The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-09-10

aCo', boiNs budL u NOulu RO Lhc buo
other $4,000. Amen"
AT THE CLOSE OF THAT MEMORABLE
CONFLICT
the Sou.h, once 80 far and rich aud
powerful, Icy bleeding and gasping in
the ashes OF defeat aud humiliation.
Her fields were laid waste, her wealth
consumed, her cities battered and
bnrnt and ruined, and her thousands
OF once happy homes made des ,late
and mournful by the rage aud wrath
OF armies and the cruel ravsges of
civil war. The angel OF death bad
crossed Almost every threshold and
three hundred thousand OF the fl OVER
OF the land were in bloody graves.
Every signing breeze that swept her
dreary wastes from the bloody grounds
OF the Wildernt So to the smoulderiDg
embeis OF ruined Atlanta bore the
wal 8 OF weeping women. She was a
land OF scrrowing mothers, heart
broken widows and orphaned children.
She was land full OF griefs more
poignant than the eword that made
them. They sat disconsolate on the
fresh made graves of all that was
sweetest and dearest on ca tn and
there 10 silence and in tears
expressed a sorrow tco mighty
Tor the pover:y OF words.
My countrymen, since Christ and
Calvary there was no greater anguish,
no holier fcene of woman's love. The
men OF the S uth, survivors of that
devastating deluge OF fire and blood,
contemplating the wreck and ruin of
their b'ightsd country, dropped their
beads and folded thsir arms in the full
and fiat realization Of hopeless de-
spair. But the Big, brave hearts and
brawpy arms OF those brorzsd veter-
ans OF II hundred battles were not thus
to remain in the stunor and Paralysis
OF lost hope. 1t did not bscoms a
brave people to thus yield up their
courage and pass vsly Rsit the fn-
ishing sroke OF adverse flte. In the
misfortune and desti'ution which the
war had br Jught upou their inDoeent
and helpless fsmiIi's they heard the
stern command of new aud a'duous
duty; in the destruction of their
homes and the deslla ion OF their
country they raw a new fed OF nooler
strife. They said: The storm is past,
and we survive; while life remains
the star OF hope will not be quenched,
though oftentimes obscured by the
passing shadows. We cannot give
back life to thosa who fell
we can only cherish Their memery
we cannot bring back the fallen for
tunes and departed g'ories Of the old
South, but We can bui d new South,
and by the blessing Of almighty Col
we will do it We will build it on a
new foundation in which shsll be in
corporrtsd the great constitutional
principles now settled and established
oy the arbitrament Of the sw I'd. They
b ushed away the tears OF their weep
ing women and pledged them bright
or day, when the shadows chou d
vanish and the clouds roll by. They
turned their backs upon the de a1 past
and bravely faced the futurs. They
wers s anding on the outpost, of
new field of warfare and their veteran
eyes kindling with the light of reviv-
ing hope, saw the welcome approach
of other and nobler conf cts, not of
carnage and death, but the glorious
battles of Peac Behold the transfer
nation The arm es of Lee and Jack.
son, Johnston and Coeatham have
ground d their arms and forever furled
the torn and ia tered banners OF the
Lost Cause. Their terried columns no
longer sand like walls OF fire on the
bates forefront, bat disbauded and
restor d 10 their shattered bomee, they
have lad aside their swords and
muskets gpd rs-entered and
resumed the srs and occu1a
tons of peace. Fatmerp, mechanics,
engineers, artissns, manufacturers,
statesmen, lawyers, teachers, physi-
Gu n' and divines, they begin the gtsnd
s.ructnre of the new South, The
debris and wreckage of wars destruc-
ton ara cleared away and The founda-
tons a-e built upon the enduring
OF free thought, free action,
free labor, a free ballot, justice, law,
order, the educstion of the misses,
the autonomy OF the s ates, constitu-
tionAl government, one flag and re-
untsd Republic. These, my country
men, are the principles Of the pro-
gre ssivs Democracy Of the new Soath.
They inspire the energy, the push,
The gip and snsp which are rapidly
rearing the Southern half of the
Rraudest structure CT adv need civil
liz uion the world ever saw.
Only twenty years have p 's;ei sincs
the firing of the last gun, and we wit
ness today progress in the achieve
ments of brain aud mu Gle in the
5 :iencss, srts and industries unpre.
cedented and unheard of in the his
Tory of nations. Under the improved
methods Of free aud euligtton' d labor
our sunuy South and blooms like the
rose.
Fio the banks of the Potomac to
the flower wreathed peninsula OF the
Gulf, where orange b ossoms breathe
and sweet mazDolias blow,
Her fields are green or white as snow,
Or golden as tho sunset glow,
With bleaching cotton, emerald cane,
Or yellow seas Of waving grain.
Called forth as by the touch OF en-.
her new and magnificent
cities have eprdug from the ashes and
ruins Of those that went down by the
shot aud shell and flames of civil war.
Atlanta, brightest gem in the coronet
Of tha new South, Birmingham, with
her fl wing furnaces, born Of the brain
and Drawn OF the Iron God; Chatta-
nooga, on the rolling Tennessee,
as a diamond with the white
heat Of her industries aud set in the
q kAw nrnA- GsIln.