Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-05-08

| For millions wend. as to a holy shrine.
| And with bright flowers deck their honoret
And fairest wreaths above their breasts
entwine!
Here calmly r,sts the brother, father, friend
Hero still doth lie the parents dearest pide
| Here locked in Deaths embrace the iovei
fond,
And here mem'ry for the soldiers bride!
And though we may not rear the marble pile
Ner hlagon on the stone each hero's name,
There but attest the feeb.eDess CT man
There is prouder, more enduring fame:
Their swords shall shine while Right un-
sheathes the blade. =,
Their hood be mourned while Southern
hearts are stirred;
Their deeds be sung while lives me poets page;
Their names shall sound while freedom
voice be heard.
COLONEL CLAPPs GRAFTON.
Col. ]. W. Clapp, the Orator of the
Day, was next introduced to the audience,
when he delivered the following GRAFTON :
Once more hath gentle spring, energ-
ing in her beauteous robe from the wintry
grave of nature, the type and teacher of
man resurrection and Immortality, sum
moned together here the host of the living
to pay their annual tribute to the memory
of the dead
As wo glance around upon these sepul-
chral columns that meet the eye on every
hand, we are reminded of that ceaseless
struggle that has characterized our race
In every period of its history and in every
phase of social existence to resist the ap-
proaches of dissolution and decay and to
rescue whatever is valuable from the raw
ages of time. To this end rites and cere-
monies, festivals and anniversaries, have
been instituted as perpetual mementos
and visible memorials to attract the eye
have been adopted, varying with the taste
and culture of the people by whom they
were constructed, from the rude and sim
BILE mounds of savage life to the lofty and
enduring pyramid, or to the imperishable
granite, the sculptured marble and the
nodded bronze. We battle with death as
long as resistance is practicable, aud
when at last the inevitable hour arrives
and our great enemy is victorious, we
gather up the unconscious clay that re-
mains, and bear it away to some seques-
tered spot where the song-oird MARBLES in
the tree, and the wild bee murmurs on the
wing, and where the grassy hillock or the
monumental slab becomes shrine at
which memory pays her fearful tribute,
aud around which affection, like guar
dian angel, keeps her ceaseless watch and
ward.
How many precious treasures of the
heart have here been left to moulder back
to dustl How many of the priceless jew.
els of memory lie buried around us How
often has the mournful procession dehled
through ysnder massive gate and wound
along these picturesque carriage-ways
bearing the remains OF one with whom
thousand hopes have persisted, and BY
whose removal the tenderest relations OF
life were severed How often have these
grounds been made vocal with the solemn
burial service and reverberated with the
plaintive music Of the dirgel How often
has here the bosom heaved with the sup
pressed sigh and the stined sob, and how
often, too, has been heard the lew wall of
anguish and the wild shrek of despair
wruug from some breaking hearth How
often has the mother yearned, as it were,
TO 90 down into the grave and lie beside
the lifeless darling that has been ritied
from her bosom How often have the
widow and the orphan tern themselves
away from the grave of him who was their
only earthly stay, overwhelmed with q
sense of utter loneliness and deselation,
and feeling that in all this cold and hol.
low world, their only helper leftwas God
o Elmwood could all the scenes of
sorrow chat have here transpired but pass
= LII wQ ~ a N
aghast at the appalling spectacle OF hui
man woe; and realizing the melancholy
| truth that
"There is no union here of hearts
That hath not here its end :"
that " the trail of "a serpent" is over all
our earthly joys aud hopes-would we
not e nd sermons in these stones, and a
monitor in every whispering leaf, which
! woAld teach our chastened spirits the les
son that in our aspirations after happi-
ness
"He build. too low who builds beneath th'
kkies?"
But we come not here today to indulge
q selfish sorrow, or to drop the tear o.
affection upon the graves of those only
who we're endeared to us by the ties o
blood or the claims Of special friend
ship, but that we may, with unity Of pur'
pose, signify our observance Of that au'
| nual sabbath Of the heart consecrated Il
the memory of our heroic dead whe Eel
10 the late unhappy conflict.
The beautiful snalogies and harmo'
MES between the material and the mora
world would of themselves teach Us tina
the touching anniversary ceremonial o
oommemorsting the dead by sireviui
flowers upon their graves could only hav'
originated with the gentle heart aud cul
tured taste CT the dear daughters OF tn
South. Bat in addition to this nui'
floral Offering, they have from time 4
time invoked the cooperation CT the o;he
sex to aid them 10 preserving the recol
lection Of
-" deeds which should not pass away.
And names that must not withsr."
In obedience to their summons stan
here to-day to meet, as lest ] may, the re
sponsibilities Of the hour; and il shall
fail to impart any additional interest u
: the occasion, trust that at least i ma.
deiract nothing from il.
Il is task Of great difficulty and dell
cscy, as ! know and feel, to do justice q
those whose memory We are here I
honor, and at the same time avoid shoel
Jog the prejudices or combating th
: opinions Of those Who DO not sympsthiz
IN the purpose which these ceremonie
: are intended to subserve. Gladly woul
| escape the impulslion Of imparlinE 1
the exercises or ceremonies Of this So
d memorial day an improper political CON
plexionj aud yet it must be manifest tbs
, hoEever guarded the speaker may b
political considerations must to some e1
e tent, necessarily mingle with any e'