The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-05-22
sHEATHIKG THE SWORD.

a touching incident is related in con-
nection with Memorial Day in Mobile
which we record with pleasure. a
beautiful statute was unveiled. Rev
Dr. B. VI. Palmer, Of New Orleans, the
orator of the day, delivered 4 beautiful
and appropriate address Just as Ad-
miTal Semmes was about to ungeil the
statute, Col. Wickersham, the posfmas-
ter, who was Federal soldier during the
war, stepped forward and presented the
Admiral with beautiful wreath of flow
ers in tho shape of circle aud cross,
accompanied by the following touching
and appropriate note:
"This floral Offering is rendered with
the kindly I'D sympathetic greetings Of
the survivors Of the Federal soldiers
resident IN Mobile, whs honor the brave
| and heroic dead of the late war, and de-
| sire your acceptance of the same as an
| humble tribute to valor and e selfish
! devotion % q cause held dearer than
| life. Fresh be the memory to those un>
/ der the sod =
] "And the dead. awaiting the jud cement day,
Under the one the blue, under the other gray.
/ Admiral Semmes accepted the floral
! Offering in a neat and appropriate ADJ
dress, and at the completion the statue
was unveiled amid peals of artillery from
guns kindly lOand by the Federais for
the purpose. Another pleasant incl
/ dent OF the occasion was the following
touching and acceptable Offering:
! April 27, 1874. From the officers of
| the United States army stationed at
Mount Vernon barracks, Alabama, to
! the Mobile Cadets, as a mark of respect
to the memory of their gallant dead, and
in recognition of their manly and gsner-
Gus action n contributing to the decoras
ton of the graves in the National Gene E
try at Mobile, Alabama, on the Both of
June, 1873"
These were certainly touching incl
dents worthy of conspicuous record. 1t
is but additional evidence that, if the
soldiers on both sides of the late coHfiict
| were left to settle the terms of peace
and the restoration of fraternal brother
hood between the people North and
South, without any other influence than
| the prOmptings of their own feelings,
that peace and harmony would long
since have been restored, and the bitter
aeperities engendered by the late war
virtually obliterated Men who fought
for principle-for what they believed to
be righ'-know how to forgive and to
forget. They can appreciate honest mo-
tives. They understand the trite quo
tation Of "enemies in war; in peace
friends" and they act accordingly upon
all suitable occasions. We honor the
impulses that actuated the ex Federal
soldiers residing in Mobile.
We have never entertained the least
doubt that the rank and file" of the
Federal soldiers-we do not mean the
| Hessians in the ranks-were honest ana
sincere in the part they took in the latt
war We have no doubt now abou
their impulses beating responsive to those
of the men IN Mobile on Confederate
Memorial Day. As q general thing, i
is not the brave and gallant men OF
either side, who fought for the right a:
they SAW the right, that have any dis
position to perpetrate the bitter asperi-
ties engendered by the war It is tht
politicians, the men who held bomb
proof positions, and who, from fear Of
other causes, remained at home, tia
now want to fight the battles Ger agar
upon paper and BY garullOus Trades o
sectional hatreds and revenges.
We are for peace and fraternal broth
erhood between the sections at all times
upon conditions Of the strictest equality
and upon terms Of mutual fOrbearanct
and recognition of honesty on both sides
We are ready to sheathe the sword anC
exchange the olive branch of peace OF
these terms; and for these reasons WI
say that the incidents hich occurred II
Mobile, related at the outset Of this ar
ticle, ought to be conspicuously recorded
erywhere.-Reme Georgia Courier.