Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1889-06-11
Memorial Day in CharIestown.


ebrated here last Saturday with much
interest. The procession was com
posed of the Charlestown Cornet
Band, Jefferson Guards, tndepens
dent Fire Company and Citizens Fire
Company, all presenting 1ue APP
pearance,. and was matshaied by Ba-
vid Howell, Esq, with Nessrs. w. s.
Merchant and I. II. Strider as as
sistants. After visiting the NTetho-
dist and Episcopal graveyards, the
procession moved to Edge-Hill Gem
etery-, where the regular memorial ex-
ercises were.observed. Rev. DIR. A.
C. Hopkins, President of the Lee
Memorial Association, presided at
the stand, prayer was offered by Rev.
Dr.. Gardner, and the music was we'll
rendered by the Charlestown Cornet
Band and choir of our best vocalists
under Madam Ruhl. Capt. Jno. j.
Williams, of Winchester, Va, gal
liant officer of Chew Battery of Ar
tiIlery in the late war. was the orator
of the day. lie was introduced to the
audience in appropriate and eloquent
remarks by Col. r. p. Chew. his for
mer comrade inarms, and commenced
This address by saying:
In the stately procession of tue sea-
sons, June with its roses and sunny
skies is passing by, and the sentinel
mountains that guard this blessed val
ley look down Upon sparkling waters
winding through fair fields dressed
in living green or waving with pIen-
teous harvest. And with almost the
regularity of the seasons, you have
come, the good, true people of old
jefferson, with thronging presence
and solemn music, and CLINT of steel
and serried lines of marching men,
to garland the graves OF the heroic
dead who sleep in this sacred spot
That the victors should thus decorate
the graves of their fallen braves were
not. so much to be wondered at; but
the cast off armor of the warrior that
giitters in the sunshine of victory
grows dim amidst the gloom of defeat,
and it is human nature to turn from
the setting to worship the rising sun
All honor, then, to the people of
the South that in their poverty and
defeat, and out of the little the war
left them, they have gathered their
dead heroes into consecrated ground
and there year after year, as the sea-
sons roll around, do they assemble
themselves together, 10 teach to the
world-aye, more important still-to
teach their own children that the pen
that writes or he'tongue that speaks
aught ignohie of these dear dead lies,
and convicts itself of SANDER alike
base and foolish; for the grave of the
dead traitor is never garlanded by the
hand or believed by tie tear of living
virtue and truth.
We would like TO give the address
of Capt. Williams in full, but have
only additional space for the following
eloquent pcroration:
Let English nobility boast of Nor
man blood on the roll of Battle All
hey; the hoy who can ssysof his
father he was with Lee at Appomat-
tox, has patent of nobility that no
herald's college can match; and for
coat of arms can point to the ragged
gray Jacket and the battered sabre,
though they grace but cottage wall,
and the form that wore and the hand
that grasped them was of the hum
bier ones of earth. Aye, these men
of Appomattox, and their peers in no.
bility who elsewhere, each at his post
where duty placed him, kept the faith
until the last, who can doubt that they
were true gold, who stood the test of
fiery crucible seven times heated in
the fires of war. Nor were they less
worthy, as they are no more worthy,
than dead heroes who lost their lives
which all freely risked to save their
country. Spared their spirits were
the ranking virtues of defeat, the sad
return to wasted homes, the bitter
ness of alien rule, and yet the sad
ness that hangs about their humble
graves, what true heart ever fails to
feel to its Utmost depth. These I'M
returning braves, how they marched
away from home and dear ones never
to return again, denied the precious
boon our nature ever Graves, that our
mortal remains may moulder with
kindred dust, and our grave may be
where those who loved us in life may
sometimes come and drop to our
memory a flower and tear. They
sleep amid strangers, in strange lands.
How proud the privilege, how dear
the honor, is it not then. friends, that
we can see to it that these graves be
kept green, and that the sacred dust
of these heroes shall lie here in Gods
acre, where the play of the Pickering
sunbeams, the sight of the waving
grass, tell of things lovely and pure.
and sometimes, whether in lonely
meditation or as to-day in thronging
numbers. men may come to learn the
lesson of the lives and the deaths of
them who sleep here and go thence,
ennobled. elevated, stimulated and
led away from sorded things"
Among those upon the speakers
stand during the services in the Gem
etery were Mayor VIM. NJ. Atkinson,
of Winchester. and Hon. VIM. L.
Wilson.
at meeting of the Board of Edu-