Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-08-08
THE REUNION.
Continued from r,rs. Page.


ton Of as all when by the bayonet W.
were denied the right to strew The
graves OF our dead with simple flowers
mementoes OF our love; when no shaft
Of iron and stone was permitted t.
mark their resting place. Thanks 70
the intelligence aud virtue OF federal
and Confederate soldiers, that day has
forever passed. Reason and purer
sentiment have asserted their sway.
Now the veterans of the blue
with their wives and daughters, vie
with those who wore the grey In
doing these dolicste honors to our
lamented dead. Now the sculptured
marble and the chiseied statue rise
gradually above the graves Of our
immortai jackson and thrice immortal
Lee, while all over our beloved South
land monuments are rising to guide
the feet Of the lover of the great and
good TO the place where the ashes OF
our gloriiied heroes lie. Thus In this
age OF progress mighty changes are
occurring while the years are rolling
on. changes which show the truth and
might OF the Law which guarantees
'sThe survival of the fittest."
Things doomed to death will die,
but things which ought TO live will
never die II Is cheap and easy for the
base and vile 10 heap 0pprobrium upon
the fairest name, the purest virtue and
the divinest man, but the avenger
comes and
Rights such wrongs whene'er they're given,
II II were 10 the court OF heaven.
There is man in his beautiful home
beyond the Mississippi, one whose
venerable form, now bowed with the
weight Of years aud many cares, we
had hoped to look upon to-day In this
beautiful grove thronged with Its
swarmipg thousands, one who made
his name and state illustrious on the
plains Of BIena Vista, and yet more IL
lustrious In the senate and in The cabi-
net. aud yet thrice illustrious In the
capitol at Richmond, browning all
with beautiful halo Of glory during
the,e two decades of lquiet suffering
aud patient waiting.
We venture to predict that should
the life Of that modest Confederate of
the United States, the type of all that
IL greatest and best In the rest-should
his life he spared another decade, when
he falls his requiem will be sung
by the sublimest poets OF the nation
and his eulogy pronounced by her
mightiest orators. We come not 10 de-
tract one iota from the splendor OF the
achievement or the glory and fame OF
their illustrions dead or illustrious lIv-
ing, bur we come with the wreath up
on the brows OF our immortal heroes
and the olive In our hand. II they
will meet u. we will join with them
in placing theirs aud ours together
upon fame's loftiest pinnacle aud re-
ciprocally committing them To imper.
isnable glory. 1t has been unwise-
ly said that the strife will
not be ended until those who yartici.
pated In IL have all passed away.
Nothing can be farther from the truth
ar more slanderous than this assertion.
IL grows out of an utter misapprehen-
sion of animus and character of the
American soldiery. lie who still de.
MES honesty, patriotism aud fidelity
To the soldiers of the late war IL n
vim OF hell In his bosom. Such utter
ances or filings are merely used by the
ignorant or the vile to court favor
with the baser sort. The
best men of this nation
inspired with the Hottest sentiments
and purest patriotism we're true To
their colors aud fought its battles, and
IL the right did not triumph IL was not
their fault The men who fought the
battles with very few II any cxcep.
lions have ALPHABETICALLY, as patriot
cally accepted the result, and before
you can bring on another sectional
war while the old soldiers live you
have 10 20 to work again aud bring In
the hordes of Europe TO conquer these
men who wore the gray aud the
blue. No, we cannot spare the old
soldiers yet. We are talking about
and caring for our own men. The death
of any Confederate soldier In "A national
calamity. Look to your fields; who
are cultlvating themp To your com.
merce; who Ia conducting ilv To your
systems of education; who are mold
ing them and teaching in your schools,
To your laws; who are making and
enforcing them? Who nre carrying
forward the great enterprises of hui
manity, charity and Christianity?
answer, in our South land, the Con
tederate soldiers and their noble and
queenly wives and SONS and daugh
ters, and when one of our no
BILE boys or gray-haircd men, who
wore the gray, IL laid In
the grave; we feel that an arrow ha.
pierced our hearts, that star has
fallen from our galaxy, and like Marx
Anthony we say that "Our heart is In
the grave with him. aud we go t.
weep there"
But could they speak to us now AZ
once they did 1t would be in no de
spending tones or discouragiug, but
with the hearty grip would come IN,
bold words. "be strong" In the
language of our grand old chieftain,
Robt. n, Lee, they would say, duty
IL the grandest word In our language y
Comrades, permit q parting word ;
To the dead let us do our duty, forget
ting their imperfections; let us emu
late their virtues, caring for their
widows aud orphans as far as we may;
let us I'LL the void made In those
he mes.
10 each other let us be kind and
true; we have shared each Others
hardships; let us share them still
dividing our savings and our joys;
let us do our duty to our country aud
our God, thinking to-day Of oul
departed comrades; let us remem-
Der with pride and emulation that
rhc very gales their names 10 sighting,
The silcnt pillar, cold and gay,
Gialms Kindred with their kauiod clay.
Tho meanest rii,, tho m,Khtest river
Ron ningling with their fame forever"
Ofour dead | say honored, thrice
honored DO their memory and peace be
To their slumberlng dust, or the liv,
ing say long NAV they live, then