Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1875-03-02
MIsGELLARE0Us.
GEORGIA AND VIRGINIA,
From the Sunny SOUTH |

Iron the Sunny Soulful
The roar of artillery and the smoke of battle
have long died away upon our ears, and
peace, like GiIead balm, reigns throughout
the borders of Georgia. The busy hum of
industry is heard through all the varied avo-
cations of our people, aud ere long the skele>
ton Of want will be driven, as with an Ithuriel
spear, from every hearthstone. Our old red
hills and impoverished low>lands are begins
ming to bloom like garden fields, under the
manipulations of scientific culture, while the
commercial and mechaic arts move mith new
Inspiration to the music of remunerative mills
and factory spindles. Colleges, high schools,
| religious institutions, and successful system
of public instruction, bless tho people with
the saving and elevuting ipfuences of
knowledge, while temples, dedicated to the
true and living Jehovah, stand with open
doors upon almost every bill, top. The ju-
dicinl crmine is respected as of yore, and
wholesome laws are administered with judicial
purity under a wise and prudent executive
administration.
Yes, progress is once again written in living
colors npOn the brow of glorious old Georgia,
the Empire State ofthe South, and her watch
word is upward aud onward With laurels
untarnished, shc sits again at the council.
board of nations, and her voice is once more
heard with magic power in the halls OF national
legislation. But willie she thus rcjoices in
this high career of prosperity, some of her
sister States are still undcr the heel of the
opprcssor, and to each of them her great heart
goes out in profoundest sympathy, and she
would cXhnrt them in burning words, to look
s'ott, for the day of deliverauce is nigh at
hand, and will be all the more glorious he.
cause Of the long, dark night through which
they are passing. And as We run over the
brilliant galaxy of Southern States, how the
heart eff everv true Georgian swalls at the
mention of old Virginia!
Land of tho beautiful and brave!
The fri emaI's home, the martyrs grave!
| Ihe nursery Of grant
Whose deeds have liuled with every glen
Inc magic OF warrler's name"
Yes, what visions of glory cluster around
that venerable namei What wizard Iand-
scape beauty what CLEANS OF sunlight what
martial daring; what Abrahamio hospitality
what halIowed faith aud burning zeal what
martyr tolls aud HaTtyr graves rise up, like
an oVerpOWcring panorama, before the mental
vision.
Does the blood of traveller circulate more
warmly through his veins when be stands
upon the classic grounds of Greece, and calls
up her ancient glory y-wLcn he stands amid
the ruins of the once proud city of Percles,
aud listens to the fiery eloquence Of Dem.
Osthenes enkinding the war-spirit against the
Opprcssor! Does his pulse beat light when
he walks through Thermopylae and over
Marathon, Platea and 1uc,ura? These are
hallOwed grounds, but here, in old Virginia,
we have land surpassed in glory the bright.
est records of all nations.
Who was it that rescued the coronet of re-
publican liberty from the mselstrom of tyran.
nical dominion, and sat it a blazing lumi-
nary in the political armament of the world
as beacon of hope to the oppressed of all
lands? II was George Washington, of Vir.
ginia. Who was it that lit up the fires of the
first revolution, aud, with Demosthcnean
| eloquence, called up armies from the valleys
| and down from mountain heights to battle for
TIE birfhriehts Of man? 1t was Patrick
Henry, Virginian. Who was it that drew
up the text book of freedom and set it before
the world 10 teach it liberty II was Thomas
Jefferson of Virginia. Who was it that sur
rounded tha; Textbook with q fame of having
! FIRE aud preserved it through the dark erss
of our young republic? 1t was James Madi-
son, Eirginian. Who was it that calmed
eternal discord among the people and united
all parties under one banner? It was James
Monroe, Virginian. Who was it that gave
to America her great and comprehensive iu-
dietary as bulwark TO her institutions? It
was John Marshal, Virginian. Who was
it that could calm, as with God.like power,
the stormiest sea of political cnmmotion, and
stands to day one of that immortal trio
whose names shall survive the wreck ofempires
aud the fall of republics? 1t was Henry Clay.
Nirginian. Who was it that led our soldier
boys through the great sauguinsry war, and
with bat handful of devoted followers kept
back the hordes and hirelings of the entire
world for four long, long years from our
beloved sunny land 1t was the venerated,
the immortal Robert E. Lee, Virginian.-
Who was it that lit up the mountains of
Northern Virginia with girdIe of FIRE, and
! by the Napoleonic dash of his genius and the
brilliancy of his achievmeuts struck terror to
the mipions of the North and won the admi-
ration of an astonished world ? Il was that
immortal Christian hero, Stonewall Jackson,
Virgiuian. Blessed land, thy soil is filed
with iIlustrious bonesI Land of benedictions.
Georgia is bound to thee BY thousand ties,
and
F.Not tia viii break.
Nor link viii start
The bones of brave soldier boys from every
Southern State, and almost every county,
slumbers there.
and glory guards With solemn round,
Toe bIvOuac of the dead %
And when faction shall have been hushed