The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1869-05-12
MEMORIAL TO THE DEAD.

! aoraI tribute to the Confederate heroes
who lie beneath the sod of our beautiful
Cemetery. Early in the morning and ur
IN 5 q clock in the afternoon scores of la
dies we're vending their way to the placs
If sepulchre of a remnant of the martyrs Of
lost cause. The graves were beautifully
and handsomely DIRE 'sed, some bearing the
white cross, while Others were dressed in
wreaths and garIaDds of beautiful design
and the most exquisite taste. While all
looked beautiful to the eye we cannot re.
frain from noticing a beautiful cenotaph
erected amidst the graves on the right oil
the avenues: This consisted of a stem
abott Foir feet high woven around with
greaths of flowers and evergreen, bearing
on its top a crescent. On this crescent
we're cut in green foliage the words, "Our
Own Dead" In the centre was painted
the rising sun, the space right and left
studded with golden stars. The whole was
highly ornamented with shrubbery of eve,
~ description. This beautiful ornament
attracted considerable attention. There
were many more handsome emblems, but
we cannot enumerate them all. Every one
Of the vast assembly of ladies and gentle
men appeared to be happy in paying tri.
butte to the memory of our ~valient heroes
who sleep in onr Cemetery, some Of whom
we're removed by hand of gratitude from
oattle fields where there remains lay scat
tered. None but the brave and generous
among the %victors can tolerate that the
treasures of the floral world shall be st-ewn
BY fair bands on the mounds beneath
which repose the Confederate soldier
These are small tributes. but more lasting
to the human heart than monuments of
marble. rf'5i""
nSmall tribute but your shades will smile
More proudly on those wreaths to-day,
chan when some cannon-moulded pile
Shall overlook the day.
At 5 o'clock, the appointed hour, John
s. Davidson, Esq. who was deputed to
deliver the Introductory Address, arose on
the platform erected for the speakers, and
lirered the following beautiful and touch.
ag remarks ;-Augusta (Ga.l Cunstitu-
ionalist.
To-day, beneath these clouds, which
zen, scarcely able tt restrain their y,nnpa-
aizintg tears, we have gathered here to do
honorto our dead. Over this broad aud
b~cautifal land of ours, rich in its varied re-
sources, fertile fields and populous cities,
the Angel of Peace is FESTIVE, with her
white wings totcliing the uttermost limits
-four Boundaries. And as she gazes upon
is in loving sympathy, she beholds a hu-
nan sea, whose waters, if not in calm re.
..osc, are only stirred by the settling of the
raves reused by a departed storm. 1t is
% the heroes who went down beneath the
Try Of that storm we now pay homnge.-
s,Jith these fiowersi SWEET With the odors
sSpringtime, lovely as the women who
after them, pure as the cause for which
,ese gallant spirits died, we strew their
aves. And every rosebud is a recollec-
,on, every flower q memory, every garland
memento of what they were, and are, and
shall ever be, even when time begins to
tremble with decay. Our sacred. lamented
dead Pericles. the eminent Athenian,
has told US sit is q duty to revere the
memory of the dead and when they die in
defense oil country, to do them more than
usual honor Who does not Know that
be, was right? The highest, best, noblest sac
rifice man is ever permitted to make, is when
hepoGrs cut his Iife-bioOd upon the altar OF
Liberty in vindication ofhis ceuntry's honor
efthe advancement of his country's glory.
Heroic action ever strikes US with admira-
ton, excites our sympathy. commands. GU.
love. And when we remember these heroes
here-the pain they suffered, the trials
hey bore, the dangers they dared in de-
Tense OF that bauner which now, with staff
reversed aud drapery furled, lies buried
like the daring men who followed il !; our
hearts are filled with that sympathy and
love which must grow brighter and bright.
gweep of all coming time. rg.si adf
Their deeds, with us, are indossolu-
bly, connected with all that is trne and
noble. pure and good; they form apart
Of the history of those who We're once
our enemies, and will one day become
the pride of the whole American people
They cannot, will not, die. When thf
last arch which supports this GovernE
ment has been broken the last stone
crambled to decay ! the last star of its
glory expired; even then, If human
hearts shall any where beat, or human
tongues shall any where tell Of higi
glorious, heroic action, those hearts
shall recall the name, and those tongues
proclaim the praise of the COnfedeyat
Soldier. saLa Il. Hgod F.
HE is not dead whose glorious mini
Lifts thine on high; 81
To live in hearts we leave behind b
Is not to die !@'..a5r .s.eisg 81. I'D.
Every one of these flower-sfrewet
graves is as the jewel prints of the fee
Of Immortality each resting place :
monument more enduring than brass
more lasting than marble, and even thu
perfume waited from these beds of de
eorated clay is borne upward by thu
angels of liberty, until the rustling o
their wings is hushed on the eterna
hills of God. Death to those heroes il
the cause for-whieh they fought, was
welcome as sky and stars to prisonet
men, and though to-day the mother
whispering to her babe, may not tel
where the father sleeps; the plightet
maiden, the resting place of her love
brave yet above them an epitaph i
written-born from the inspiration of
n.o.Jo. speorthol Inv tho 4hn,,