Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1883-08-14

Gen. Early. He telegraphed, then,
to come and he would have quarters
for me in certain hotel. The very
word quarters had in it q tone of
unreconstruction. / went; reached
the place and the hoteI-but it WAS
crowded: and Gen. Early could not
be found. saw a little negro boy
with eyes like lizard's-as Oscar
Wilde said-and asked him if there
was n Catholic church in Lexington.
''Ges, he jerkilS said, ''and 1 is
Catholic, too. - So away I went, and
found the rector of the place, quiet
young priest named Father Lynch.
He offered myself and friend the
hospital1ties of his house; and we
were glad of the offer, for the town
was crowded. HypGrbolical people
said 10000, moderate folks said
about 6,000. The day after our ar
rival we proceeded to the grounds of
Washington and Lee University. An
immense throng had assembled there.
Bands of music played, banners
waved, soldiers marched, enthusiasm,
with just thrOb Of mournfulncss in
it all, swayed the multitude.
At noon or a little after, Gen.
Early, who presided, in the absence
of Gen. Joseph +. johnson, called
the assemblagc to order and intro
duccd the orator of the day,
MAJOR DANIEL.
He rose amid dcafcning chccrs-a
man strikingly handsome, with soul
power i'll his face. lie combines in
fact and manner the power of Edwin
Booth and John Mccullough, the
actors. He began his oration in
simple, yet striking way, alIudiug to
the home of Lee before the war.
His power of description is strong.
1t was only the preface to glorious
grafton. He rose as he proceeded rs
Il man who-is climbing the slopes of
mountain to see the setting sun
when he reaches its summit. And
his hearers followed him. Half way
up the slope of his Grafton he seemed
to rest, but you could see in his face
and hear in the tremor of his voice
and his graceful swaying gestures
that he rested for a purpose. think
it was the glory-hour of his address.
When he flung back his classic head
and alluded to President Davis, with
his heart in his voice. and in words
that were royal. he stilIcd the crowd
for few minutes; but when he closed
his glorious culogy on him who suf-
fcrod vicariOUsly for every Confedcr-
ate man, woman and child, and who
is still disfranchised by the Federal
Government, the stiffness was broken
by such grand thundcrs- of applause
that the orator was obliged TO pause.
1t was the
GRAND SOUTHERN AsIEN
to words grand as they were, and
grandly spoken of man grander
than any words. Some eyes were
moist with tears thcn,-tributcs to
our President, who suffered for us
all. God bless him. The orator
went on, rising higher and higher in
his clOQuCncc, and when he concluded
there was one man in that audience
who said to himself, "thc orator
equals the OCCASION
Then Gen. Early. His words were
brief, but he commanded your hum
bic servant TO come forward and face
crowd already cntranccd with glo-
rious elOqucncc. / obeycd; said q
few words, rccitcd the "Sword of
Robert Lee, and stole away. Stone
wall Jackson's daughter, Julia, un-
veiIed the statue. Crowds went in
and came out, and the faces OF most
were sad. Clouds were gathered
away over on the mountains. Tho
sun went down, and Lexington will
never see such day again, because
the world will never know another
Robert Lee. A. j. r.