The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-08-04
CHICAGO IN 1909.

| IdOle Dy appropriate ceremonies ant
festivals the tooth anniversary of tn,
adoption of the new government. AnC
now that this nation has grown from
a people Of three millions to one o
sixty Ave millions; from territory O
five hundred thousand square mile:
to one of three million five hundred
square miles; from one hundred and
fifty millions of wealth to sixty-fve
billions of wealth, and all within thu
space of Io4 years, pardonable pride
to exhibit to the world such a won.
derful progress, has seized upon the
4ooth anniversary of the discovery o.
this continent to hold Worlds Fair
to which the world is invited, and
where the peoples of the world will
meet face to face as might be imag
ined was the case before the confu,
sion of tongues. We pause for rever-
entail speculation as to what for veal
or woe is wrapped in the womb oi
that mighty gathering.
That a site other than the Capital
of the Nation should be selected for
making an exhibit of the nations re-
sources and development is peculiar,
but to select for such imposing cere-
monies locality, which, in the men,
ory of those now alive, was once a
wilderness infested only by the savage
Indians and wild buffalo; a place
whose very existence was not known
in Washington's time, and is distant
500 miles from the nearest white habi-
tation of his day, excites within us
the liveliest wonder.
No one will be so bold as to say
that Chicago is the product of the
State of Illinois alone. When the
great fire of 1871 took place, it was
eastern capital mostly that was burned.
When splendid buildings took the
place of the old structures it was
eastern capital that builded them,
and we may say in all fairness and
truth, that the world has helped
Chicago to become what she is. 1t
is said of the city of London, that
she numbers among her inhabitants
more Irish than the city of Dublin,
and more Scotchmen than live in
Edinburg. 1t is doubtless true that
the representatives of every civilized
and semi-civilized country on the
globe are resident in the city of Chica-
go, and that the moneys of every ma
ton have contributed to her great
ness.
THE SOUTH IN 1854 CONTRAST.
There is a section of this country
that has been very differently treated
by the world; that has been permitted
to work out unaided its own redemp-
ton, this also in the face of most ad-
verse circumstances. In four years
civil war, contending against an all
powerful opponent, it had lost hun
dreds of thousands of its best citizens,
expended hundreds of millions of its
wealth, and, at the end, its social
system was subverted and it had to
pass under the yoke of subsection to
former slaves.
In the year 1865 there was for the
South no money, no credit, large
debt and but little hope. AS has been
said, that section started out in the
race with only battlefelds and ruins
for assets.
Some months since at social gath
ering in the city of New York, two
speakers Of national reputation for
oratory, contested for the palm as
they told two tales, but of widely diff
ferent significance. The one, in grand
Eloquent language, described the tri-
umphaEt return of a victorious army
to its rejoicing capital, there to re-
ceive the plaudits of admiring country
men and the rewards of successful war
fare The others theme was of a
sadder strain. He told them indeed
of an army, whose brilliant achieve
ments had flashed across the military
sky like a meteor athwart the heav-
ems; but, like meteor, leaving be-
hind its brilliant track only darkness
and dread. He told them of the pri-
vations Of that army for four years, of
its countless victories, of its frightful
losses, of its unsurpassed heroism in
camp and field; and that when human
endeavor could do no more and the
handful of that once matchless army,
the glory of our fair Southland, and
the admiration of the world, came to
and sorrowfully dispersed
to their homes, he told them what was
the condition of those homes; that
many were in ashes, burned by the
invader; others had lost their all, their
wives and children were fugitives, and
where once had been peace and plenty
and happiness was now confusion,
poverty and despair.
l sing the hymn of the conquered, who
fell in the battle of life
The HYMN of the wounded. the beaten,
who died overwhelmed in the strife;
Not the jubilant song of the victOrs, for
whom the reSounding acclaim
OF nations was lifted in chorus, whose
brows wore the chaplet of fame,
But the hymn of the low and the humble,
the weary, the broken In heart,
Who strove and who failed, acting bravely
silent and desperate part;
Whose youth bore no flowers on its branch J
es, whose hopes burned in ashes away,
From whose hands slipped the prize they
had grasped at who stood at the
dying of day
With the wreck of their life all around
them. unpitied, unheeded, alone,
With death swOoping down DER their fail
ure and all but their faith oyerthroWn.
<
Speak, History! who are Life's victor,?
unroll thy long annals and say,
Are they those whom the world called the
victors-who wore the success of a
day?
The martyrs or Nero? the Spartans who
fell at Thermopyla's tryst.