Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-05-02

decor2ted as compared with those OF the
| civilians. The graves especially noticeable
for beautiful ornamentation we're those OF
Miss Matte Stephenson and Butler p. An
derson. At o'clock there was the largest
assembly of people ever seen probably in
Elmwood. Arnold's band contributed the
music for the occasion. The exercises were
begun with stirring requiem by the band,
and the choir followed, beautifully singing
the hymn Nearer, my God, to Thee" The
Rev. ]. H. Evans delivered the prayer.
Miss Frazer read a poem concentrating
the occasion, which was very credItable
piece of verse. Arnold's band then played
an elegy, and the choir sang "Asleep in
Jesus" The Hon. Henry Craft then deliv-
cred the following oration:
Judge CRAFTS speech.
1t is sacred mission tho brings us, on a sacred
day, TO this consecrated spot Without civic
pomp or military parade we come to spend an
hour among the homes of the dead, and hold
communion with thoughts that befit the place and
about the graves. no longer new, and, in the re-
curing springtime, strew those graves once more
with flowers. They are the graves where our dead
lie sleeping; not in the of personal be-
reavement which brings husband and wife. and
parent and child, to weep other tombs in this
beautiful cemetery, but ours in the sense that we
struggled for the place of separate people, and
these went down in the shock OF the unsuccessful
that they loved aud the cause for which they
died Many of them we did not know, Away
from home and family and friends they fell, and
they are "nameless here forevermore" We strew
flowers upon the graves not of the individuals but
of the class; not Of persons. but of Confederate
soldiers, The wounds of the war have healed or
are he aing fast. and its animosies have faded out
of sight We can come now without the bitter
ness OF the early days of defeat, and in the har-
mony of universal kindness to lay our annual
token OF remembrance above hallowed dust Dec
Grafton Day Is now national observance. As the
breaks npon our Southern shore and rolls north,
ward upon the bosom Of the bright days that
scToss one paTsieI OF ata9e after anoheT
is lain by South and North alike upon
the n INC mounds where their the soldiers d sleep,
revival of the old sectional discord. Time has
healed the bitter fountains as Elisha brought
sweetness to the waters about Jericho. This cere-
mony has now attained its proper significance OF
a religious service-of a tender service of sad me-
fields and hospitals of fratricidal war; from the
suffering AMI the carnage and fierce hate of armies
organized TO destroy But the battlefiags have all
been furled. The thunder and the clouds OF con-
lct have rolled away like the blackness and wrath
these graves to-day in the quiet Of universal fra
ternity and peace. Let discordant feeling jar
note OF irreverence break the Sabbath sane
uty. So shall decoration days for North
ended, and prophets of future in which such
war shall be no more. Three thousand years ago
across the rocky deiles of Gilead to meet the Am
monites in battle. lie made a vow that what
ever coEleth forth from the doors o. my house TO
meet me when return in peace from the children
of Ammon shall surely be the Lords, or will
u X.
were delivered Into his hands. He smote them
with very great slaughter. Then. the victory
thah came to Mizpeh, unto his house. and be
hold his daughter came out to meet him with
timbres and with dances. and she was his only
child besides her he had neither a son nor daugh-
ter. And it came to pass when ne saw her thst
ter, thou hast brought me very low, and thou art
one of them that trouble me; for have opened
And she said unto him, My father, if tnou hast
opened thy mouth unto the Lord do 10 me accord
mouth, forasmueh the Lord hath taken ven
geance for thee OF thine enemies, even oi the
children OF Ammon And so tns stern 9ld iatnef il
so the maiden. lovely and beloved, went away to
her mysterious fate The history adds as the
tom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went
yearly 10 lament the daughter OF Jephthah, the
Gileadte four days in a year" What was the
meaning of their memorial observance? 1t
was not their commeadation Of the faith
er's rash vow, or of the blinded con
science which impelled him to perform it. 1t
was not their approval of the mi staken zeal which
thus sacrificed an only child. 1t was not even
lament that one of their sisters had been cut off
life But it was honor done to the patriotism and
religion of grand old warrior who did not count
his only child too precious to be offered upon
the altar of his conscience and his country. 1t
was tenderness and affection toward a maiden
who in a lofty spirit of self-sacrifce. willingly
became a victim to vindicate her fathers integ-
rity and manifest the gratitude OF her people for
deiiverance from oppression. 1t was principle
and a sentiment involved in the sacrifice which
they came together once in year to talk
OF and remember, and thus to preserve
among their national traditions. And it
is because these Confederate soldiers were
for US the Representatives and the martyrs of
a principle and a sentiment that the young men
and maidens, the old men and children OF this
graves And was there anything in human nature
5000 years ago. or is there anything IN human ma
tpre now more worthy OF honor and and memorial
that domain OF the heart where perennial beauty |
reigns. They do not grow old with time; nor lose
fbafr f-aS ShrpG VIII ri
their position its highest development through
all the mutations OF our race They are ever top
silver cleaning in the light is ever on the break
ing erests OF watery waves The intellect
and mind towers to-day in at !
