Absent Comrades-" I will try to do that sentiment the justice that I can. I suppose by our absent comrades, that you mean our fallen, our dead comrades, and when we speak of them what shall we say? Ask those who have stood at the bed of the nearest and dearest of the family and seen those silken cords of affection snapped asunder, seen those family relations broken up, ask them how we can measure the value of a single life, and then when we compute that one, and multiply that one into one hundred thousand, what a baptism this country must have had! What a regeneration! and what a price has been paid for the liberty, for the independence, for the national unity that we enjoy to-day.

What have we as soldiers and citizens of peace, to demand in the memory of those dead? I think the Captain has well sounded the key-note, that we should proclaim here to-night and demand in the remotest plantation of Texas, the same rights for a man that we have here in the old Pine Tree State. We cannot tolerate any spirit of caste that may arise in our land. My generation and yours has suffered too much for that. She holds up her bandaged right hand to-day, the left was shot off at Gettysburg, and proclaims that caste of any kind must be banished from this country.

The Provost Marshal, Judge MORRILL, was called upon and said:

I was not very terrible to the 1st Maine and D. C. They were mustered in before my day. I remember the day the 1st Maine Cavalry was enlisted in this State, and remember seeing this regiment at Augusta, and as I saw them there waiting for orders to go to the front, I used to ask myself, What sort of a record will this First Maine Cavalry make? and I thought to myself of the honor and glory that attached to the Old Guard of Napoleon's army, and I said to myself, when the First Maine Cavalry come into the field they will be to the army of the United States what the Old Guard was to Napoleon; that in the hour of emergency, when the battle wavered, they would turn the scale when there was any chance of its being turned in our favor, and that, I understand, was the

case.

When I was a boy there came to my father's store in Limerick, York County, the revolutionary pensioners. They used to come and get their pay he drew for them. It was sort of a reunion, and I used to think that the boys of my day were particularly honored, that they were permitted to look upon the men who had participated in the war of the revolution, and had been instrumental in freeing us from the British yoke and establishing in our own land a free government. It has been said to-night that we could depend upon the men of this country as soldiers. Why should we not depend on them when they are the sons of such sires as those. I used to feel when I saw those men like uncovering before them; I looked upon them with a sort of awe, and to-night when I find myself in the presence of these men who have faced the enemies of their country

and stood fire, I feel like uncovering myself and rendering that reverence and obeisance due them. Years ago, when any man had faced the enemy and smelt the powder, we looked upon that man who had been in that one battle as a hero, but there are men in the First Maine Cavalry who, when they went out of the war, had gone through more battles than they had years.

I thank you for the permission to stand in this presence and participate in this reunion. I feel it is an honor to an American citizen to stand in the presence of American soldiers, and do honor to them who have saved the life of the country.

CLOSING SCENES.

At the close of the speaking a hearty vote of thanks was tendered the comrades who had charge of the arrangements for the reunion, and certainly they deserved it; to the citizens of Lewiston and Auburn for their many favors; to the city of Lewiston for the free use of the City Hall; to Capt. J. S. P. Ham for the salute during the march to the cemetery; to the several railroad companies for the reduction of fares; and to everybody else whose acts or words had contributed to the success of this reunion.

Then the meeting closed. Many of the comrades were in no hurry to leave the place, but remained and enjoyed sweet converse until the hall was darkened, when they retired to the DeWitt House and there told old stories over again for an hour or two. And the next morning, too, quite a number of comrades gathered at the hall, and had a reunion on a smaller scale, as if they disliked to separate. Thus goes into history the Eighth Annual Reunion of the First Maine Cavalry, and its memories will always be pleasant.

HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE.

The Committee of Arrangements, to whom this reunion owes its success, and the comrades owe their pleasure, were J. W. West, R. S. Bradbury, Menander Dennett, George H. Dunham, George L. Duston, John French, Henry Little, Jeff. L. Coburn, A. E. Soule, Peter Jervis, Charles W. Jordan, William Maloon, Charles Phoenix. And the citizens

who so kindly and ably assisted the Committec, were so numerous that it would be impossible to enumerate them.

THE MANNER OF MEN.

Perhaps a good idea of the sort of men who meet at these reunions may be gathered from the following facts concerning those present from Company G. This company had 22 men at this reunion, as follows: Russell S. Bradbury, Dennis Carty, Homer Child, William Doble, George L. Duston, William H. Farnum, Henry W. Furbush, Orlando A. Hayford, Daniel G. Irish, Charles W. Jordan, John Kelsey, Henry Little, William Maloon, Jr., Fernando F. Mason, Henry J. Penney, Eben J. Pulsifer, Leonard L. Rose, Seth G. Rose, Alonzo P. Russell, Albert Smith, Edward P. Tobie, Leroy H. Tobie. Fourteen of these enlisted in Androscoggin and eight in Oxford counties. Twenty of them were of the original members that left the State with the regiment, and the other two were men who served a full term in the Tenth Maine Infantry, and then re-enlisted in this regiment. Nineteen of the number served three years or more, fourteen of them being mustered out at the expiration of their term of enlistment; two re-enlisting and being mustered out by order, at the close of the war, having served three years and eight months; two others re-enlisting and serving until the regiment was mustered out, a period of three years and ten months, and one re-enlisting and serving three years and nine months, when he was discharged for disability on account of wounds received in action. One was discharged for disability after serving nine months, and then re-enlisted and served a while in another regiment. One of the men who previously served in the Tenth Maine was mustered out by order, after the close of the war, having served in his regiment nine months and the other was discharged for disability on account of wounds received in action, after having served more than eleven months. The whole period of service of these twenty-two men, including that in other

regiments, is a little more than sixty-eight years, an average of more than three years each. It should be stated that those who were mustered out at the expiration of their term of service, served from one to two months more than three years, on account of being in the service several days-in some cases more than a month-before the muster-in, and by reason of not being finally mustered out till nearly a month after the three years had actually expired. Four of them were taken prisoners and ten wounded, two of them being wounded more than once, and two of them being both wounded and taken prisoners. One of the wounded suffered severely until some years after the war, when the bullet was finally extracted.

THE NINTH ANNUAL REUNION

Was held at Pittsfield, Wednesday, August 25, 1880, and added another to the list of glorious reunions and decidedly pleasant times. A prominent feature of the occasion was the presence of their loved and brave commander, Gen. Charles H. Smith, who for two years led the regiment on many a well-fought field, in the last grand campaign, as commander of the brigade in which the regiment served. The General is now a Colonel in the United States army, and is stationed at Fort Leavenworth, consequently he has not been able to meet his old comrades since the muster-out, fifteen years ago. His greeting by his old comrades was cordial in the extreme, and must have gladdened his heart, for it showed him that he was not only not forgotten, but most kindly remembered.

The comrades began to gather at Pittsfield, Tuesday night, and it was a pleasant time they had on the piazza of the Lancey House, Tuesday evening, telling old stories and fighting over the old battles. Next morning more comrades arrived, and they kept arriving all day until the number was well on towards two hundred. In the forenoon the comrades were formally received in one of the parlors by Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, and Hon. Hannibal Hamlin. Then a line was formed and under command of Gen. Smith marched to the residence of Capt. W. S. Howe, where His Excellency Gov. Davis, who was a corporal in the regiment, was stopping. How their hearts thrilled at the sound of command from their old commander's voice, how their bodies most spontaneously responded to the order, and almost without their knowledge they found themselves again keeping step together, and they were for the time, again soldiers. And on arriving at the residence of Capt. Howe, at the word of command they came into line as promptly and with as much precision as any body of men ever did. It was officially announced that even the regulars couldn't equal it.