The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-06-07
The Blue and the Gray.

The recent decorative ceremonies over
the graves Of the dead soldiers Of the Union
cause, gave many evidences Of return
ing sentiment of national fraternity In
none Of the addresses we have read is this
thought more happily expressed than IN
that Of Hon. J. J.. Thomas, Of Baltimore,
at Antietam. After giving an interesting
and instructive review Of the history of
the State of Maryland in connection with
the late war and vindicating the loyalty to
the Union Of the majority Of the people,
he closed with the following graceful and
patriotic sentences
ep-sY es.. my friends, the WAL is over. Its
history has been written, so that it can
never be blotted out, and from its i'm
partial pages posterity will judge who was
in the right and who was in the wrong.
1t is not for us to discuss who was respOn-
sible for it. That day has gone by 1t is
our duty rather to bury, not it's reeollec-
tions-that we cannot debut its hates
and animosities, and to remember that,
however much we struggled to get apart,
God in his providence has kept us together.
Let us not Judge too harshly the men who
fought on the other side and, above all,
let us show by our acts that we have an
abiding faith in their manhood and honor.
They rejoice to-day that the cause for
which they fought was notasuccess. Some
OF them may not say so, but it is because
u feeling OF pride restraints them. But
acts speak louder than words, and the
happy content that pervades all classes of
the South proves Enthusiastically that they
would not exchange this for any other
land, and that if a foreign foe ever at
tacks they will be the first to rally to its
support. One by one the flags captured
by the COnfederates are being returned to
the survivors of the brave men who car
ried them in battle. No longer held as
trophies, they will be kept as olive branches
of a returned peace and joyful reconcile
alton. %
The time has come when, if this nation
is to be reunited i'll truth and in fact, and
not in mere words SO that there shall
never hereafter be any danger or even in
clination to sunder the ties that bind us
together us u nation, there must be mu-
tual fOrbearancc and forgiveness the
same spirit, the same good-fellowship, the
same brotherhood, must dwell everywhere.
do not blame our ex-Confederate broth
erS that they weep for their dead and de-
light to honor their memory. They would
not be human if they refused OF forgot to
do so. But the cause for which they died,
died with them. 1t is buried beyond any
| resurrection. God ordained that it be 50.
Let not the dead cause, then, be glOritied 3;
but rather let every soldier of the South
glorify the cause which, under the provi-
dence OF God, has become the living hope
OF the present and the future, and let them
unite with us i'll teaching their children
and ours to love and honor the flag Of our
fathers, and that this nation is worth pre-
serving rs q nation, with all of its new
born rights and immunitieS. In doing
this they will show to future generations
that none of the children of the republic
have died in vain, but that all alike have
cemented it, and made it holy in the blood
that has been shed and the lives that have
been sacrificed
To-day, at the capital Of our state, on
the invitation OF the Grand Army Post of
Annapolis, the boys who wore the blue
and the boys who wore the gray are march
ing arm in arm and keeping step to the
music of the Union and Confederate dead
alike, and the orator selected for the occa-
sion waSa gallant officer in the Confederate
army, and following this example | sim
cerely hope that God may hasten the day
when this national holiday will not be eX-
! clusively devoted to decorating the Union
dead, but when the Union and Confederate
soldiers everywhere shall walk arm in arm
and lay the laurel wreath on the graves Of
the dead who fell on both sides when the
words that shall be uttered shall be words
of love and trust, and hope and faith for
our regenerated land, and when the hymns
that are sung shall be full of the senti
ment-
'No more shall the war-cry sever,
Or the winding river be red
They Danish our anger forever
when they laurel the graves OF dead.
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the Judgment day.
Love and tears for the Blue,
tECarS l.rlxr