Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-08-10
"REFORE THE WAR"

BEFORE THE WAX.
IF the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin,
(Which is between Elm and Sinai, on the
torty-6fth day of their deverance and march
from Egypt, could cry ouc, IN view of threaten
ed sutferings by the way, would to God we
had died by the hand Of che Lord in the land
of Egypt when we sat by the flesh. pots, and
when We did eat bread to the full, > is it un-
natural that our Southern people, in view Of
of surrounding trials and sutferlDgs, should so
often let fall from their lips these three words
''betore the warp 1t has always impressed
US that these simple words carry with them a
meaning and pattos indescribabe. Before
the war;" Who, in all our Southern land,
has not uttered them? If the 1sraelites could
thus look back to the Aesh-pots Of Egypt, with
the attendant slavery. the ahject servitude, and
the making of bricks without straw, how ls 1t
possble Tor our people to look back to that
great period embraced in The words before
the war" without the deepest sorrow and re-
crct? In view Of the homes tstroyed, the
iortuues ruined, the hopes and stays OF families
consigned to the dust, 1t Is but natural. The
generation that has suffered these ills can
never, never forget! But regardless OF
the Joys, the ease and comfort which clung
around our old homestcads in the past, and
regardless of the elegant refinement and
hospitality which made Virglnlans peerless
among the people of the earth In the So
cal scale, We must remember that new
era has dawncd upon us. 1t Is not ours to
mourn over the joys and the pleasures of the
past when stern present demands our action,
and perhaps still more exactlng future awaits
US. The first and ouly practical rule OF life Is,
to be prepared 10 view Of our surroundings, 10
meet mantully every exigency as 1t arises 1t
is to this idea that rising young Virginia should
be schooed, There is no hope lu looking back
to the past in spirit Of longing or repiniDg
because things are not as once they were. lhe
past is irrevUcaby gone, and by manly action
the young Firglnians may make their future
respleudent. We have often thought OF that
splendid sentiment Of Lord Lyttou, uttered by
"a character in one of his plays
"Ah, not to the past,
But to the future looks true nobility,
And fluids its blazon in posterity.
There is nothing truer Many man has
literally "goue to seed upon the reputation Of
his ancestors, and the same may be said OF
States aud peoples 1t is very we'll to have en-
ioyed the good things of this world before the
war" 1t IS very well to have been sprung
from an honored ancestry. And these thugs
we would not treat lightly. But the stern pres.
eut, with all of its exactlons, Is upon US, and
the duty Of our young men huds perfect eX-
preston 10 these lines:
II would not were fifty times prince
BE pensiouer on the dead;
honor birth aud ancestry,
WhcD they are the incentives to eXertlon,
And not the title deeds to sloth.
honor the laurels that overshadow the graves
OF my fathers,
Al :, :. ,,,, f,tb b,rs 7 au,nlatn
When desire
That beneath the evergreen,
Which | myself have plaui,d,
My own ashes may repose
Let the people of Virginia, then, forgetting
the ease and comfort which surrounded them
iu the past, and as far as possible putting be-
hind them the aDimosites Of the contest which
robbed them of their all, look fvrward with that
hope and spirit which have been the heritage
OF their race In all generations Even 10 pov-
erty and despoDdcncy there is no reason tor de-
spar. The government may trample upon our
rights the seasons may be unpropltlous,
thousand ills may arise to torment and att1lct
them but look ahead Out OF this very fiery
furnace through which we have been passing
ior years we may emerge the purest, the mob
lest, and, if we dare say it, the ablest race Of
Nirginians. When We study the portraits OF
the great men of the revolutionary era, we eau
but imagine that in all of them there is SIN
gular snilitude. There Is on the countenance
of euch an evidence of trial and of suffering,
and at the same time sternness and hXedDess
of purpose, which arc upmistakeable. Let us
perform our duty as we'll as they pertorme d
theirs, and it may be that our portraits will pre-
sent something of the same appearance. But
we will have the satisfaction of knowing that
we cluug to the right the true old landmarks,
and that those who come after US will glory ID
the tull sunshine of liberty and prosperity
Richmond Enquirer.
A MILLION BALES OF CoTToN.-The Man