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THE HISTORY OF MEMORIAL DAY
The location of the first observance of Memorial Day is in dispute. Some claim the custom
of honoring war dead began in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Others claim the custom was originated by some Southern women who placed
flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers after the Civil War. According to one writer, the first Memorial
Day service took place on May 30, 1866, on Belle Isle, a burial ground for Union soldiers in the St. James River, at Richmond,
Virginia. The school superintendent and the mayor planned the program of hymns and speeches and had the burial ground decorated
with flowers.
In 1865, Henry C. Welles, a druggist in the village of Waterloo, NY, mentioned at a social gathering that
honor should be shown to the patriotic dead of the Civil War by decorating their graves.
In the Spring of 1866, he again
mentioned this subject to General John B. Murray, Seneca County Clerk. General Murray embraced the idea and a committee was
formulated to plan a day devoted to honoring the dead.
In May of 1966, just in time for the Centennial, Waterloo
was recognized as the "Birthplace of Memorial Day" by the United States Government. This recognition was long in
coming and involved hours of painstaking research to prove the claim. While other communities may claim earlier observances
of honoring the Civil War dead, none can claim to have been so well planned and complete, nor can they claim the continuity
of observances that Waterloo can who had honored soldiers who had died in the Civil War.
The Centennial Celebration that
year brought dignitaries from government, military, veteran's organizations and descendants of the original founders of Memorial
Day. A once luxurious home on Waterloo's Main Street, built in 1850, was purchased from the county and restored. Now the Memorial
Day Museum, it houses artifacts of the first Memorial Day and the Civil War era.
Memorial Day is commemorated
each year in Waterloo. The parade, speeches, and solemn observances keep the meaning of Memorial Day as it was originally
intended to be.
PATRIOTIC POETRY AND QUOTATIONS
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears
a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
-Thoreau
from
"Walden's Pond
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal'".
-Martin Luther King Jr.
"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this giovernment cannot endure permanently half slave and
half free."
-Abraham Lincoln, 1858
I am the Flag
by Ruth Apperson Rous
I am the flag
of the United States of America.
I was born on June 14, 1777, in Philadelphia.
There the Continental Congress adopted
my stars and stripes as the national flag.
My thirteen stripes alternating red and white, with a union of thirteen white
stars in a field of blue, represented a new constellation, a new nation dedicated to the personal and religious liberty of
mankind.
Today fifty stars signal from my union, one for each of the fifty sovereign states in the greatest constitutional
republic the world has ever known.
My colors symbolize the patriotic ideals and spiritual qualities of the citizens of
my country.
My red stripes proclaim the fearless courage and integrity of American men and boys and the self-sacrifice
and devotion of American mothers and daughters.
My white stripes stand for liberty and equality for all.
My blue
is the blue of heaven, loyalty, and faith.
I represent these eternal principles: liberty, justice, and humanity.
I
embody American freedom: freedom of speech, religion, assembly, the press, and the sanctity of the home.
I typify that
indomitable spirit of determination brought to my land by Christopher Columbus and by all my forefathers - the Pilgrims, Puritans,
settlers at Jamestown and Plymouth.
I am as old as my nation.
I am a living symbol of my nation's law: the Constitution
of the United States and the Bill of Rights.
I voice Abraham Lincoln's philosophy: "A government of the people,
by the people,for the people."
I stand guard over my nation's schools, the seedbed of good citizenship and true
patriotism.
I am displayed in every schoolroom throughout my nation; every schoolyard has a flag pole for my display.
Daily thousands upon thousands of boys and girls pledge their allegiance to me and my country.
I have my own lawPublic
Law 829, "The Flag Code" - which definitely states my correct use and display for all occasions and situations.
I have my special day, Flag Day. June 14th is set aside to honor my birth.
Americans, I am the sacred emblem of
your country. I symbolize your birthright, your heritage of liberty purchased with blood and sorrow.
I am your title
deed of freedom, which is yours to enjoy and hold in trust for posterity.
If you fail to keep this sacred trust inviolate,
if I am nullified and destroyed, you and your children will become slaves to dictators and despots.
Eternal vigilance
is your price of freedom.
As you see me silhouetted against the peaceful skies of my country, remind yourself that I
am the flag of your country, that I stand for what you are - no more, no less.
Guard me well, lest your freedom perish
from the earth.
Dedicate your lives to those principles for which I stand: "One nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all."
