I live a couple doors down from a historic district in Janesville, Courthouse Hill. On summer evenings I enjoy taking a walk to look at the old homes, lit to show their beveled glass and grand stairways. The other day as I passed Courthouse Park, the sun was setting beind the 1902 Civil War memorial. According to a brochure I saved, it was designed in 1902 by Hutchins and Rundle of Rockford, Illinois, is about fifty two feet tall, constructed of granite from Barre, Vermont, and is designed to honor soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. On a daily basis it is pretty much invisible to me, having become a familiar part of the local landscape. But on this evening, the soldier atop the hill, looking out into the sunset, struck me as lovely and sad, and did perhaps what it was intended to do. It reminded me of our soldiers today, fighting far from home.
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