Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-19
Governor Jarvis on the Union

RGleiqb (N. C0 NelCS, MGg II.
Yesterdays observance of that day
dear to Southern hearts, Memorial
Day, ," was worthy of the occasion. At
four o'clock the procession moved to the
Confederate Cemetery The exceeding
heat of the weather made the march
warm and tiresome one. The speakers
stand was in the shade of an oak After
music by the band, the children of the
graded school sang, under the direction
of Professor Moring, an appropriate
song, after which the chaplain of the
day, Father j. B. White, of st.
Johns Roman Catholic Church.
offered a beautiful prayer There
were more songs by the children, and
the choir of st. Johns Catholic Church
rendered several selections Chief Mar
shal Roberts then introduced the orator
of the day, Colonel L. L. Polk. Hardly
had the first sentence of his speech been
spoken ere storm of wind sprang up,
causing such d fright and confusion that
all further exercises had to be given up
for the time being, General Roberts an
nouncing that Major r. S. Tucker had
kindly offered the use Of his hall for the
evening The Raleigh Light Infantry
fired three volleys, and the Confederate
salute, eleven guns, was fired from two
field pieces, in charge of Mr. Wiley Will
liams. AT half-past eight the au iience
reassembled. After 'Dixie" had been
played by the band, General
Roberts invited, on behalf of the
Ladies' Memorial Association, all ex-
Confederate soldiers to take seats on the
stage, which was soon filed by the vet
Grams. Governor Jarvis was among the
number These ''wearers of the grav''
were greeted with applause as they took
their seats. Gen. Roberts then intro
duced Gel. L. L. Polk, the orator of the
occasion, who began a speech which had
the merits of good taste and good lam
guage and was well delivered, and was
heard with great pleasure and marked
attention and appreciation. There were
long and loud calls for Gov. Jarvis IN
response to which His Excellencv an
peared and made a brief and happv
speech. He spoke of loyalty TO the
dead heroes who sleep in our cemetery
and said that such loyalty to them was
not disloyalty to the United States. He
had followed the starry cross during
those years OF strife, and to-day no man
was more loyal to the Union than he. If
tuIo COuHUly J ouOulus III OOu B providence.
become involved in a foreign war, the
Confederates would follow tie stars and
stripes with the same high and unfalter-
ing courage with which they followed
the starry cross. The country is united.
as witness the assassination of Garfield
No soldiers who followed him on the
field of Chicamauga wept more freely
or felt more sadness of heart than
the old Confederate soldiers. The
Confederate soldiers have since
the war made as glorious a record
as they made during it for their heroism
and endurance are known in every dark
daV since as then. The best tribute we
can pay the dead heroes, whose graves
we deck to day, is to strive to make the
State for which they died the greatest of
all the States. The Governor spoke of
the singing of the two hundred little
children from the graded school, each
with bright face and bearing bouquet,
while they sweetly sang. If the dead
lying there could rise to see that the
State for which they gave their lives was
to-day educating their children, they
would know that they have not died in
vain. The speech was interrupted by
frequent applause.