The Daily state register. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1870-1872, 1871-05-12
A TQucHINa TRIpuTE.

A dispatch from Wilmington, North
Carolina, dated the 10th (day before
Yesterday, SAYS Wednesday was cele-
brated as Confederate Memorial Day.
on which the fair women of the South
decorate with flowers the graves of
relatives and friends who fell in the
late war. The day vas observed in
Wilmington by a general Suspension
of business in the afternoon, and the
people en masse visiting the cemetery
where the decoration of the graves
took place. Following we give an
eloquent tribute by the Rev. Father
Ryan, the poet, to the women of the
South, written on the occasion of the
decoration of Confederate graves in
truthful a picture it is of the deplora-
BILE condition of the South to-day
what a commentary it is on the vim
dictive reconstruction measures of a
Radical Congress! Speaking of the
anniversary decoration in 1868, the
Rev. Father said:
1t found our land as it has found it
each wear since the war, in darkness
Still-Still desolate! Still warming for
the freedom we have lOst-still filled
with love for our dead heroes, who
fought in vain. and bravely died, that
we might not lose it..
Out to the burial-place whore the
men who wore the grey in silent glory
sleep. ven throngS with sorrow in
their hearts, and fair flowers in their
hands. to Strew above our heroes
graves. II i a sight. beautiful and
sad. and it is meet that the taire>t
flowers of the field should be gathered
by hands as tair. and offered as a
memorial sacrifice upon the shrine
where rests the Flower of III Land!
Those flowers are more h flowers:
they are a lesson. Their leaves are
lips, and this the lesson they proclaim
with Il silent eloqueuce oftheir own:
The South. still prosecuted. still re-
members the past. still clings to its
gIoritied memories, still kneels al
graves where those memories are
>hrIned in the pul>eleSs hearts of those
who lived to love, fought to free, >ut
fered to guard, and died TO saw their
homes and ours; their rightSand ours;
and, who nov are freerinth the >hackles
of glorious death than we are in the
letters Of oppressed life.
The mournful enthusiasm that
thrilled our hearts when first we
brought flowers to the burial place of
our brave. not only is not leSsened.
but grows stronger as each going year
separates US farther from u Past.
Aye. bring the Dead flowers. for
they deserve them we'll; and let each
lilly. rose and violet breathe ont its
little life and die above the d~eathless.
But bring them than flowers;
bring them 1.-The tears of a Nations
grief" Ave, bring them more than
tears; bring them the sorrow that
ciings, like the ivy, to hearts whose
hopes of the future are rooted in the
dust of the Past! Ave, bring them
more than sorrow; bring them a love
deepened by every grave; wiaened by
every woe; kept aflame by every
wrong. Ave, bring them more tina
love; bring them promises to be true
to them forever. as they were true to
us. Aye, bring them more tina
promises; bring them the honor they
have So well deserved. Ave. bring
them more than honor: bring them
every bIC>SAIS, iat i'A bANTSS'
still by nj present sorrows. Ave,
bringthem morethan blessings; bring
them the spirit of Trust, whose tear
dimmed eye looks away through the
shadows hat hover over their graves,
and beyond the darkness that rests
upon trampled homes, TO the future
that will bring Us liberty, to the God
who will render them RetributiOn!
Ave. bring them moro thar trust:
bring them what is best, dearest, and
most c~o:isoling OF all-bring them
prayers! prayers for them: prayers
for ourselves and for our Land; pray
ers of forgiveness for our foes; prayers
for lonely orphan and desolate widow;
PRAYERS that the God of mercy may
reach forth His hand, and take every
wrong from our land; every woe from
our hearts; every fetter from our
limbs, and every sorrow from our
homes!
This is the spirit hidden in every
flower that wreathes, and, in wreath
ing. holly withers on the altar-graves
of our Dead. This is the sentiment
that lends a beautiful sacredness to
our Feast of Flowers!
And may our love for our dead pre-
serve its freshness, bloom and frag-
rance, as long as Il flower shall bios
som in u Sunny South!