The boys, too,—the sons of Veterans—the young men and lads in whose veins runs the blood of the heroes who saved the Republic; the rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed young fellows who are your legitimate successors, my comrades,—what shall I say of them? The Grand Army will vanish as the years go by. Day by day its ranks will shrink and dwindle, as they did, years ago, before the fire of the enemy. They cannot be filled by recruiting. But I rejoice that such an organization as the Sons of Veterans will survive, to keep green and fair the deeds of their fathers, and to preserve the heritage of free government that their fathers maintained. The blood of patriot fathers warms the hearts of patriot sons, and I have faith to believe that any emergency demanding such sacrifices as those the people of this country were called upon to make from 1861 to 1865, would find millions of young men ready to brave all, suffer all, give all, for Liberty and the Republic. “Mother Earth, are the heroes dead? Do they thrill the soul of the years no more? Are the gleaming snows and the poppies red All that is left of the brave of yore? Are there none to fight as Theseus fought, Far in the young world’s misty dawn? Or to teach as the gray-haired Nestor taught? Mother Earth, are the heroes gone? “Gone? In a grander form they rise. Dead? We may clasp their hands in ours, And catch the light of their clearer eyes, And wreathe their brows with immortal flowers. Wherever a noble deed is done, ’Tis the pulse of a hero’s heart is stirred; Wherever the Right has a triumph won, There are the heroes’ voices heard. “Their armor rings on a fairer field Than the Greek or the Trojan ever trod: For Freedom’s sword is the blade they wield, And the light above is the smile of God. So in his isle of calm delight Jason may sleep the years away; For the heroes live, and the skies are bright, And the world is a braver world to-day.” Commander-in-Chief, Comrades of the Grand Army, and ladies and gentlemen, I await your pleasure. THE DEVELOPMENT OF KANSAS. Address delivered at the Quarter-Centennial Celebration of the Admission of Kansas, Topeka, January 29, 1886.