Olive's Journal 06.16.21

Pocahontas | 1901

BY ALTA ISADORE GOULD.

With tender emotions we gather to-day

To scatter the blossoms of beautiful May

Where brave soldier brothers so peacefully sleep,

And over their graves we rejoice wille wo weep.

We weep for the vigor departed so soon,

For those stricken down in the pride of their noon,

For fathers with looks like the storm-driven snow,

Who, forgetting their age, to the battle would go.

For boys who abandoned the bat and the ball,

And Sprang into line at the first bugle call;

For mothers and sisters and sweethearts and wives,

Whose day stars went down with the ebb of those lives.

And yet we rejoice at the glory they earned,

Our hearts at the thoughts of their valor have burned,

And an altar erected is sacred to them

Which we with the fairest of blossoms begem.

We rejoice to remember their patriot pride

That like their forefathers they valiantly died.

Brave sons have they proved of those immortal sires

Who built Freedom's altar and kindled her fires.

We love in our hearts to their memory enthrone,

Rejoice to remember that they were our own;

That they nobly displayed the grand spirit of old,

And counted their principles dearer than gold.

Again we rejoice that they died not in vain,

That peace reigns supreme over valley and plain,

That the folds of "Old Glory" are kissed by the breeze

As it floats o'er the graves of such heroes as these.

We hope and we pray it may ever be thus,

That no cloud of war shall again cover us,

But peace like a mantle enfold us for aye,

And forever be honored Memorial Day.

DO ROMAN CATHOLICS PRAY TO MARY?

From time to time the statement is heard regarding the Roman Catholic Church that prayers are directed by adherents of that Church to the Virgin Mary. This is as often denied and, in its stead, the authorities of that Church claim that their regard for Mary does not extend beyond adoration.

One of their chief publications reproduces a prayer offered daily by the late Cardinal Rampolla after mass. The prayer begins as follows:

"O Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, cast a glance from heaven, where thou sittest as queen, upon this poor sinner, thy servant. *** O Virgin, holy and merciful, obtain the grace of repentance for those who insult you. Be pleased to accept this little homage of your servant and obtain for him also from your divine Son pardon of his sins. Amen."

In a poem entitled "Evening Prayer to the Virgin," published in one of their organs, the author thus speaks in the first stanza:

"Night is falling, dear Mother, the long day is o'er,

And before thy loved image, I'm kneeling once more,

To thank thee for keeping me safe thro' the day,

To ask thee this night to keep evil away."

If these utterances do not touch pretty closely on prayer, as that term is used by Protestants, we fail in the finer distinctions of the English language, For one to address his cry for forgiveness to the Virgin Mary and depend wholly upon her intercession with her Son to effect an answer, is virtually praying to the Virgin. Roman Catholics will answer that the Virgin is simply a medium; that the petitioner is wholly unworthy himself to approach the Son; that the only one who is pure enough to really face the Saviour of the world is his mother, and that for this reason they lodge their petition with her. This answer may serve those who deal in finespun theories, but for the practical everyday prayer, it loses its force.

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