The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-06-07

IA..B Williams, in Greenvills News. ]
In the far South, where the mightiest
river of a continent swells to its most
majestic width and the summer winds
dance across the blue and sunlit waters
of the Gulf to linger languidly in the
fragrance of Louisiana's thousand
flowers, an old man lies asleep.
In Virginia, nine hundred miles
away, is Hollywood Cemetery. On the
slopes of its many hills the grass grows
green. beneath the shade of old trees,
and, marble monuments to mighty
dead CLEAN through the foliage, sway
ing gently i'll the breath ofthe breeze
from the James River. It is very still
and solemn there. and the roses drep
their petals silently on the graves
beneath and yield their breath to 60
forth gentlythrough ravines and valleys
wheret the hopes and loves Of genera-
tions lie buried and the memories Of
thousands turn backward from all the
corners of the earth.
The broad, yellow river rolling by
on its course to the sea is broken there
by many islands, and its waters surge
beneath the dropping branches of will
lows aud are rufied into waves by the
lodges Of rock beneath. The voice Of the
riverFushing amid the willows comes
softly among the hills and ravines Of
Hollywood, like the sound of ceaseless
sighing from many thousands OF
breasts, and mingles with the whisper
ings ofthe old trees IS their foliage
sways and rustles.
In. Hollywood the soldiers sleep in
ranks slong and straight as those of the
battle line. Beneath the green turf,
shadowed by the whispering, sway
ing trees, with the roses above them
andin the sound of the sighing, from
the willows in the river, they sleep and
wait, silent, stark and motionless, each
man in his place in the last array.
To-day the old man who went to
sleep by the blue waters of the Gulf
will be brought on his last journey to
Hollywood to join the men who sleep
there. he will pass nearly thousand
miles through the Southern land to
the sound of tolling bells and solemn
boom of minute guns and the music Of
dirges telling of the mourning of mil
lions Of men and women.
He will be laid in Hollywood for his
long rest-will be put there among the
men whose hearts thrilled at his name
and who crowded the path to death at
his bidding.
Thirty-two years ago he went to
Richmond at the head of g new nation,
the chief of a people who had taken
arms in vindication Of the principles
and for. the defence Of the land they
loved. From every part of this wide
Southern country men gathered there
to see him, and his name was highest
among all those whom the swarming
hosts honored with wild enthusiasm.
In the splendid dreams of that time
dreams of a new empire, broad, beauti-
ful, mighty and peaceful, and a flag.
bearing the Southern cross duttering
on far seas and waving higher than the
flags of all the empires-his personality
was formost.
Keeling and falling in the choking
battle smoke, sickening and dying in
prisons, passing away in the crowded
hospital wards, his men went from the
ranks they filled so gloriously and from
this world. His armies melted away,
the splendid dreams faded and his flag
went down and was furled forever. He
lived to show that the confidence and
love his people gave him were we'll
placed, to illustrate the heroism of
adversely, to show the world how a
manly man and patriot could endure
disaster and deprive defeat of sting and
shame. he died an old man and very
tired. He is going back to Richmond
to rest among his veterans who have
slept there silently more than a score
of years. He will take his place among
those whom he reviewed as they passed
him in shouting ranks or swept by
with clapg of sabre and blare ofbugle-
the fair-faced boys, the bronzed and
bearded or grizzled soldiers who wore
the grey and fought and cheered by the
Inspiration of bis name, and fell and
died following the flag whereon the
Southern cross was blazoned.
They will rest there very peacefully
amid the rolling green hills kissed by
the river breeze beneath the wide
reaching, whispering branches of the
old trees. The far-of rushing Of the
river will sigh an everlasting requiem
through the days of the changing sea-
SONS and the darkness f.the nights
or when the moonlight Sits through
the leaves upon the mounds beneath
which they sleep. The dreams they
dreamed have vanished; the flag they
fought forwaves nowhere in this world,
flies above the waters OF no seas. They
are memories, with no evidences of
them remaining save the ranks of
graves and the lingering sorrows in
aching hearts. Yet their dream was a
glorious one, and the memories of them
will be cherished through all this
Southern country while the hills in
Hollywood endure and the yellow
waters OF the James rush by their
sleeping place.
Let the bells toll and the minute
guns boom their mournful signals and