The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-12-07
SUNDAY, DECEMBER :, 1890.
.roS.wALL JAoKsoS's STATUE

The ladies OF the jackson Memorial As
.ocistion- OF Lexington, Va, announce the
completion OF the bronze statue oil the nero
nv Valentine. and make an appeal, especial
IL ito the women Of the SOUTH for aid IN
raising the means (about $4,000 to erect a
suitable pedestal for the work. 10 he'p
themselves "a much as possible they pro
nose % omen a bazaar in Lexington, the loth
ipstant. and TO this they solicit contriou-
tions In money, materials, and manuiac-
tured articles. To such an appeal the re-
sponse should be prompt, generous, ana
general. The 2lst OF July next, wien the
statue is TO be unveiled, will be just thirty
wears from the day when Jackson, on the
aeld of Manassas, won his first laurels, and
exhibited qualities as soldier which Were
in less than two years, TO nil the world win
admiration. Posterity may well wonder
that the people in whose defense he died
and ON whose annals his deeds shed
such imperishable lustre, allowed almost
generation to pass before they erected any
memorial 70 testify to coming ages their ap'
preciation OF what he was and what he did'
fer the only monument 10 Jackson standing
On the soil of Virginia to-day is the glit ana
tribute OF foreigners. Such reproacn our
people should be swirl to remove by coming
At once, and full-handed, TO the succor OF
those faithful women in Lexington, VINO
are 10 be the first TO embody in enduring
form the love and gratitude of Nirginlan'
for one who must ever be reckoned al
among the greatest OF the sols Of their ma
tive State.
Nor should ii ever be forgotten that mon
uments TO Jackson and his great comman
der, with the guardianship OF whose remains
Lexington is also honsred, are something
more than ordinary historic tributes; for al
these two matchless soldiers were in life th'
chief defenders Of the cause which our peo
DIE held so dear, so also in their graves they
continue 10 be the best bulwark against thu
obloquy and ignominy with which 1t hai
been, and still IL, sought to oyerwhelm tina
cause and those who cherished and upheld
IL. The time can never come when th'
purity and nobility Of character OF Lee ant
jackson will not be complete answer and
refutation to the calumny that the people
the South were traitors and felons. In tbi'
regard, II no other, we could wish not only
10 see the Lexington monument placed up0r
its granite base, TO stand forever, but, also
that every hilltop in the South WAS crowned
with some memorial Of a peoples affection
for the heroes and martyrs Of as high and
holy q struggle AS people ever made.
A single suggestion now, which we bel
the ladies OF the Lexington Association t
accept In the spirit in which 1t was made
We trust 1t il not true, as we have heard
that II is intended TO place this statue II
the town cemetery. For such work, In
stinct with lite and throbbing with heroic
spirit, recalling and intended TO recall Tho
warrior with his harness on, and the ligh
Of battle kindling his eye and blazing Oh
his face, o graveyard, with all its sat
and subduing associations and momentOes
where the visitor must tread lightly
and speak softly, would be most inappro
pirate and incongruous place. To judge o
its effect, let one picture to himself the Lee
statue at the head of Franklin street, or th'
Washington group in Capitol Square, AZ
placed in Hollywood. What conflict o
suggestions and emotions arising, on Tho
one side, from the sorrowiul memorials o
the slumbering dead around, and those ex
cited py these grand illustrations of bound
ing and strenuous life on the other; and
how the coniending and alternating feel
ings Of the beholder would be obscured anC
csnfounded by varying and discordant sen
sationsl Moreover, while the cemetery IL
q specially inappropriate place for such 4
statue as Valentine has produced, there Ii
at hand another site which is on all &C
counts and in every respect peculiarly ap
propriate. Next to the Capital of the STATE
and OF the country in whose service Jackson
won his fame, the place more
suitable than all others for monu
ment to him is the grounds Of the Virginia
Military Institute. His whole relation e
Lexington, so far as the distant public ID
apprized, was an Omcer OF the INSTITUTE
1T was from its portals that he rode away
at the head OF its corps Of cadets, when the
tocsin OF war first sounded. II was to Its
halls as peaceful professor that he sought
permission to return when there was a
temporary misunderstanding between him.
self and President Davis. Hundreds Of Its
graduates were his comrades in arms.
The Institute and its grounds are the prop
srty OF the State, and IL the statue were
placed there the State would become its
custodian and protector for all time, ami
its gallant band OF young soldiers would be
its guard Of honor. We take it for granted
that the consent and cooperation Of the In
stituts authorities can be readily obtained,
and trust that measures to this end may be
II once taken.