St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-11-01
A GAVEL
Which is EmbAematic of the Victs
ries of Battle and Peace.

Which is EmbAeImatic of the VictO.
ries of Battle and Peace.
Representative Mullen of Richmond, Va.
bly,, on behalf of District Assembly No. "a,
addressed the General Assembly of the
Knights of Labor at its late session at
Hamilton as follows:
General Master Workman; The district
assembly that / have the honor in part to
represent has assigned to me a triding task to
perform which is alike pleasing and agree
able and, in my opinion, should be attended
to at the commencement of the session. l
have here Il gavel to present this general
assembly as historic mementosfrom District
Assembly No. 81, of Richmond, Va. 1t is as
plain gavel as 1 have ever seen; it is not
decked with either silver or gold or precious
stones. In this it is in fitful keeping with the
plain but beautiful workings of our honored
order. The handle of this gavel, sir, is made
of piece of the sounding board that stood in
old St. Johns church at the time that
Patrick Henry made his famous speech
in that church. and therefore is piece of
the instrument that echoed and re-echoed the
patriotic words, ''Give me liberty, or give me
death! '-wordS which immortalized the
speaker and made his name household word
for all generations to come. Thus we see, gen.
eral master workman, that the commence
sented in this gavel. The handle of this
gavel is as you see, topped with piece of
wood of different kind This, too, is repre-
sentative of an important epoch in the his
tory of American independence, for it was
cut at Yorktown, Va, as near as possible the
scene of the surrender of Cornwallls to Wash
ington, and therefore represents the close of
the first revolution. The ball of this gavel,
while it has not the hoary age attached to it
that the handle has, also speaks Of times and
events in our past history that will never be
forgotten. 1t is from one of the pillars of
Old Libby prison that the ball of this gavel is
made. This building has been made
historic by the part it playe
in the second revolution. In this
old house were confined true and patriotic
sons of our common country as prisoners of
war for being engaged IN struggle to liber-
ate a race Of people from the calling yoke of
slavery. That strike for liberty was success
full, and to-day the race intended as the bene-
ficiaries are enjoying the blessings of lib
erty. Yet general master workman, there
still remains battle to be fought for the es-
tablishment of universal freedom. Can
those who are now the slaves OF monopoly
and oppression be liberated as easily as was
the African race in America? Yea, even
much easier! To accomplish the first re-
quired men to bare their breasts to the rage
of BATTLE second only in its terrors to the
furies of hell. 1t required that thousands of
widows and orphans should be made; that
acres of land should be saturated with pre-
cious blood drawn from the veins of some of
the purest and best of our country; and that
tears should flow like living streams. To accom-
plish the second requires only organization,
education and cooperation. 1t must and
shall be done, and to you, sir, as the repre-
sentative and chief of that grand army that
is to work the third revolution, in which no
single race is to be set at liberty, but in which
all the nations of the earth shall be liberated,
present you with this gavel, clothed with so
much of our past history. I know that but
utter the sentiments of District assembly 81
when say, God grant that this gavel may, in
your hands, preside over, in the future, many
happy gatherings of the noble-hearted sons
of toll to celebrate the day of the establish
ment of those grand principles for which we
are struggling-a fair days pay for fair
days work, eight hours to constitute lawful
days work, and an injury to one is the con-
Germ of all.
The general master workman accepted
the gavel (which was used throughout the
SESSION. on behalf of the general assembly,
with a few well-chosen remarks: and it is
remarkable that no session of the general
assembly ever passed off so tremendously
as the late one.