The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-05-16
Mr.. GRADY's ELOQUENT SPEECH.

Surely Mr.. Henry W. Grady ia now a
witness OF how the Associated Press can
butcher speeches, and he will in the fut-
ure be a feeling sympsthizer with all
orators afflicted with the well disguised
kin jness of t'legraphic reporting. His
revised and corrected speech, delivered be-
fore the Southern society in New York at
its banquet last week, is so different from
the garbled report sent through the Asso-
different speech. Newspaper comments
on the first account with propriety placed
his effort far below his other noted
speeches, but the corrected report stamps
him still one OF the most graceful and elo-
quent orators of the day. He followed
the noted after dinner talker, Mr.. Depew,
but his speech suffered in no respect from
comparison Herewith. The following is
an extract from that speech in which our
people will be especially interested:
But there is another contingent of
southern manhood with which you are
deeply concerned. aliude to our disabled
and dependent veterans. The heroes, who,
broken in body, we're swept down by the
current they could not stem, and lie
stranded and helpless. We thank God
that they we're stranded in hall distance
OF their own kindred, and were not forced
to uplift the hands of supplicatiOn among
strangers. At last their cry of distress
has been heard, and in Georgia a home
will be built for them out of the gratitude
and self-respect of their kindred and
friends that shall stand as sacrament of
love between the people and their heroes,
for them and for their wives for we have
not forgotten the soldiers wife, who amid
the war endured the agony of suspense
and the burden of doubt, and, when DESC
lation came, knitted her heart to her hus-
bans woes, and toiling, suffering and
striving for loves dear sake, cast all her
sorrows on the infinite mercy OF
God. We shall build for them a
home in which each man shall have
his cottage, and each cottage shall be his
oastle-each old soldier planted on his own
realty, part and parcel of the body and
substance of his old state, his in fee
simple until death-and here he shall eat
not the bread of charity, but that which
was purchased with his precious blood
stirring himself amid the fruits and
flowers of his garden patch, resting unl Ter
the shadow of his own trees, stripping the
milk from his own COWS, walked at the call
of his own ohanticleer, and browsing amid
the hum of the bees as they hive his win
ter's honey. 1 appreciate heartily the
handsome words of Mr.. Depew on the
subject, and we are grateful for all that is
spontaneous and graoious-but for all
this, the south will vouchsafe to no other
hands than her own the discharging of
this sacred obligation, and will let no man
come between her and the soldiers who
fought her battles and suffered for her
dear saken
Mr.. Grady had an extremely delicate
task to perform. He was at the site of the
late efforts to secure contributions from
those strangers to our Confederate home
Yet it was his privilege and duty to
boast that Georgia, without any
appeal to outsiders, had raised
funds sufficient to locate and maintain
an elegant home for her Confederate
soldiers, and the ease with which this had
been accomplished in Georgia warrant ed
him in boldly affirming the entire south,
in her every state, could and would pur
sue this same noble, generous course
But, at the same time, it was his duty and
his pleasure to express merited gratifioa-
ton for the kindness and interest the
north had shown in our cause. It was a
delicate task, and that he performed it
with a finenesse and elegance expected of
him, a careful reading of the above ex-
tract will clearly prove. The south should
be proud of such a spokesman, such an
elegant and gracious orator.
IL ID