titude of research and acquisition which |
tioDs The heart full grown from the beginning, |
has learned new lessons of intensity strength
brother down with hate as virulent that of the
latest fratlieide, and the first mother loved and
laid her child beneath yonder mound Reason |
reigns in the realm of miad, while Faith bears |
said that Reason is eagle and Faith
a lat, and the scornful saying is utterly false.
trusts; Reason goes on erutches Faith has wings;
Reason, hating and lame, makes progress only
which it can see and touch; Faith follows |
toward what we do not see,
and points to possibilities for which the |
spirit pines. Reason can anaIyz atoms and it can
see afar by the aid of the lens; but where the |
flaming wallo no further, reason must pause. But
Faith looks away from this material framework, |
ton, seeking for its soul. Out into the region |
where the senses cannot follow and induction |
cannot proEe-where the teiescope cannot reecn
and knowledge cannot gather stoLes-Faith |
springs on spirit pinons, measuring its fight only
by It's desires and limiting lis belief only by what
has been eloquently called 1.-The divine ought-to |
be-" Where its wing grows weary and its finite |
powers fail, Revelation meets it to reward its |
power and the wisdom which have created and |
maintained are conjoined with an attribute |
an emanation. Reason frames its philosophy |
of evolution and tells rs that all life is struggle
in which the httest survive Faith has its doctrine
of evolution, too, and finds perpetual conflict be-
tween good and evil wsged in every human heart. |
envy die The tooth of time destroys them as |
rust corrodes the baser metals; but philan |
thropy, benevoiencs and love win remembrance |
and defy decay as gold and diamonds resist the |
corrosion OF the rust II is the good and not the
evil that men DO that lives alter them Surviving
perishing bodies and vanishing names. the good |
Of every life has gone to swell the ever increasing
aggregate of worthy motives and generous deeds.
and unselfish impulses. which in the end viii full
I'll the gospel promise OF peace on earth and good
Will to men Reason takes no account OF moral |
forces II builds its projects for the worlds |
out OF its facts and figures, |
and theories OF phenomenal relation, as the tower /
Of Babel built of bricks and slime the plain
Of Shinar: but no such edihce can ever scale the |
skies. Even birds OF prey above it. The only /
plane OF upward progress mast always be the |
moral pane; the only means the education OF the
heart 1t is only thus that the civilization becomes
possible in which philosophy can worship reason,
and human intellect perform its wonders
Everywhere now the world IS recognizing the ben
afac ton OF kindly sympathy and timely aid, aud |
hat the life is best because OF which other lives
ire happier or better See how grandly this recog-
milton Is manifested in the order of the Red Gross
Il is an organization based upon the conscious
need for fellow helping and the admitted duties
growing out Of human brotherhood It tpropOses to
alleviate suffering. relieve want, and 90 about
ioing good. Great nations receive it by treaty
tiprlations into the law Of nations and hereafter
a the midst OF war il VIII pass uncha0enged
through the lines OF opposing armies ana rear its
.
10th. Amid the horrors OF war il viii be the
Florence Nightingale Of tender ministra ion
tseh proof of what the noble example of Flor !
.nce Nightingale has done for Inc world |
That monument and these flowers bear testimony |
o the esteem in which held The noble spiIiI
II free manhood, and its pat io:isin and unsslfsh
iegofion 20 duty. Looking upon them reIneln- |
)er how these sotdlers oiei7 and, as american |
stizeus we rejoice in the Jealous enthusiasm for
o olstituuona liberty and the noble coursge in its