Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-09-07
The Memorial of Flowers.

The MemGrIal OF FLOWERS.
From the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Democrat
How touchingly beautiful must have been
the sight Of thirty thousand Southern women
and children in Richmond, strewing the
graves of their fallen dead on Memorial Day !!
Truly it is sweet for ones country to die,
when the hand of beauty, the tear Of sorrow,
and the sweets Of the floral kingdom arc
broughtto the last resting place of the loved
who died in defence of their land, their loved
ones, and their liberties
The women may weep
The mothers may pray
The heroes may sleep
There cometh q day
when history will do full justice to those who
went forth to 10 or die for their country,
North and South.
Who is there with heart in him that
would not rather be a dead soldier in that sa-
cred cemetery, watched by beauty, covered
with tear-wet flowers, and shrincd in mem
DRY as they are by those who admire bravery,
than to be one of our vandalic Generals like
Butler, Banks, Curtis, Washburn, Prentiss,
Schurz, Burnside, Hurlburt, and others of
that class Of patriots, who fought for spoils
and not for principles, and who were most
active when the enemy were in their rear?
There is not soldier grave in all the South
filled with him who wore the faded gray, but
is before God aud the true world, more of a
man and patriot than the political tool of
tyranny who used his official position to win
wealth Instead of honor, and whose most sue
cessful warfare was carried on against Wom-
en- and children, alone and defenceless. -
Who will strew flowers over the grave Of the
thief Butler, OF demonstrating Banks? Who
will shed tears over the grave Of mule-lov-
ing Curtis, or piano-loving Prentiss. Who
will shed tears over the graves of hundreds
of Northern officers, who robbed, burned and
pillaged the homes of innocent parties? An
gels may weep over their sins, but mortals
never will over their virtues.
And who will weep over the graves of the
tvrants, towards, and tools of tyrants, who
went about the country mobbing men for an
opinion, imprisoning men for their belief, and
beating their brains out with clubs for not
shouting lie in praise of tyranny, coward
ice, wrong and usurpation? God bless the
good women of cur land, be they North or
South. God bless those rho are true to
Themselves, and who honor the heart which
alone makes women lovely. Women of the
North as you read of the sorrow Of those of
your sex at the South, those you have been
taught to hate, those who have suffered be-
You'd their strength, as you read of their love
! for those who fought for them, let your hearts
| warm and soften for those who never wronged
you. AS you sit down to run your jeweled
fingers over pianos, harps or guitars, if these
instruments be the ones your sons or hus-
bands stole from Southern homes and sent
North, as tokens of their bravery, CD let
your fingers draw forth at least one strain of
sadness and sorroWful melody in remembrance
of the ones your stolen musical instruments
rightfully belong to. And as your eyes rest
on rings, pins and other jewelry stolen from
Southern women, let your hearts go down to
the land Of ashes and graves, and ruined
homes, and see from whence came those me-
mentoes you SO glory over.
And when you sweeten your tea from sill
yer tongs, or Spit from silver spoons sent to
you from Southern homes, think for one mo-
ment of the bitter tears shed on Memorial
Day by the ones whose initials are on those
things, or were on them before you had
them made over to hide the ugly marks.
Thank God, the vandals who disgraced
the name of American soldiers, and who
plundered defenceless Southern homes under
the sanction Of Lincoln and Stanton, had not
power to beat back the God-given right to
Shed tears, and to hold sacred in memory the
ones who were to them dear and worthy
They have lost their homes-they have lost
their loved ones-they have taken the rose
and the magnolia to deck the graves Of their
loved ones-they have pillowed their heads
on tear-wet graves, and given US renewed
faith in the purity and goodness Of women.
1 And then was it not kind i'll our Govern
ment to send but two regiments Of troops to
4 guard against any rebellion on the part of
these thirty thousand weeping women and
children? We do not know whether they
were colored or not, but it seems they were
sufficient.