Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1892-05-12

priceless treasures commit TO your keeping
preserve them in all their purity and integrity
for yourself and your posterity'. The figure
is fanciful. but the truth which it typifies is
substantial. Now, while we must not expect
our young men to assume their civic rights
with ostentatious displays of dignity and
sentiment. we should desire that they should
assume these rights with an evident consci-
business, both of the greatness of the privi-
lege and the gravity of the duty devolvin2
upon them.
The youth of to-day will be the active eiti-
of another generation. Their proper
education. therefore, is a matter of the deep=
est Importance, their education into the
spirit as well as knowledge of the origin and
hi story of republican institutions, and, more
important still, into that nobility of character
which, If It is not patriotism itself. is the only
soil in which patriotism can take deep root
and find vigorous growth. True nobility OF
character is the best of all qualifications for
Anne .ican citizenship.
Themes open up before here upon which
cannot dwell. But how responsible is that
work which belongs peculiarly to tie teacher
and the mother, and especially the latter-the
work of moulding the characters of the
young, of building up the manhood on which
the safety and prosperity of the State must
always INN ediately rest. In view, therefore,
of the mothers close and responsible relation
to the formative period in the life of The young
do express myself too strongly when I say,
that an intelligent, patriotic womanhood is
the great and ultimate conservator of
American freedom. OF the womanhood of
the Sc nth As an active, inspiring, patriotic
power in the late civil war, did time allow,
much might be said. When the men of ancient
Sparta were mastering for battle, their wives
or mothers were accustomed to present them
their shields, with the parting injunction
Either With your shields or on them -, sig
nifying that in the way they bore Themselves
as soldiers of their country, heroic death
was better than dishonor. There may not go
down the sounding aisles of history, the fare
we'll words of Southern wives and mothers to
those most dear to them fastening to join the
valiant army of the Gray. but that their
sense Of honor and spirit of self-sacriffce
equaled that of ancient Sparta the history of
the achievements Of the soldiers of the Lost
Cause" affords abundant proof, and that they
would have preferred that those whom they
CAV. to the cause of Southland should fill the
honored graves over which an admiring and
grateful people bow to-day in holiest rever-
ence, rather than prove recreant to the sacred
trusts committed to them, We are proud to
believe. Thousands of wives sacrificed all the
transcendant sweets of domestic life. assum-
ing burdens too heavy for them to bear. and
thousands of mothers saw the hopes which
they had fondly cherished for life's declining
years Jade away when they gave husbands and
sons to their struggling country. The
memory of a wife or mothers heroic bene-
diction may have made Leonidas, fearlessly
facing the Persian hosts in the pass of Their
mopyloe, immortal. Can we doubt that many
a hero Of the Lost Cause felt his soul fired aud
his arm nerved to do valiant deeds, in the con-
sciousness that proud though anxious eyes
were watching him from afar-fIom home
Read the legend on the old war banner of the
old Goldsboro Rifles" victory or death -
and find the answer there!
A few thoughts on the influence and uses
of public memorials and I will close. Claim
to the possession Of heroic elements of char
acter as race inheritance is SO natural to ev
cry people, that history, relic, festival and
monument are employed as safe repositories
or permanent memorials OF tue notable events
of the past. In constantly reminding the
people of the heroes of the past, or the mark
ed crises of the national life, they become as S.
many inseparable ties, that silently but surely
unite ali hearts in a common memory, a COM
mon pride and common hope. These memor-
ials often become the embodiment or the en-
Ul0IuO1 udllOudl Az III PEO5OHSS
or contem plation of the emblem, whether in the
form of a national ensign. an enduring monu
ment, or a recurring memorial day, all uncon-
sciously the people grow steadfast in theil
adherence to the principle, until both are hel(
in religio Is veneration. This beautiful me
mortal monument, around which we are now
assembled, was erected not merely to perpet
uate the memory of the Confederate Dead,
but that our sympathies may be kept warm ii
the cause of country. And SO long as that 81
lent sentinel shall stand guard oyer the i'm
mortal heroes who sleep beneath this grassy
mound, will its educating influence for goot
be felt through all the rolling years.
The ancient Romans were accustomed to
place the images of their distinguished ances
tors in the vestibules of their dwellings to re-
mind them and their descendants, as they
passed out to their daily avocations, to emu
ulate their illustrious example. So we erec
monuments in public places and observe me
mortal days, not alone as fitting tributes te
the eminent characters or public services o.
the dead, but as perpetual lessons to the hv
ing. Through these the dead address the iiv
ing-the past speaks to the present and the flu
ture. and theirs is the voice of wisdom, for i
is the voice of history and experience.
Eight hundred sleep here! Their earthly
sun has set, but until its rising on the Resur-
rection morn shall the benefcent intluenc'
of their valor be felt through all the land. Th'
glory of their heroism shall but augment will
the lapse of years. and generations yet unborn
in this Southland of ours shall rise up and cal
them-blessed.
After the address the Rifles, ac
companied by the Chief Marsha
and his assistant, Capt. D. j. Broad
hurst, the Chaplain and Orator
many Veterans, the Eclipse Steam
Fire Engine Company in uniform
and numerous citizens, proceeded t.
the cemetery, where the floral deco
rations around the Confederat,
Square and Monument, thanks t.
4bo noblo uopoon of tho Mopooria