Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-10-03

The following il the closing Of Col.
Robert Gates speech, made at the coun-
~ fair in Manchester, Iowa:

that the Old days are memories, the
ways passing into tradition, who may
doubt the future OF state with such
vast crude wealth, such boundIess pos
sibilities, the whole blessed by a climate
warm enough for varied and success
ful growth, for great deveIopement
with a maximum of pleasant living;
cool enough for vigorous mental and
physical manhood and for that health
fulness which gives bloom to the
cheeks, elasticity to the step and brigh-
ness to the eyes, be they black as night
or blue as the skies.
| firmly believe that within decade
or less, the wondrous possibilities OF
Tennessee will be demopstrated TO the
world, and that within the next quar-
ter OF century she will stand with
the foremost in wealth and power.
HENCE, when | say to you that aoao is
the time to go down into that goodly
land and lay the foundations o. for
tunes and happy homes for the gener-
ations that are to bear your name and
share your success or failure, / mean
il in all the fullness and strength OF
thorough conviction. A cordial vel
come is guaranteed. Our people are
given to hospitality, and when you
come to know them at home, you will
like them. They are noble people,
your equals in all the highest elements
OF character, and behind you only in
thrift and public schools, and fast APP
preaching you even in those essentials
Of modern progress. They are a proud
people, and acknowledge no superiors
IN the graces of courtesy, courage and
charity. They bend the knee to God
alone. Misiortunes and trials, and riv-
ers of precious blood, and homes desc
late, ana hearts bruised, have not made
them towards, nor do they indulge in
repinIngs or reproaches. They have
accepted the issue of fate and superior
power, and have faced to the future to
rebuild and restore, on broader and
higher planes. They see the errors OF
the past, the madness with which they
chung TO fatal institution, the mad
ness that led them To attempt the inn
practicable and the unwise. They see
in all its force and grandeur that the
union OF our fathers is best, that the
results of conflict are, in the main, as
they should be. More than this, brave
men do not ask. More than this brave
men will never concede. Tried in
the crucible of terrible experience,
refined in the fiery furnace of war, the
southern people have come forth purer
than gold. Amid the ruin their own
mistakes helped to bring, but removed
from the temptations that too often |
corrupt and demoralize successful par
ties, their generations secure from the |
olttimes damaging influence, the pois-
on Of demagOgic pandering and over
strained government favor, they are
building in virtue, in strength and |
broader patriotism, as surely as did |
the Saxons of old time, under the shad-
ow OF Norman power. They are near
er without bitterness than any people
who ever dared and failed. That we
failed, that it is best we did fail, is rec
in the fuller light that has
come with events and the years, by
the generation that fought and the
generations that are come or coming
upon the stage of action. That is
enough for the fair-minded to ask or
yield. never saw confederate sol
der, | never saw southern man or
woman worthy of American citizen
ship, but was proud of the proves of
.he South displayed in the greatest
struggle of history, and hope Inever
will. This consolation, this balm OF
pride, that comes to the defeated who {
ought well and honorably, no power
an take away and no generous power +,
will begrudge or belittle. Ii
The imaginations OF this and the
to come, will not cease to 7
'evert, with kind of regretful, thank {
al reverence, to the semi-haronial l.
lays when cotton was king indeed. '
Regret that the stately manners, the G
delicious hospitality, the lofty chivalry,
he lordly pride, while not gone per $
laps, is tempered by stern experience q
nd robbed of much of the poetic {,
harm of the days that are no more. a
Thankful that quickened industry, o
n aggressive progress, a broader pa Fl
truer conception of the du- q
les OF life have come, in place of the
Id Flooding, careless, reckless WAYS
hat held both fortune and life too
ghtly Tor the highest and best civil
ltion. But the student of our history, 81
nd those who travelled south in the 5.
Id days, will grant that those were t.
ne old times down South. when the 81
egrOes owned the dogs, the planters RI
Yned the negroes and the commits nj
ON merchants owned the planters pl
Then planters and their families trav- Is
led in state, spent money like princes CT
the blood and disdaned knowledge d'
their bank accounts. When the an
'ung men went about, somewhat like b
e knights of old, seeking adventure, th
counted craftsmanship, or the learn IN
professions alone worthy of their hi
nth and fortune. Those were fine pc
i times, when credit was universal,
hen the Great House" was a castle
deed, and the centre of little re-
Iblic, after the Venetian model, and m
Is ruled by prodigality and gallantry. dl
nose were fine old times, when the III
rewd sons OF this north land came IN
wn among us, taught our schools, WI
lnaged our finances, married our or
lis and then became model aristo on
ITS in the land of slaves and cotton SEE
d big plantations. Those were fine ire
times, when the south land was MI
j OF ease and elegance; full OF born an
tesmen, unpurchasable voters and
dly drinkers; full of passion, poker
d pistols; full of race horses, fox a y
nnds and game cocks; full OF riot an
; living, stately quarrels and duel aft
&. Those were fine old times, in she
ri, when a word and blow, the me
nd aud the purse, the lips and the fav
lrt went together. Dear the memo Cit
OF those rare old times, which are
red forever, buried amid the thuu-
of war and the shock of great
nges. We reverence those DAYS as "
proud people ever reverence the g
lgled good and evil of their heroic e
5; as you people of the northwest i"
erence the rude days and ways of mis-
II fathers who laid the foundations ="
glorious civilization on these beau q
/ prMrieS and amid these rolling sho
$ irlnged with trees and laved by bee
cry streams; as we all reverence ing
early days of the republic, when me
fathers built in roughness and Wig q,
he groundwork of the greatest na- lool
OF history; but which none of us q
lid have back from dream-land. 60
II the honored dust of the past, if 81
could. jun
erish the thought that the Soutb afra
ever blush for or forget her past. ham
the thought that in union is
myth and wisdom and progress. "
the old flag, with not 4 star eiiaced Ner
sfIpe poluted. waves over 4 land ard
y part Of whose history is the il is