative remembrances of the graves of one hundred and two deceased Comrades of the Post, four Comrades of other Posts, seventy-four other Veterans, one Confederate Veteran, together with the decoration of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument on the Common, five statues at the State House, thirteen memorial tablets in churches and schools and the grave of Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis. Following the above were the public services at the Monument and at Tremont Temple. The military escort was the Seventh Company Coast Artillery Corps, led by the Coast Artillery Corps Band. Arrangements had been made for the attendance of the public school children at the Temple ceremonies as in previous years, but for some unexplained reason they were not allowed to attend. The inspiration of their bright eager faces was missed, and the opportunity of increasing their patriotism and love of country and the Flag by the admirable and instructive ceremonies and ADDRESS OF GENERAL HORATIO C. KING 323 addresses was lost. The vocal music for the past two years had been rendered most acceptable by the thousand children in attendance. In their absence the musical programme was carried out by the Beethoven, Harvard and Schubert quartettes, with Mrs. Francis Dutton Brown, soprano, and the Coast Artillery Corps Band. "Lincoln's Gettysburg Address" was effectively recited by Master Walter A. Burke of the Mather School, Dorchester. General Horatio C. King of Brooklyn, N. Y., was the Orator of the Day. He was awarded a congressional medal of honor for distinguished bravery in the Civil War. His subject, "Looking Back," was most acceptably handled through the recital of his varied personal experiences during his war service. He illustrated his points by many amusing stories which served to hold the close attention of the audience. In many respects it was one of the most pleasing addresses heard upon such an occasion for many years. His address was subsequently printed by the Post. A few extracts, including an original poem, may well find a place here. "Upon these anniversary occasions, when time is wiped out, you might say, has slipped past us, we get the old youthful feeling, and there come back into the heart the sweet memories and the severe memories of those dreadful days of the four long years of war, yet so tinctured and punctuated all the time with pleasant incidents, the songs, the camp fire, the jests, that after all, looking back, it seems somewhat of a great picnic, you might say. We forget the hard tasks, but we remember those delightful things that cemented the friendships which I think are stronger than any of the friendships on the face of the earth. "And so with your permission I will talk a little of the times that are past, realizing that there are in this audience a vast number to whom the War is simply a tradition, and that they may be glad to hear from the lips of one who participated in it something of the personal experiences of those days. I know we are getting along to that period of life when the younger generation certainly begin to look up to us as sort of dime museum curiosities. We are relics of a great tradition, and perhaps the few words that I may say upon this subject may be a sort of object lesson to them which they will carry away and remember long after we have passed over to the majority. "With your permission I will read a little poem. Like Silas Wegg, I occasionally 'drap' into poetry, and this was suggested by the reminiscences of the past fifty years: |