Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-05-14

q held OF o3ttle, LEFT Bie IN command and
rode up 10 the battery to witness his hrst
grand artillery duel. TIE contest had lasted
but little while, whep, dsshing down the
ridge, under cover Of which the cavalry was
drawn up, waiting orders, he said to me:
"The feet is bound to press the battery; the
shot from the water battery roll of the
sides of the iron-clads like drops of rain
of a ducks back" Whirling bis horse |
and driving deep his spurs, in another mins
ute he was up the ridge and at his point OF |
observation; taking his FIRST lesson in the use |
of artillery, CT which later in the war he |
became transcendent master. l know not |
how long it was, (for in such places We did |
keep accurate count of the measure of time) |
when dashing once sgain down the hill he
exclaimed: 1.-TWO of our guns are doing e1-
ecuiiop, We have brought them to a halt"
He added in lower and earnest tone: "Are
you praying, major? We are 10 need of all
the ihelp we can get" Again he was gone.
Soon the rumOr came the column
bad ia dismounted, and knowing that the
one rifed gun was now our sole hope, ia
breathless silence. almost huihing our
hear.s' best, we listened for her reports.
They began to come less frequently, and the
question went around wont she get too hot
to work." Amid the broad sides and the
rattle ever and anon she sounded out keen
and clear, more slowly, but more accurately
| timed, and sending her bolts with unerring
precision home. At each report shout
OF response rose from the listening
liae. Then came the message:
Our gunbost floats helpless on the river; then
| another is pierced through and through; then
they are falling back; the day is ours. As
rode down the line old gray-haired veterans
Of the Mexican var sat with tears Of graft
| tude streaming down their faces. One OF the
oldest exclaimed: 81 have been praying for
| that gun for the first time in my life all
through this fight" As we listened that
| critical afternoon for the roll of that
single gun, amid the broadside Of
| the enemy and the Intellectual shots
! of our lighter guns, SO now l catch my
self listening for the voices OF the
mothers ia our homes, with faith in moral
character, they will mould doubly broad by
| faith and prayer as the sure token OF our
| country's march in the vanguard OF the adj
vancing Christian chivalry OF the age. God
bless the mothers of our Southland; God
| bless the women of our common country;
God bless the mother who weeps for her SOL
der boy who waits her coming in the skies;
God bless the true hearts in this vast
throng, who hold embalmed to-day the
memories OF our dead comrades,
and out Of these memories OF the past bring
| to crown our future men and women typed
| As
| sleep here, and OF the comrades who remem-
Der the mothers who nursed this heroism into
life. The heroism of the soldier in the field,
the proud heroism of the men who when
psacs came have with manly patience and
| brave endeavor brought back the sunshine of
prosperity to our Southland. --------
The lat lesson of the war to which we
refer ia that q conscience of duty is the
granite rock on which is built the best
bravery. The street and croSs-roEa bully
vas not the true soldier. Ii is this fact of duty
go prominent in general and soldier which
will embalm in history the Confeder ate
cause. No impartial historian can ever
write opprobriously of cause which was a
part OF Jsckson's daily prayer, and which
was made illustrious by the self-depial OF
Lee in the beginning of the struggle, and
gloriied by the msiestic column which
gathered about his post bsllum career.
After a number of incidents illustrative OF
this lessou, taken from individual memories
of the war, the speaker closed by gathering
into the day on hand the largest Lessons OF
J the era TO which we have come. Fitting
into and spleniidly corroborative of this les
son is the quiet but far.reaching and pro.
found response of Herbert Spencer, the great
} sociologist and profound philosopher of ev-
J olution, to a question proposed TO him after
his recent visit to the United States. When
asked what he regarded as the greatest dan
ger to our free Institutions, he replied, IN
substance, that no amount of education for
the intellect weuld secure our future liber.
J ties; that all history demonstrated that indi.
vidusl character, net intellect merely, was the
necessary basis of free government. We
know OF no voice which has come from the
world of pure thought, in this age of restless
and independent investigation, more pro-
foundly significant. 1t is as If two pilgriml
in search OF truth, starting the one in the
east, the other in the west, each true to hi:
own standpoint and methods, had come at last
through long and weary ways 10 stand on one
common ground. the man of prayer, rev.
ereuce and faith starting in the east, we seem
to sea with upturned face and beaming eye
doubling capes OF doubt, climbing precipi.
tious nights, lesping with buoyant tread
great cha-n,s ofaear, digging = we'll OF Joy In
| this desert, planting a rose OF beauty on THU
crag, making the lonely wilderness TO rs
sound with mis- songs OF triumph, has been
found GA every page OF human history. Hi.
brother explorer and student now takes
earth and man as the sole witnesses tc
be examined, starting in the west with head
prone to the esrth, through patient toll has
moved with slow and painful progress, often
going backward on his track, often changing
methods and instruments OF advance-ac
cumulating with intense effort grains Of truth
tried in the crucible of often repeated ex.
pertinent discarding all helps save those
which he has tested, with hard hands, be-
grimed face and weary steps comes in the
fullness of the ases to lift up his face and
shout his Eureka on the same mountain
summit where stands his brother pilgrim
OF the radisnt face with his voice of song
Thus from the fields Of blood, from the fields
of modern scientific research, come 10
1 10 m al 0f
vance, voices in harmony with the voice Of
the man of Nazareth who came TO show Us
Gods love for US, and TO utter from the
Judesn mountain the key note OF national
stability into harmony with which every
noble individual life of man or woman falls
in grand rhythmic accord. BLESSED are taey
which do hunger and thirst after righteous
ness, for they shall be filed"
Right character, as the rock on which we
build in national and individual life, is the
lesson which speaks more loudly than all
others from the dust which sleeps beneath
these little hillocks which surround US TO.
day. Righteousness, the basis of all indi-
vidual greatness and national perm lnency,
is the Inspiration o! the voice which Gu this
Christian Sabbath enTrapping itself with the
tender memories Of our dead, shouts from the
summit OF this marble suaft the wedding
day of revealed and scientific truth.
Brave men and tender women, join in the
bridal song "Nearer my God to Thee"
From the wedding day shall come the
fruit, largest and tenderest womanhood, the
bravest, visest and most triumphant man
hood of the ages.
Mr. Kelly spoke for nearly an hour and
| was listened TO with marked attention. At
the conclusion Of the address, the hymn,
"Nearer, Ny God, To Thee" with band sc.
compartment, was sung by the choir, as fol-
lows:
| Nearer, my God, to Thee,
| Nearer to Thee;
| Fen though il be a cross
| That raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be
| Nearer, NY God, to Thee;
| Nearer to Thee.
| Though like a wanderer,
Weary and lone
Darkness comes over me,
| Ny rest stone;
| Yet in my dreams I'd be
| Nearer, my God, to Thee;
Nearer TO Thee.
| There Jet my way appear
| Steps into heaven;
| All that Thou sendest me.
| In mercy given,
Angels 10 beckon me
| Nearer, nv God, to Thee;
| Nearer 10 Thee.
| Then with nay waking heart
| Bright with Thy praise
Cut of my stony grieIs
| Affairs II raise,
Sc by my woes to be
| Nearer, my God, to Thee;
| Nearer to Thee.
| Or, if on joyful wing,
Cleaving the sky;
| Sun, moon and stars forgot,
| Upward fly;
| Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
| Nearer to Thee.
| Gen. G. W. Gordon then announced that