Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1890-09-19

merce care to bring.
No one more deserves our commen-
dation than the owner of this beauti-
full and convenient grove, who per-
haps at the sacrifice of private inter
est, but for great public good, has
opened them for the continued use OF
the society. As we stand beneath
these outrageous trees whose shad-
ows dim the rays of the soft autumnal
sun we can with one unanimous ac-
cord extend to him our grateful ac-
acknowledgement.
This spot is not without historic in
terest. AS in the last century Nor
gan's Spring was the camping ground
for the heroes from Virginia, who
dared to aid their brothers of sister
State in the opening struggle for free
dom, so in these latter days Morgan's
Grove has become the gathering spot
for those who seek TO advance the
public interest in the less rugged
paths OF peace.
\ century ago our fathers gathered
ION hostile mission bent, with sword
and gun, with not the pomp but with
all the circumstance of war, with
doubt and death and dire defeat con
fronting them. To-day we assemble
here under far different and more pro-
pitious surroundings. We bring the
product of the loom; the full-grown
grain; the well-bred steed; we come
in peaceful garb, with smiling face
about us hangs the atmosphere Of
peace; over all and more precious
than all we here to-day enjoy that
glorious liberty that the valor Of the
fathers won for themselves and for
their posterity. Full heirs to all they
accomplished, in the full enjoyment
four inherited and inal:enable rights,
it is but meet and becoming that as
we gather on this historic spot we
should pause to pay tribute to their
memory and to express our full ap-
probation of the sacrifice they made.
These rights that they have be
queathed to us we have kept as sa-
cred trust, and in their preservation
lies much to be commended. 1t hath
required and still requires continued
care and vigilance. Peace hath her
victories no less renowned than war.
Liberty hath the shrine of watchtul-
ness beside the shrine Of valor, but
whatever be our merit in preserving
what they so auspiciously begun, let
us not forget, in these prosperous days
of peace. that the freedom we possess
was baptized in the blood of those
fathers-that our constitution and
laws were conceived in the brain OF
those fathers, and from them we all
inherit those valued gifts that fill up
the full measure of our lives.
But this is not the time or the oc-
casion to look into the Past; into the
Present and toward the Future we
bend our busy glance. a Present full
of marvellous activity; Future re-
plete with promises of remarkable ad-
vantages.
1t is not my mission here to-day to
enter into a detailed discussion OF any
subject In the line of the purpose
for which | came / need only voice
the sentiments Of the managers, in
whose keeping are the affairs OF this
society, and to say to you, that the
doors are open; all things are in read
mess; and to bid you as invited guests
to enter and partake. But these are
subjects that will not be suppressed;
there are hopes and capabilities that
thrust themselves upon our attention,
and like Banquo's ghost will not down,
no matter who commands. l speak
of hopes and capabilities-they are
the precursors Of labor, prosperity
and progression As in the affairs OF
men. so in those of a people, there
are tides which taken at the Hood
lead on to fortune, and i'll the signs oil
the times he who runs may read the
evidences Of great industrial move
ments, from every quarter, toward
that section of our country to which
by law and location we belong and in
whose destiny our welfare is indisso-
lubly woven.
allude to that sudden and unex-
pected change that has turned the
channel of enterprise toward the re-
sources of the South. That our peo-
ple shall reap from it new and richer
harvests we have reasons for abund-
ant hope. That we have here, as g
free gift from Natures God, superior
facilities to enable us TO light these
fires Of industry anew, and 10 give to
them permanent and enduring glow,
none but the skeptic and pessimist
can doubt.
The great county of Jefferson stands
as a massive and luxuriant gateway
TO the immense garden OF the pros
porous South. Across the Potomac
in the sweep Of territory to the Cana
dian border are the mighty energies
of thrift and the greater potencies Of
aggregated wealth, while as we turn
and follow with the eye yon noble
mountain range, onward Ger peak
and hill and undulating valley, there
stretches from the great ocean TO
where the Mississippi flows even to
the confines of the Gulf that marvel
GUS and undeveloped Southland TEEN
ing with untold and undiminisbed
wealth. The great trunk lines, that
- "a p