The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-02-06
EI-CONFEDERAFE VETERANS.
An Address Delivered Before the CAL
liant Followers Of the Lost Cause"
at the Court House, in Plymouth,
NC, by Charles L. Pettigrew, Esq.


while back before the ex-Confederates
at Plymouth, N. c., by Charles l..
Pettigrew, Esq, talented young law
yer Of that town. Mr.. Pettigrew is a
nephew of the distinguished Confed-
crate General Johnston Pettigrew, and
of the venerable and beloved Rev.
Wn. S. Pettigrew. We are sure the
address will be read with interest be-
cause of the manly and patriotic SEN
timents 1t contains. We take it from
the Plymouth Roanoke Beacon.
Mr.. President Of the Confederate Vef-
e,ans' association, Ladies and
Gentlemen
There are times in our lives, when
we should step aside out of the current
of busy daily life. Like the times
taken for the repair of machinery, this
complicated human machine must take
some time to repair its waste in action.
must make its plans for the future, and
learn its lessons from the past. If this
is not done, life is but hard surface
life, and men become narrow, selfish
and forgetful of their noblest instincts.
The past through which we have gone,
though we are to know it and it to
know us no more forever, is full Of
memories near and dear to all of US
private memories which mean so much
10 us, but with which no stranger can
inter meddle, and common memories
which we share with friends-men who
have worked and toiled and thought
and fought with US. The noblest of
them all is called up to-day by the
meeting of the Confederate Veterans
their cause, their chieftains and their
comrades.
When received the invitation of
your executive committees, it came
more as a command than an invita-
ton call to duty and reverence
which my heart compels me to obey.
This is my only justification in appear
ing before you, to take up the solemn
and glorious story Of the South that
was to be-that germ Of an empire,
vanished ere the stain of life had dim
med its glory-a story told by poets
and orators, with lips of eloquence
touched with lite Goals from the altars
of genius.
| am no orator. l have not even
experienced that l might talk over
with you in the language Of a com
rade the thrilling scenes of IS years
ago. Oh! that l could call you com
rades-that could feel that with you,
l was part and parcel of thai
mighty past, whose echoes still shake
to its foundation the heart of this great
continent; but like the noble apostle
of old in a still grander cause.-The
warfare between heaven and hell
feel like one born out of due time.
l can only bring you for myself and
those who will join with me, the offer.
ings of the heart, the reverence Of the
| louNSNSdiS SShSAoSioh'
| This deep reverence for that glori
Gus cause-for those who died for it in
vain, and those who not less nobly
passed through the jaws of death to
take up the cross of the vanquished, is
one of those unspeakable feelings thai
live at home in the heart-the lip:
cannot utter them-words upon words
came forth without the precious bur
den, but the great heart of the world
has felt the story and thrills in sympa
thy today. Can l put these feelings
into words3 Oh no.
Just like the wavelet that means on thu
| beach
And signing sinks back to the sea,
So the song it just touches the rude shores
of speech
And its music melts back into me-
j l can only hope that my words may
kindle in you those emotions and re
membranes of the past, which know
are yet alive, though perhaps buried
under the loads and anxieties of every
day work; and may suggest in you res
olutions for the future, which is a sa
cred duty to carry out.
| Your association is to keep alive and
fresh, and merge into a harmoniou:
whole your several memories of tht
conlict-united they stand, divided
they fall and are forgotten; and t.
make provision for soldiers home
those soldiers about whom no pension
agent ever asks and whose only pro
vision lies in the generosity of thei
comrades and the public charity G
their State.
| Though the bitter truth is know
that some of them are objects of char
ity, let the charity that helps them b
not stained by the shame and degre
dation of the alms-house, but ennoblet
by the sweet SAVIOR Of gratitude ant
generosity. Let them have in fact a
we'll as in name a home, where thei
fast declining days may be spent il
honorable peace-rest Of body ant
lpeace of mind, after the wreck Of tn
great warfare.
There can be no danger of you
Confederate Veterans forgetting tn
Cause, the Chieftains, or the Soldier
Your comrades. Those days, thougl
| far away in what is called the deae
past, can never be dead to you. The,
have made you what you are. The.
were your harvest time Of fame. Th
days now passing day by day, witt
their slow dull hours Of toll, length
ening the long prospect behind, Cal
never sink into distant silence, tn
thunders Of that time.
| You will hear them in undying tone: