The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-05-25

| NAu tuoW uVuoE TUG TtSut just UecduSe
it is tho right. Honor il when its de-
Tenders have gained tho rich prize Of
SUCCESS. Hooor it still more when they
are languishiug in the dungeons of op.
preston, Or lying in bloody graves, like
the martyrs we celebrate to day. Aud bid
them remember that no triumph, how
ever brilliant, can ever change the wrong
into the right. Next to their duty to
God, teach your offspring to love their
native Southern land all the more tom
derly for its calamities, and to cherish
the memories of their fathers. all the
more previously because they battled
for the right, and went down ia unequal
strife. And should their youthful hearts
wonder at the triumph of foroo over
justice, teach them that the ways of
Providence are mysterious, and not like
our ways. For time the wicked may
flourish like the green bay tree but
he shull not endure forever; aud far
better is it to suffer with the righteous
thuu to rejoice with the unjust. Sooner
or later, in some mysterious way that
we cannot now perceivo-in thei, own
day, perhaps, if not in ours-the truth
of our principles will je recognized.
Meanwhile, bid them scorn "to crook
the pregnant hinges Of the knee, that
thrift may follow fawning." Let the sa-
traps of tyranny ride in state like Ha-
mau but lot us and our descendants be
the Mordecais at the gate, refusing to do
reverence to those who represent moths
ing but the triumph Of might over right.
Yet, while clinging to our principles
and vindicating the righteousness of our
motives, let our children learn also the
Christian lesson Of forgiveness. God
forbid that the bitterness of our times
should be perpctuated from generation
to generation God forbid above all
that this land should ever be drcnched
again with the blood of contcnding ar-
mics, speaking tho some language and
springing from kindred race. On the
contrary, may He grant that the causes
of strife, being at last oil extinct, peace
and harmony may prevail, and mako
this land in truth, and not merely in
name, the asylum Of human liberty
1t is in order that these noble lessons
may be deeply engraved in the hearts of
our people, that throughout the South
the memorial Associations Of our geuer.
ous-hcarted ladies are calling us togeth-
cr this day from every town aud village
in the land, to the cemeteries wherein
their pious care has collected the prec.
ions remains Of our fallen brothers. And
it is peculiarly appropriate that this
the l0eh day of May, should have been
selected by almost unanimous consent
as the great memorial day of the South.
For it is on this day seven yearsago that
the greatest and most illustrious of our
dead fellow soldiers yielded up his
spirit to his Maker, and left his country
to mourn the irrcparable loss of STONE.
WALL JACKSON
To-day all nature smiles gcnially
around us. The forest and the field
lie all glowing beneath the sunlight
The gentle breeze that fans our brows
brings naught but the perfumes ofswcet
flowers and the songs of joyous birds.
In this tranquil aud bcauteous resting
place OF the dead all speaks of calmness
and peace. The busy hum of the distant
city scarce penctrates this placid retreat,
while the mellow sounds OF the Church
bells family ring in melancholy chimes,
like sad yet soothing requiem.
But seven years ago this day!
Shall I retrace before your eyes the
picture that memory brings to mine?
A scrubby growth Of dwarf oaks, so
dense as to be almost impenctrablc,
blasted and scorched by the fires kin
died by bursting shells, and still con
ccaling within in its gloomy depths the
half caIcined corpscs Of those haplcss
wounded, too feeble to escape the fearful
con0agration. AS far as the eyes can
reach, nothing to be seen but that drcary
region of the Wilderness in which
Nature herself looks frowning, even in
the jocund days of Spring. Blackencd
ruins, tottcring chimneys, crumbling
Notifications and shattered cannon
wheels, alone mark the site where once
stood the quiet hamlet Of Chancollors-
vile. Trees riven md shorn few feet
above the ground, as if by some gigantic
scythc; bushes, showing in every twig
the fractures caused by some monstrous
hail, exhibit the terrible traces of artil-
lcry and muskctry. No sweet perfumes
of Spring flowers here. 10 shat pecu
liar, acrid smell of the battle field, never
to be forgotten or mistak en- by those
who have once brcathcd it; to that
mingled odor of burning leaves, flesh,
blood, and powdcr-smokc has succeeded
the lar more rcpulsivc scent Of corrupt
ion and decay. The whole atmosphere
is recking with tho putrid cmanations
! from hundreds Of dead horses, and from
/, thousands Of shallow graves; for, as VIC
ride this Sunday morning over that
wasted battlefield of a week ago, at every
step wo sec the skeleton hands aud feet,
washed out by the recent rains, and
! already blackencd and Aeshless. And
for fitting music in this Golgotha, not
the tuneful song of summon birds, but
the p'stifcrous humming Of carrion
flies. Not the pepsivc sound of holy
bells ON :his Sabbath morning, but the
sullen roar Of the still unextinguished
forest, ami tho irregular crash OF burst
! ing shells, as the flames. reach and