The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-05-18
MR.. WARES ADDRESS.


have consented to speak few words. But
feel it is not an occasion for talking, still
less is it called for after what has already
been said. We are not met to talk, but to
indulge and cherish sentiments too deep,
too tender, too sacred for uttcrancc. 1t is,
rather, silently to breathe our signs and
mingle our tears for hopes that have per-
ished and loved ones dead. IT'S not to
discuss issues or recur to unpleasant facts
that would only serve to harrow our feel
ings and mar our peace. But 1t Is to in
dulge--as has been well Said-thc seem
ingly poor, but sacred, privilege Of weeping
for those who are no more affected by such
influences.
"The storms that shake the earth and sky
No more disturb their deep repose
Than summer evenings latest sigh,
Tina. shuts the rose"
They were our heroes, and none the less
such because they were heroes in VAIN.
1t is enough for us that it was In cause
that they and we believed to be Just, and
for as that they imperillcd all, and lost all.
1t is enough for us that they were our h'lS-
bands, SONS, brothers, lovers, and that the
fondest affections Of our hearts were inter-
woven with theirs.
1t is peculiarly fitting, too, that we should
thus observe this ddv, so sad and sacred in
its associations and memories: the ami
versary of that day on which StOnewall
jackson died that most gallant of war
riors and devout Of Christians, whose he
roic devotion to duty, from the humble
walks of students and teachers life up
to the highest achievements of the warrior,
was positively sublime "a man whose
strategy and simplicity, whose StermcsS
and generosity, whose gallantry as a war
rior, and faith and piety as Il Christian,
constituted him at once absolutely grand
and peerless in the estimation Of all trae
men.
| hold in my hand Il precious relic
handed me moment ago-a few faded flow
erS, preserved from garland that rested
on the bosom of Stoncwall JackSon-dcaG
Yes, precious relic and from the sacred
associations this day, doubly SO. Precious
relic faded as they are, fit emblem OF our
faded hopes-crumbling as they are, tit
emblem Of all that can perish OF him whom
they commemorate. And yet emblem too
for among them | see the arbavita-oi
that of him which cdnnot pcrish-hiS men,
ory, ever greenland his soul, immortal.
1t is such flowers that we 60 to-day to
scatter upon the graves of his comrades.
Fresh, like their memory, in our hearts
untimely broken, like them, in their fall,
they yet speak, automatically, to our
hopes of the Immortality which God has
promised and pledged to us all. While we
do this, let us remember how many Sor-
rowing hearts throughout the south are
this day turned wiStiully to Virginia be-
cause in its sacred dust rest the fond OBJ
iccts of their affection and hopes. | have
recently had some opportunity Of testing
their appreciation Of Virginia, and the
highest expressions have been given by
every possible mode, verbal and material.
They know that Virginia was for four years
the very vortex of the war; that her fields
were desolated, her homes RACED to the
ground, and her fair valleys, that once
bloomed with almost the beauty Of the
unlallcn Paradise, were turned into cheer
less deserts. They know, too, with what
untring devotion these noble women cheer
ed their loved ones when well, nurSed them
when wounded and sick, and buried
them when dead. And they feel how
eminently fitting it is that they, who SO
well supplied the place of loved ones at
home, in soothing the aching temple, moiS-
tening the parchcd lips, and speaking
words of consolation and hope to the faint
ing spirit, should now, in their stead,
scatter the cmblems of purity, and love,
and hope, over their graves, and Undue
them with the hallowcd oblation of wo-
mans tears.
Then need not cntrcat you not to neg
lect the graves of the unhn0'cn. UnLnorn !
This strange, sad word wakes sad and
sacred memories in my heart. Memories,
though sometimes latent, ever present to
me that have fond brother who some
where sleeps in an mtknotrn grave. Par
don the personal allusion, but | have been
ou that sad pilgrimage for "thc missing y
searching III vain among the living and the
dead. Summoned by kindred from the
far west through letters delayed by broken
communication until the turf had grown
green over the slain, went on the track
of the broken and pursuing armies !;
searching the hospital records; inquiring
of all "Did such an one pass this way 7
Did he linger or die in your midst 7" l
read the rude inscription OF every grave.
And as turned aside the rank grass, and
read the names of friend and foe promis-
cuously lying side by side, need not tell
you with what fearful interest | paused
beside the nameless grave marked "Ur,-
kn0,rn." All; me thought, unknown! Is
there not one who watched over him
in helpless infancy-guided his footsteps
in the slippery path Of youth, and now
looks after his interest and destiny with Il
consuming solicitude that is bringing down
her grey hairs with sorrow to the grave
"Unknown - Is there not one who went
with him to the school, sported with him
on the village common, rambled with him
on the streams, and ever found that all
the nobler impulses of his nature found a
response in the kindly sympathies of a
brothers. hearth Is there not one who
trusted him with the full wealth of her
young affections? And are there not those
who, at every evenings return, clambered
upon his knee to share the envied kiss
Perhaps it is he If so, he was not un-
known to them nor shall he be unknown
in that realm where +" that which is in the
past shall be done away, and that which is
perfect shall come, and we shall know him
even as we are KNOWN" for he was a
Christian man.
The truest of all heroes, a servant OF God,
Who fought many battle at home and abroad !;
lint the noblest engagement he ever was In .
was the battle OF SELF In the conquering OF sin. !"
While you shall have the privilege, in
many instances, of wreathing the graves of
kindred and friends, or OF those whom you
have known and nursed in the hospitals, if
| may find some nameless grave, permit
me to pay that tender tribute to the me-
x,H Ah1,l -