gs, to exhibit
their wives and children to each other, and to meet with their
neighbors in a social way and thus recall the events of a great
period in American history. And this is really the object of these
reunions.

"You do not meet here to hear speeches from those, who, like myself,
were engaged in civil pursuits during the war, and therefore, I
never am called before a soldiers' reunion but I feel compelled to
make an apology for speaking."

I referred to General Grant and his recent death, and then to
General Sherman as follows:

"There is another of those commanders, who is here before you to-
day. What is he? He is now a retired army officer. When the war
was over he became the General in Chief of the army, served until
the time fixed by the law for his retirement, and now he is a
private citizen, as plain and simple in his bearing and manners as
any other of the citizens who now surround him. These are the kind
of heroes a republic makes, and these are the kind of heroes we
worship as one free man may worship another."

General Sherman was then introduced to the vast audience, and said:

"Comrades and Friends:--A few days ago I was up on the banks of
Lake Minnetonka, and was summoned here to northern Ohio to participate
in a family reunion. I knew my brother's house in Mansfield was
large and commodious, sufficient to receive the survivors of the
first generation of the family, but I also knew that if he brought
in the second and third generations he would have to pitch a camp
somewhere, and I find he has chosen this at Odell's Lake. So, for
the time being, my friends, you must pass as part of the Sherman
family, not as 'the Sherman Brigade,' and you must represent the
second and third generations of a very numerous family.

"Of course, it is not my trade or vocation to make orations or
speeches. I see before me many faces that look to me as though
they were once soldiers, and to them I feel competent to speak; to
the others I may not be so fortunate.

"But, very old comrades of the war, you who claim to be in 'Sherman's
Brigade' or in any other brigade, who took a part in the glorious
Civil War, the fruits of which we are now enjoying, I hail and
thank you for the privilege of being with you this beautiful day
in this lovely forest and by the banks of yonder lake, not that I
can say anything that will please you or profit you, but there is
a great pleasure in breathing the same air, in think