I was created in freedom. I made my first appearance in a battle for human liberty.
God grant that I may spend eternity in my "land of the free and the home of the brave" and that I shall ever
be known as "Old Glory," the flag of the United States of America.
EULOGY FOR A VETERAN
Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand
winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the Gentle autumn
rain.
When you awaken in the mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight,
I
am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
-Author
Unknown
PATRIOTIC CRAFTS
Make wreaths for resident's doors or to hang around the building. Start out with a grapevine wreath
and thread red, white and blue ribbons through the wreath. Glue on stars that you have purchased or make your own out of construction
paper and glitter glue. Use your imagination and the wreath will look great!
STARS AND STRIPES T-SHIRTS
You'll need:
Pencil
Newspaper
Red and blue fabric paint (Try puffy blue paint and red paint with sparkles.)
White T-shirts
Spread newspapers onto a table. Place a T-shirt onto the newspaper. Insert a flat sheet of newspaper
into the shirt so paint doesn't bleed through both layers of fabric.
Draw a large flag onto the front of a T-shirt with
a pencil. Add stars and stripes. Paint over the pencil lines. Let the paint dry overnight.
PATRIOTIC RECIPES
PATRIOTIC POTATO MELT CASSEROLE
Ingredients
8 medium potatoes with skins on them
1
pound of Velvetta mild Mexican cheese
1/2 cup onion chopped
3 slices of bread
1 stick of butter
1 teaspoon
parsley
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic salt
Instructions
Cut potatoes into same size chunks
and boil them until you can stick them with a fork. They can be a little undercooked.
Place in a baking dish.
Saute
onions in butter and then put over potatoes.
Sprinkle spice over potatoes.
Cube cheese and put on potatoes.
Cube
the three slices of bread and put on cheese.
Melt stick of butter and pour over everything.
Sprinkle on more spices
to look pretty.
Bake at 350 degrees for about a half hour.
AMERICAN FLAG CAKE
12 servings
18 1/2 ozs white cake mix
1 env Dream Whip(r) whipped topping mix, dry
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 c cold water,
cold
1/2 c egg whites
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 ozs strawberry gelatin powder
1/2
c boiling water
3 ozs fat-free vanilla pudding mix
1 1/2 c skim milk
1 1/2 env Dream Whip(r) whipped topping
mix, prepared (3 cups)
1 1/2 c fresh strawberries, sliced
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries, divided
1/2 c miniature
marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 13 x 9" pan with cooking spray and flour; set aside. In a mixing
bowl, combine cake mix, dry whipped topping mix, and baking powder. In another mixing bowl, combine water, egg whites, oil,
and vanilla extract. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients just until moistened. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack over sheet of waxed paper. Poke cake using fork at one inch intervals. Dissolve
gelatin in boiling water; slowly drizzle over cake to allow gelatin to seep into holes. Chill one hour. Prepare pudding according
to package directions using one and half cups milk; fold in one cup prepared topping and half cup blueberries. Split cake
horizontally in half. Fill with pudding mixture. Spread remaining prepared topping over top and sides of cake. Arrange strawberries
and remaining blueberries on cake to resemble a flag; place marshmallows around edge.
PATRIOTIC SONGS
STAR SPANGLED BANNER
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we
hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the
ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof
thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the
free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty
host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half
conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines
on the stream:
'T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the
brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A
home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge
could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner
in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall
stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued
land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er
the land of the free and the home of the brave!
MY COUNTRY 'TIS OF THEE
My country tis
of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died! Land of the Pilgrim's 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 fills 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 Thy might, Great God, our King!
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God
shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim
feet
Whose stern impassion'd stress
A thorough fare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine ev'ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.
O beautiful for heroes prov'd
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life.
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev'ry gain divine.
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears.
America! America!
God
shed his grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the
night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless
America, My home sweet
home.
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was given on November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,
USA
Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of
that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives
that this nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we
cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled
here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what
we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated
here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated
to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which
they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain.
. . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people.
. .for the people. . . shall not perish from this earth.
INSCRIPTION ON THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
The
New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land,
Here
at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning,
and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome;
her mild eyes command
The air-bridged
harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give
me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goden door!"
This tablet, with her
Sonnet to the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty engraved upon it, is placed upon these walls
in loving memory of
Emma Lazarus
born in New York City, July 22, 1849
Died November 18, 1887
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