Árdís - 01.01.1947, Síða 9

SPLENDID THEY PASSED.
Sermon delivered at the Dedication of the Memorial Hall,
Sunrise Camp, Husavick, Man., Sunday, June 22, 1947, by
Rev. B. A. Bjamason.
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“The memory of the just is blessed.” — (Proverbs 10:7)
For a third of a century, I have carried a picture vividly engraved
in my memory. On a bright and beautiful day in the fading summer of
1914, I had stood with my parents on the greensward of Brookside
Cemetery, with heart bowed down, to see my pioneer grandmother laid
to rest. Henceforth, with us, her memory is blessed.
The scene shifts, even as a cloud passes and reveals the brightness
of the sun.
“My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky.”
(Wordsworth)
I know that my heart leaped up when I beheld the colorful, rain-
bow-like scene that confronted us at the railway depot, where we
boarded the train for home. On a nearby track, a long train was prepar-
ing for departure to far distant places. Young men, resplendent in the
scarlet tunic of the military parade ground, leaned from coach windows
and cheered in an ecstasy of delight. A military band responded with
stirring, martial music; meanwhile throngs of well-wishing, proud and
thrilled mothers and fathers, wives and sweethearts, sisters and brothers,
relatives and friends waved their joyful yet withal tear-touched farewell.
The first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was set-
ting off on the great adventure. Ere long, they would return from the
distant fields of battle, to a jubilate of victory and enduring peace. Of
that the departing soldier boys were persuaded. If some misgivings
dwelt in an occasional bosom, they were not evident.
Weeks, months and years passed. Many of those young men, who
soon exchanged their red tunic for the khaki dress of battle, did not
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