Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-05-20


slyIs a M Neither could I End :
.SseA o ! Iofk ot knife that seemed 10
bare been uasd Il eating IRE. Why.
slFs. they ere Tie most plarId people
Fou ever saw. SeNe 81 them. their
property ell gone. 3 Isllf o. sixty years
q age. starting IifA with one arm and
aae f09t and one eye ths missing saem-
hsfs sacrificed 81 battle Il is simply
nIEaeulous. and TIE work of the Lord
Almighty hat these people are ~ am
islH and = cheerful ns tlsey ere end
i i dzsIaFdIy mean IN as 70 keep speak
ing Of them IS waspisk, and acrid and
astunne, and masevolent. have tra-
veled as much as most people have 10
this and other lands, and ] am ret 10
ind more afFable, more dellcaseIy SYM
pathetic. more whole-souled people than
the people OF the south. The people OF
the south are loyal to-day, and ifa for
eign foe should try TO set its foot on
this country by way Of intimidation or
conquest, | believe the forces OF Me-
CleIlan and Beauregard, Bragg and
Geary. Grant and Lee, would come
shoulder to shoulder, the blue and the
gray. and the guns Of Forts Hamilton
and Pickens and Sumter would Join in
one great chorus Of thunder and flame.
The fact - that IN this country we have
had big family ight, and if neigh
Dor should come in aud try to interfere,
you know what the result would be.
Husband and wife in contest, the one
with q cane and the otherwith broom
stick-let an InteFmeddler come in and
he gets all the advantage Of both cane
and broomstiek. have sometimes
thought that the north and south viii
never understand each other until the
approach of q common enemy makes
common cause. God forbid that that
day should come. But If foreign des-
potisms think there Is in our government
no cohesion, no eeniripetal force, they
have only to test IL. Instead Of the
thirteen original colonies, we own from
ocean to ocean; but that is no sign of
lack Of governmental grip. By steam
and electricity the government Is under
more speedy and easy control now than
il was at the start. AT the foundation
Of the government il took an Official
document two weeks to cross the coun-
try: now il takes two minutes. San
Francisco and Galveston and Des
Moines are to-day nearer Washington
than Richmond was then. There new
er has been day OF more thorough
consolidation and unity than now.
Would that the people all appreciated
it. You see the whole impression of
my southern journey was one Of en-
The great masses ofthe
people are right. II half dozen poll
tIcians at the north and half dozen poll
ticians at the south would only consent
TO die, there would be no more section
al acrimony. You see il is q mere case
Tor undertakers If they bury out of
sight these few demagogues we will
pay all the expenses OF the catafalque
and epitaph, and OF brass band to play
the "Rogue's March !" In time, under
God, this will all be settled. The gem
Grafton that follows Us will not share in
the antipathIes end the bellicose spirit
Of their ancestors, and they will stand
in amazement at the state Of things
which made the national cemeteries at
Murfreesboro and Gettysburg and Rich
mond an awful possibility.
Week before last took carriage
and wound up Lookout mountain. Up,
up. upl Standing there on the tip-top
rock, | saw FIVE states of the Union.
Scenes stupendous and overwhelming
One almost is disposed TO take of hIs
hat in the presence of what seems 10 be
The grandest prospect of this continent.
There is Missionary Ridge, the beach
against which the pillows Of Federal
and Confederate courage surged and
broke. There are the Blue mountsIns
Of North and South Carolina. With
strain Of vision, there is Kentucky,
there is Virginia. At our feet Chatta-
nooga and Chickamauga, the pronun-
ration Of which proper names will thrill
ages to come with thoughts Of vslor
and desperation and agony. Looking
each way and any way from the top Of
hat mountain, earthworks, earihworks
the beautiful Tennessee winding
through the valley. making letter as"
after letter "S," as If that letter stood
Tor shame, that brothers should have
zone into massacre with each other,
while God and nations looked oH. 1
have stood on Mount Washington. and
,n the Sierra NeVadas, and on the Alps,
Dut | never saw so TAR as from Lookout
Why, sirs, / looked back
seventeen years, and ! saw rolling up
he side Of that mountain the smoke OF
Hocker's storming party, while the
foundations Of eternal rock quaked with
he cannonade. Four years Of finteFne-
rine strife seemed to come back, and
without any chronological order saw
he events: Norfolk navy-yard on Ere.
Fort Sumter on FIRE, Charleston on FIRE,
Chambersburg on FIRE. Columbia, South
on Ere. Richmond on FIRE.
And | saw Ellsworth fall, and Lyon
Iail, and Mcpherson fall, and Bishop
Polk fall, and StonewaIl Jackson fall.
And ] saw hundreds Of grave-trenebes
cut into two great gashes
across the land, the enc for the dead
men Of the north, the other Tor the dead
men Of the south. And my ear as we'll
IS my eye was quiekened, and heard
he tramp. tramp Of enlistIng armies,
and ! heard the explosion Of mines and
gunpOwder magazines, and the crash Of
ioEtsheation walls, and the aswamp an-
gei, and the groan Of dying hosts fall
Ing across the pulseIess hear. OF other
dying hosts; and saw still further out,
and saw on the banks of the Penob-
scot, and the Oregon, and the Ohio, and