I can say to you that not one cornet or viol, not one hymn or shout, not one wave in all the clouds which fair hands rolled up, not one gun of all that shook the city, not one flush of red on a dear face of beauty, not one blessing from the aged on his cane, not one tear on the eyelids which glowed again as your march brought back the gleam of a morning long since dead, not one clasp of the hand, not one ’God bless you!’ from saint or priest in all this fair city, but I believe has been deeply, earnestly, sincere.

“This repast is not the result of pride—­is not arranged for gluttony or fashion.  No political scheme inspired its proposal, and no ulterior motive moved these companions to take your arm.  The joy that seems to beam in the comrade’s eye and unconsciously express itself in word and gesture, is real.  It is the hearty love of a comrade who showed his love for his country by battle in 1862, and who only finds new ways in time of peace for expressing the same character now.  The eloquence of this night has been unusually, earnestly, practically patriotic and fraternal.  It has been the utterance of hearts beating full and strong for humanity.  Loyalty, fraternity, and charity are here in fact.  It is true, honest, heart.  Such fraternal greetings may be as important for liberty and justice as the winning of a Gettysburg.  For the mighty influence of the Grand Army of the Republic is even more potent now than it was on that bloody day.  Peace has come and the brave men of the North recognize and respect the motives and bravery of that Confederate army which dealt them such fearful blows believing they were in the right.  But the glorious peace we enjoy and the greatness of our nation’s name and power are due as much to the living Grand Army as to the dead.  I am getting weary of being counted ‘old,’ but I am more tired of hearing the soldier overpraised for what he did in 1861.  You have more influence now than then, and are better men in every sense.  At Springfield, Illinois, they illustrated the growth of the city by telling me that in 1856 a lunatic preacher applied to Mr. Lincoln for his aid to open the legislative chamber for a series of meetings to announce that the Lord was coming at once.  Mr. Lincoln refused, saying, ’If the Lord knew Springfield as well as I do, he wouldn’t come within a thousand miles of it.’  But now the legislative halls are open, and every good finds welcome in that city.  The world grows better—­cities are not worse.  The nation has not gone backward, and all the good deeds did not cease in 1865.  The Grand Army of the Republic, speaking plainly but with no sense of egotism, has been praised too much for the war and too little for its heroism and power in peace.  Does it make a man an angel to eat hardtack?  Or does it educate in inductive philosophy to chase a pig through a Virginia fence?  Peace has its victories no less renowned than war.