Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-29
OVER THE DEAD.
A Memorable Confederate Decoration.
The Ceremony Participated in by Both
the Blue and Gray.
Music by the Church ChOirs, Sunday
Schools, and the 10th In.
fantry Band. y
Eloquent Remarks By Presiding Elder
Kelley.

decorating the graves OF the confederate
dead, came off yesterday. Committees of
ladies were appointed to receive flowers at
each Of the cemeteries, and superintend
their distribution. The following were the
committees:
For the City Cemetery-Mrs. James
Wilkes, Mrs. Irvine K. Chase and Mrs. F.
g. Porter.
Catholic Mrs. Buddeke, Mrs. Hereford,
and Mrs. w D. Kelley.
Mt. Olivet-MIs. LCu:s Lanier, Mrs.
George Cunningham, Mrs. 5. Cooley and
Mrs. Clark.
Free transportation was furnished to all
visitors to the Catholic and Mount Olivet
cemeteries. Trains began to run at 2
o'clock in the afternoon and went out every
half hour till O'Clock. a large number of
people visited all of the grounds and the
graves were prOfusely decorated. After the
flowers we're strewn at the City Cemetery,
the crowd took the cars and went out to
Mount Olivet. Among the graves that at
tracted special attention at the City Gene
terry were those Of the gallant Gen. Felix
X. ZOllicOffeT, Gen. James Raines, and DR..
F. w. Armstrong.
Many of the private graves in Mt. Olivet
y
fully decorated. There was a gratifying
attendance. In addition to the crowd that
went out on the cars, many citizens went
to the grounds in private cOnveyances.
A large number Of eE-Federal soldiers
grounds we noticed Col. Ed. S. Jones,
Capt. j. L. Stacey, Capt. Michael Walsh,
and other members Of the Committee OF
Arrangements for decorating the Federal
graves next Monday. Gen. Pennypacker
was also in attendance with the Sixteenth
Infantry Band, who volunteered their ser
vices and furnished some choice music APP
prOpriate to the occasion.
At half past four o'clock the band rem
deIed a very solemn dirge. The choir and
Sunday-schOOls then sang in an impress
si7e manner, accompanied by Capt. J. NJ.
Thatcher on the organ, "Let Us Pass Over
the River A fitting prayer was next Of
feTed up by the Rev. NJ. B. Dewitt. Then
followed Prof. r. NJ. Mcintosh with a solo,
"Loved Ones Gone Before" After the
conclusion Of the solo DR.. d. G.. Kelley
followed with a most appropriate address.
He said:
REv. DIR. KELI EY's ADDRESS.
In the midst of funeral wreaths and sad,
fearful heaTt-beatings, it is with a sense OF
the deepest qualification that l am able to
hail this as an suspicious day, not because
We have ceased to mourn for our dead COM
rades who sleep here, not that we are re-
iOiced to bury out Of mind the cause in
support of which they fell the victims Of a
pure and heroic patriotism. In our heart
Of hearts we shrine their memories, and
their fame shall be as precious TO us as is
the virtue Of our women or our hopes for
our children. We know their patriotism
was pure, their selfsacrifce sublime, their
devotion TO what they believed truth and
honor as unsullied IS is to be found
on any historic page, on which the pen Of
immortality chronicles the names of the
hero martyrs Of liberty and truth. We
hail this, the cOmmemOTatiOn day Of 1915,
Is suspicious above the days on which We
have heretofore kept this sad memorial,
because in The weary years which part US
from the day Of their sacrifice, each sad
face, falling tear, aud deity woven wreath,
hath said and echoed back GachtO the other
the most m0urHful Of all TefrainS, namely:
This sacrifice was all in vain To-day
the respondent thrOng begin to look upon
the past in th= light Of brighter hope for
the future, and thus We see in this dark
past a winter truly dark, but none the less,
as ali winters are the mother out Of whose
womb is TO be born a near spring.
The ferceness Of the winters storm
blows chill. Yet upon our frames, atteuU-
ated by the long Yeas Of hope deferred or
dead, but the bilLerest bowling Of the
tempest has been hushed by distance, while
warmer blood and more tTustful vision
arouse expectation and tint again the pale
cheek Of hope. I never belonged to that
class in whose heartL surrender or after
WRONGS put out the Light Of hope for nv
country, my whole country. Neither in the
hurricane Of feeling which swept us into
wa, nor in the midst Of years, in which
passion and swords revelled in blood. Not
even on the black winters night, when /
rode at the rear Of Gen. Hoods broken and
crushed veterans across the raging Teunes-
see, over crazy and swaying pOntOOns.
Nor on the s3ddest Of all days
when at Greeneville, Ala, put my parole
in my pocket, saw NY comrades lay down
their arms, our COlCT-beareT fold and place
in his bosom our ball-ridden Tag and in
mute sorrow turned my horses head to-
ward the home Of my bOyhOOd midst the
cedags and limestone crags Of the old Vol
unteeT State. l say not even in these hours
did | ever lose faith in The destiny Of the
South or the unity of the nation. To me
the war, its causes and lis results, have
ever been an episode both painful and ne
5essary in the unfolding drama Of our ma
tiOnal existence. l have never sWerYed in
a belief III the necessary oneness Of these
United States. Yet, saw a cause of agi-
taliOn between them, foreign either to geo
graphical position, diversity Of interest,
or disposition. Craftsmanship and
patriotism had struggled with the question
in vain. The constitution did not produce
an authoritative agreement. War became
inevitable l accepted it as the only arbitra-
Tor. l was utterly pOWerless to surmise
what that arbitrament would be. But
when it came | believed that both God and
progress were in it, and have been waiting
with patience for the time when a memOri-
al day such as this, would allow US to say.
aThese, our comrades, died not IN UGiE."
They were necessary factors in working
out one of the most mOmentOUs problems
Of social life and national existence. Al
ready has this war and its ensuing years
corrected much that was a mistake in our
mutual estimates Of each other. Already
has it removed a barrier from the flow
of influence from the one section to the
other, which standing where it did, as We
see clearly enough now, was so separating
as in social life that there could have been
no healthful reactiOnaTy power passing
from one TO the other. The distance be-
tween the people North and South gave OPP
pOrtunity for misunderstanding, and yet
this very stretch North aud South, gave the
elements of character which the latest and
profoundest studies Of sociology indicate
as necessary to be brought together, in
order to the highest national life. The
North, on the page OF history, ever gives
birth TO a people strong IN energy, tending
to powerful and compact national CONSOLE
datiOn, liable, as a consequence, to be
driven on by irresistible currents of IA
naticism. The South, given more to deep
contemplation, than action, more welded
10 individual liberty, and thereby saved
alike from the organic despOLism Of govern
ment and unchecked greed of tanatiCism.
The two combined in one nation make up
the grandest Of national compounds, if
there be 10 barrier to prevent the leayeniDg
influence from the one to the other. There
was an insuperable barrier while the North
ern man looked upon his Southern neigh
Dor not as the architect Of his own fortune,
but the eiieminate recipient Of the labor Of
others. And his Southern neighbOr in turn
looked upon the material activity of The
North, as a check to chivalry, an antidOte
10 all high and noble manhood and the
mother Of narrow views Of life, and degrad-