Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-01-26
A poEy1cAL GEN
Pluoked From Jim MoKenzie's Re.
union Bouquet October 18th In
Union County.

L cannot stand unm0Yed and lis
ten to the strains of Dixie and ther,
are eyes around me whose kindly
light is made softer because it Gomez
through the dew of half-shed tears
More potent than Paean sof Victory Il
the song which fires mems hearts
and makes victory possible. Next t
the instinct of self-preservation
which makes men courageous IN
their ownldefense, comes the love that
makes them peril life for the family
the kindred, or the tribe, and all
great movements of humanity have
found their impulses in the crested
coat of arms, which bespeaks the
family In the slogan of the tribe, or
the national song. The grandest
sentiment of humanity becomes in
carnate in the battle hymn, for war;
like, as 1t is, the very feelings which
make 1t so, send their tendrils back
to twine about the hearthstone, and
make blossoms of love above the blue
eyed baby in the cradle. It's at once
the embodiment of all that is stern
and heroic, of all that is gentle, and
loving, and tender. Home and ma
tive land, wife and child, the graves
of our ancestors and the hopes of our
prosperity are all woven like reson-
ant threads of gold into the song OF
battle. And whenever that song be-
comes in time the music of exultant
victory, or the wall of buried hopes
or trampled aspirations, yet shall it
sit supreme In memory, queen of the
hearts whose blood has hallOwed it,
and whose footsteps have kept pace
with its modulations. Whether 1t be
the warwhoop Of the savage or the
song that made Thermopolae the
worlds grandest cemetery: whether
II be the battle hymn of Luther, or
the Marselliase of France the pib-
roch of the Campbell, Rule Brittania,
the Carmaquole, Hail Columbia or
Dixie-every true man in every age
and cline and has felt his heart
with fill pride and tremble with emo
ton when he listened TO the war cry
or battle-song of his nation or his
tribe. He must feel as you and feel
now, that.though the cause be buried
and the flag faded and folded, yet the
hands that drew sword for Dixie
have not forgotten how to clasp each
other, and the hearts which loved
Dixie have not ceased to love. Dixie,s
land as an area Of territorial soil does
not exist. II was dream ii has be-
come a memory and sentiment. II
Is not Louisiana, nor South Carolina,
nor Kentucky. It is only the Land
of Beulah that lives in the hearts of
Dlxie's sons.
AS the German poet said of his
then dismembered native land:
"That is the German Fatherland
Where vows are sealed by clasp Of hand;
Where truth beams out from every eye;
And in each heart love cannot die.
so shall 1t stand, so shall It standl
Brave German souls that Ia your land!
The whole Of Germany is here,
Smile on 1t, Heaven, bright and clear;
Give us the old time German love;
Send truth and courage from above!
SO shall II be, 80 shall 1t be!
While German hearts are brave and free.
Standing here to-day with the flag
OF our United country waving over
us, with hearts full of loyalty, and
with all the tender memories of the
past filling our souls like benedic-
tions, you pledge to the union of these
States the fealty of hearts tried by
the gage of battle, and made better
and braver by the Christening of de-
feat.