The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-06-06
A Beautiful Grafton.

| Az e ltuSIlCkSUuTp, Oh Gue 0Uu0, on bne
occasion of decor ating the graves of the
Federal soldiers buried there, Gen. s. s.
Burdette delivered the following touching
Grafton:
"All that man hath will he give for his
own life," saith the preacher, land all that
lived answer to his text with yea, verify.
Yet we stand upon ground where twenty
six years ago great armies Joined in mortal
strife. and left upon the field nearly 16 900
of their dead and wounded. And who
were they and who are we? They were
the first born of great people. For all
OF them there was a right of contest for
| the highest honors their country had in
| store, and for most there was leave to
strive for and right to gain the loftiest
prize.
| And who are we? The comrades. the
fellows in heart, and hope in trial, in.pur
pose and in eEdeavor of those that sleep
here: who spared to see with these earthl
eyes the fruition of our dearest hopes have
made it the law of our life 10 attest once
in each year so long as we may live our
sense of the value of the sacrifice they
/ made, our grief that their own sunset
came while yet the clouds we're lowering
over their country, and in such meas.
ure as we may persuade the coming
generations to remember at what a cost
the Union was preserved. Whatever 10y
atty to the flag and Constitution remains
supreme, they who remember but did not
participate with US in the strife, and those
| who have since come upon the stage of
action. to whom it is but a story illus
| rated by these gatherings and accentuated
by the mere passer by. yet welcome our
| coming together with all heartinesS, and
only second to ourselves, find in them oc
casion for congratuation and patriotic
pleasures.
Comrades, do not forget where we
stand nor the century hour that has just
been struck. This is Virginia; that Vir-
ginia whose masterful influence NJ light
have stayed the hand of rebellion in its
first hour of gladness. but whose adhesion
to that cause gave it the men, the leader
ship, the forum. and, may say the moral
force. which made the struggle the great
| est for which our earth has ever furnished
field. He who puts his life in pawn for
the cause he champions has closed discus
sion on the question of the sincerity of his
purpose. D better illustration of the
death of rancer, of the innate manliness
Of Americans to whatever section native,
is known tome, than was the gracious act
of those Confederate Survivors who one
gear ago to-day, seeing that too few of our
comrades were present here to do full JUS
tice to the occasion, generously led the way
and made complete the work of garnishing
these graves with flowers.
| Who to day, no matter on which side of
the Potomac he dwells, is not glad beyond
the power of speech to tell that Virginia
stood beside Pennsylvania, that South
Carolina stood beside Massachusetts, when
thirty days ago all the sisterhood of states,
under the lead of him who fills the seat
first held by Washington and beneath the
century of the Constitution just closing
and invoked the blessing of the merciful
Father on all the years to come. 1t ex-
cites only pleasureable emotions that Vir-
ginia and her southern sisters have been
and will be the chief gamers from that
struggle in which they write themselves
down the loosers. The looms of the new
south warn in Massachusetts that Compel.
itors are on her track: the furnace fires OF
Tennessee and Alabama have sent theiI
CLEAN athwart the Pennsylvania skys and
challenge the iron king to do battle fol
his supremacy within its own domain
Those marvels of our aged cities to-day
where there was wilderness on yesterday
are no longer the phenomenon of the north
! alOpon