The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1888-06-28
" MISSISSIPPI"
JOHN WdR1IN'S LAST
SPEECH.
Delivered in Memphis at the
Banquet of the Tennessee
Press Association the Week
Before His Tragic Death.
From the Memphis Daily Appeal. J
MISSISSIPPI"

Gus young editor of the jackson New
MiSSiSSippian His speech delighted
everybody. Ii was eloquent, witty
and forccful. Nearly every sentence
was apPlaudcd. rs Us tribute it
WAS superb. and all MiSsisSippians
will read it with pleasure. though
they will miss in the cold print some
thing of the orators fcrvor. bespoke
as follows:
LadicS and Gentlemen and Brother
Truth -dCStrOYcrS IF Tennessee am
glad to be able to he with you and
speak Ia You tonight. | simply say
this 81 that YOU may know, while YOU
are suffering, that am enjoying my
self.
So many and So pleasant have been
the courtcsicS extended to me here
that believe just at this moment
would have more inspiration to speak
upon Tennessee than even on my ma
tive State. When | have been brought
here and filled perfectly full of the
@ioricS of Tennessee and other good
yictualS and things; when my eyesar
rcrling and heavy with the beauty
they here have drunk: when my soul
is fairly buiging out at the sides with
the pleasures you have pressed upon
me, it is about all can do to make
my thoughts go back to Mississippi.
Yet am very fond of Mississippi.
That is why, after calm and unbias-
Il Il / oh
my birthplace. With no prejudice or
i'll feeling toward any other State, vet
of all the fair spots upon the earth
selected Mississippi as the place of
my nativity. And | never regretted
this Kindness of mine to Mississippi
until saw Memphis. Tcnncsscc'S
fair sister, Mississippi, does not stand
before the world in Il Just light. They
hear of her too often with regard to
elections and not enough with regard
to the WondrouS wealth in the dark
bosom of her soil, the sweet glory of
her climate, the limitlesS grandeur of
her forests and the noblcncss in the
hearts of her people.
Now, as matter of fact, there is no
State III the Union that is 80 careful
to have fair and free elections as Miss
issippi. The whole people of the
state are Away ready to rise up and
see that even the hWnblest citizen,
white or black, is protected in casting
his vote and having it counted. And
all in the world they ask in return is
that they be allowed to select his tick
ct for him and see that he votes right
I'm, Il . Ill
ling to impugn our motives and per
vert the facts.
Now the Associated press could be
the electric herald of far more truth
full and important information, if, in
stead of telling 50 much about our ell
cctionS, they would flash abroad the
fact tllat MisSissipPi's great delta is
the climax Of soil, unequalicd and tn-
riVal"d anywhere upon all the sweet.
green face Of the Carth-that no for
est in any discovered country equals
in the variety, the utility or the picn-
itudr Of its wood, the far, wide for
estS that cover Mississippi "as with
the shadow of God"-that ON her
sweet SfaShOrc there is climate that
ont FioridaS Fiorida climate where
neither Il burning summer day nor II
flake OF snow was ever known, and
where the orange blossoms tell of the
eternal bridal between warmth and
cold.
Mississippi has every natural advan-
taGe, and all she needs is il few unnat-
ural advantages. She does need Il
few unnatural advantages very bad.
/ | hoN-n ,liS.hNn,.I that in
through the great, illitcrate north
, that MissisSippi's advantages, except
those with regard to elections, were
, less known than of any other State
As the world has always been so slow
to discover her men of greatest gent
lis, so has she been slow in discover
ing that country most like paradise,
and now that the discovery is dawn
ing upon her, | hope she realizes her
stupidity i'll not learning it before.
The only one great and glaring oh
lection | have to Mississippi-hcr one
terrible defect that amounts almost to
crime-is the fact that she does not
include Memphis. But Mississippi has
only one town of over 100,0 inhabi-
tants, and that is Jackson. Cries of
ooh, that won't do And then over
10000 of those inhabitants are pros
pective-not doubtful at all, or even
distantly prOspectIve-but simply not
exactly realized as yet.
Ever since the scarlet days of the
late unpleasantness the people of Miss
issipPi have had more poverty than
they really necded-as much. in fact,
as they really knew what to do with.
They have lived on the toll of their
limbs, and wondered why they were
so poor. There were two reasons for
this; one was they were financially
asleep, and the other was that unfor-
! tunatcly they We're honest. But | am
proud to say they are now getting
over both these defects in a measure.
The people Of Mississippi have dis
covered that it takes enterprise as
well as labor to get hold of large slices
of prosperity. They have learned the
wondrOus scope of that great and po-
ctic verb "t0 hustle" And poor
though they are yet, they have made
marvellous progress in the past few
wears. They have steadily and rapid
ly increased the number of their fac
tories, and multiplied again those
great rivers of smoke that flow into
the deep blue above.
And believe that these are but the
herald sun-rays of the full day to come
that our people will not stop in the
path to DrO0reSS until they have lifted