Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-12-28
" rHE NEp sUUTH.
MIR. Henry w. Grady's speech al the New
Eugisud Dinner.

MIR. Henry w. Gradys speech AZ the New
Eugisnd Dinner.
The speech OF Mr.. Henry W. Grady, one OF
the editors of the Atlanta [Ga) Constitution,
at the dinner Wednesday evening of the New
England society in New York, WAS the fes.
ture OF the occasion, and the BEST according
to the sun, that had been delivered In New
York in many years,
When Mr.. Grady arose TO speak he WAS re.
celved with rsttling cheers He was the arst
out-snd.out Southerner to he invited to a
dinner of the New England society, and he
spoke for " The New South with warmth
and frankness. lie was repeatedly inter
rupted by the cheers OF the New EuglAnders.
Among other things he said
" In speaking to the toast with which you
have honoTed me l accept the term, The
New South As In no sense disparsging TO the
Old. Dear to me, sir, is the home Of my
childhood aud the traditions OF my people.
There Is a new South, not through protest
against the old, but because OF new cOndI-
tons new adjustments, and, IL you please,
new ideas ana aspirations IL - to this that
| address myself | ask you, gentlemen, TO
picture If you can the fOoisore soldier who,
bunoning up in his faded gray jacket the
parole which was taken, testimony TO his
children OF his fidelity and faith, turned his
face southwark from AppomattoN in April,
ls6& Think Of him as ragged, halfstarved,
heavy-hesrted, enieebed 10y want and
wounds, having fought to exhaustion, be
surTenders his gun, wTings the hands OF his
comrades, aud lifting his tesr.staned and
pallid face for the last time to the graves that
dot the old Virginia hills pulls his gray cap
over his brow and begins the slow and pain
full journey. What does ne hnd--Iet me
ask you, who went to your homes
eager to find all the welcome you had
justly earned, full payment for tour years
sscrihCe-what does he tnd when he reaches
the home he left four years before He finds
| the house in ruins, his farm devastated, his
| slaves freed, his stock Killed, his barn empty,
his trade destroyed, his money worth less, his
| social system, feudal IN its maguitCenco,
| swept away bis people without Law or legal
| status, his comrades slain, and the burdens OF
| others heavy on his shoulder. Crushed by
| defeat, his very traditions gone, without
money, credit employment, material or train.
| ing-aud besides all this, confronted with
the gravest problem that ever met human
intelligence-tne establishing Of status
| for the vast body OF his liberated Slaves,
what does he do, this hero in gray, with a
heart OF gold ? Does he 81. down In sullen
ness, in despair Not for day. Surely God
who bad scOurged him in his prosperity, IN.
sptred MIN In his adverstty! AS ruin was
| never before SO overwhelming, never was
| restoration sWifter. The soldier stepped from
| the trenches into the flrTOw horses that hal
| charged Federal guns marched before the
| plough, and fields that ran red with human
| blood in \ priL were green with the harvest
Il
| their dresses and made breeches for theil
| husbands, and with a patience and Leroisn
| that fits woman always As a garment gave
| their hands to wOrE. There was little bit
| terness in all this. CheeIiulueSs and frank
| ness prevailed. Bill Arp struck the key
| note when he said well killed as many
| OF them as they did OF me, and now | All
! going to work or the soldier, rsturniD.
| home after defeat and roasting some corr
| on the roadside, who made the re
| mark to his comrades: "You may leave tht
| South II you want to, but am going to tSan
| derville, kiss my wife, and raise crop, anC
| II the Yankees tool with me any more / vii
whip 'em again. | want 10 say TO Gen. Sher
msn-who is considered an able man in Ou
parts, though some people think 10 is a EinC
Of careless man about nre--that from .th
| ashes lett us in 1864 we have raised a brsv
| and beautiful city; that somehow or Othe
| we have caught the sunshine in the brick
| and mortar OF our homes and have buldeC
therein not one single iguoDle prejudice 0
| memory.
"But what is the sum Of our work. W
| have found out tina! in the general summing
| up the free negro counts more than ne did a
a slave. We have painted the schOOlhous
| on the bill top, and made it free to white an
| black. We nave sowed tOWns and cities Il
the place OF theories and put business sbov
| poliics We have challenged your spinner
in Massachusetts and your iron makers 4
Pennsylvania. We have learned that th
| 300 900 900 annually received from our Cotto
crop will make US rich. Then the supple
that make ii are home raised We have r,
duced the commercial rate of interest frot
| "A to per cent aud are floating 4 per cen
bonds. We have learned that one NOrther
immigrant Is worth fifty foreigners, an
have smoothed the path TO Southwark
wiped out the place where Mason an
Dixon's line used to be- aud hung out ou
latch-string to you and yours. We hav
reached the point that marks perfect hal
mOny In every household, when the hui
band cOniesses that the pies which h
| own wife cooks are as good as those b.
mother used to bake, and we admit that th
| sun shines as brightly and the loon as sOftl
| as 1t did before the war We have estai
lished thrift in town and country. We hav
fallen In love with work. We have restore
comfort to homes from which culture an
| elegance never departed We have lot ecor
omy take root and spread among us as ran
as the crab grass which sprang from She
mans cavalry camps, until We are ready
lay ODDS on the Georgia Yankee as
squeezes pure olive oil out Of his cotton seeC
against any down-E 4ster that ever swappe
wooden nutmegs for flannel sausages in Il
valley of Vermont A Above all, we know tn
We have achieved In these piping tunes
peace a fuller independence for the SOut
than that which our fathers sought TO win
the forum by their elOquence or compel G
the field by their swords. 1t Is a rare priv
. ! lege, sir, to have had part, however humbl
, | in this work. Never was nobler duty col
| nded to human hands than the uplifting an
| upbuilding OF the PROSTATE and bleedln
| South, misguided, perhaps but beautiful
her suffering, and honest, brave and gsnerol
q always In the record OF her social, indu
: trial and political illustration we await wi
confidence the verdict Of tho world.
"When Lee esurreudered-l don't say wht
: | Johnston surrendered, because uudoTstau
3 he still alludss 10 the lime when he met G e
| sherman last as the time when he dete
mined 10 abandon any further prosecute
/, | OF the struggle'-when Lee surrendered,
say, and Johnston quit, the South Became an
has been since, loyal to the Union. We foug
| hard enough to know that We were whppe
and in perfect frankness accepted IA tinal II
, | arbitrament OF the sword 10 which v
, had appealed. The South found h
jewel In tosd's head. The shackl
that had held her in narrow linita,ious Il
forever when the shackles of the negro sia'
were broken. Under the old regime n
negroes were slaves 10 the South, the Sou
was slave tothe system. Thus was gather,
In the lands OF splendid ana Chivslr
oligarchy the substance that should ha'
been diHused among the people, as The ric
blood is gathered at the heart, filling tn
with sffiuent rapture, but leaving the bod
chill aud cOioTless The old South reste
everything on slavery and agriculture, al
conscious that these could neither give M
maintain healthy growth. The new Sou'
presents perfect democracy, the oligarcl
| leading into the popular moysneDt-s sosi