The Sweetwater enterprise. (Sweetwater, Tenn.) 1869-187?, 1870-06-16
The Past and Present.

evllb ult atnNhIl OuI Nlslohc' Vub Nhoh
We rUuA uarS upon tue PATHWAY We nave
trodden up to the present time we sun
them up in the. few short words, "regrets
are useless"
1t is true our country is desolated, our
fields lie waste, cur towns and dwellings
have been destroyed By the ruthless hand
of war, our former wealth is almost en-
tirely destroyed, families are scattered
and broked up, our fathers, sons and
brothers, the noblest spirits of the South,
who were first to step forward to the line
TO defend our homes and our 6resides, and
whom we love and honor as our noble
dead, lie scattered far from us on every
plain, buried in every stream and ocean,
or they lay side BY side with those who
invaded us, as they "bit the dust !" and
they wait and we must till the day of
judgment shall disclose their blood and
do them justice.
A stream of blood once ran furiously
through the deep chasm that separated
the North and the South, and though now
it flows through the widows tears, in all
our lacerated sympathies, in every beat
ing pulse, in every throbbing heart; yet
these will not save us. To revive the
%smouldering fires and fan them into fame
will not save US.
off we lie still and count the cords by
which the hired liliputians of the world
have tied our limbs, it will not give back
our homes, our fortunes, or the voice and
smile of those we laid upon the altar Of
our country. Nor will 1t free us from
the public debts, that now curse us, or
the teaches that stiIl suck the nations
blood. We may, as long as we please,
ruminate upon the past-and die. What
then! 1t is simply this: Let the world
know that there are still freemen in this
land of ours. We have new interests to
create, new business to open, new farms
and homes to prepare and build up. We
have to renew our energies, and efforts in
home industry, and produce, and manu-
factories and thereby supply our own
wante."
Everybody must be less extrayagant
and economic, we must get our money
before we spend it. Our young men
must learn trades and professions, and bu-
siDess, and farming, and go to work at
them. We don't need any more handles,
"gentlemen of leisure" or "belles" and
ornamental ladies'" Everybody must
enter into real, active, earnest, porsevcr-
ing efforts to redeem the past, build up
the present and the future. No one can
be indifferent.
Our condition as a country, low, more
imperatively commands every man to the
front, than did ever war or battle clarion,
or the mandate of imperial power. 1t
means, let every man act as a freeman, as
a citizen, as an American. Let him in
this state, at once enroll; let him at once
register and accept "the condition" in
stead of supinely quarrelling with what
he cannot touch but in a certain way. Lie
still, and you cannot reach the evils that
like dsmons grin and threaten all your
hopes. Like men arise, and you can
grasp, and hold them harmless till the
ballot box bhall'unshield the weapon that
shall annihilate them all. If at the polls
you put your power i'll the hands of un-
worthy candidates, and SO rivet the chains
your enemies have thrown around you,
you deserve your poverty and slavery.
But you may be free and prosperous and
happy; only, however, by asserting that
freedom, using your prerogative and op-
2ortunity, and then remove the scorn, and
~contemptuoua smile of those who hate you
by working out your prosperity and by a
ceaseless vigilance and energy defend your
peace, your families, your country and the
orphans left you BY the late cruel war.
Nnbt ---~--a raf
"Who discovered America I" asks G
California paper. II used to be said that
it was discovered BY christopher COlum-
bus, but since it has been brought into
such contempt BY the Radical party the
friends Of Columbus are not inclined to
- sAlL-L T. l. ---Il:-. Ill u.