ted through fire and storm and darkness, brothers in
peril, on their way home from Chancellorsville and Kenesaw Mountain and
Fredericksburg, in lines that seemed infinite they passed on.

We gazed and wept and wondered, lifting up our heads to see if the end
had come, but no! Looking from one end of that long avenue to the other,
we saw them yet in solid column, battery front, host beyond host, wheel
to wheel, charger to charger, nostril to nostril, coming as it were from
under the Capitol. Forward! Forward! Their bayonets, caught in the sun,
glimmered and flashed and blazed, till they seemed like one long river
of silver, ever and anon changed into a river of fire. No end to the
procession, no rest for the eyes. We turned our heads from the scene,
unable longer to look. We felt disposed to stop our ears, but still we
heard it, marching, marching; tramp, tramp, tramp. But hush,--uncover
every head! Here they pass, the remnant of ten men of a full regiment.
Silence! Widowhood and orphanage look on and wring their hands. But
wheel into line, all ye people! North, South, East, West--all decades,
all centuries, all millenniums! Forward, the whole line! Huzza! Huzza!
[Great applause.]

* * * * *

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT THE DUTCH

[Speech of Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt Talmage at the seventh annual dinner
of the Holland Society of New York, January 14, 1892. The President
of the Society, George M. Van Hoesen, said: "The next regular toast
is: 'What I Know about the Dutch,' which will be responded to by a
gentleman who needs no introduction--the Rev. Dr. T. DeWitt
Talmage."]

Oh, Judge Van Hoesen, this is not the first time we have been side by
side, for we were college boys together; and I remember that there was
this difference between us--you seemed to know about everything, and it
would take a very large library, a library larger than the Vatican, to
tell all that I didn't know. It is good to be here. What a multitude of
delightful people there are in this world! If you and I had been
consulted as to which of all the stars we would choose to walk upon, we
could not have done a wiser thing than to select this. I have always
been glad that I got aboard this planet. There are three classes of
people that I especially admire--men, women, and children. I have
enjoyed this banquet very much, for there are two places where I always
have a good appetite--at home and away fr