The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-10-24

fence OF Charleston. You fought q
Fort Fisher, at Jonesboro at Greens
boro. where the last ray auivsred OF
the dial OF our nations doom.
THE CONFEDERATE DEAD"
How brief the sentence, yet hoy
sublime the significance! What a hos
OF hallowed memories it summons up
memories with which are interwovel
the sweetest and ssddest emotions tina
ever thrilled the human heart!
They were our comrades. W,
shared with them the fatigues O., tn,
march, the trials Of the winter bivoua,
and the terrors of battle. Though
ncarly three decades have dawned ant
departed since the close of the war
they are ever present to the mind.
Standing here to-day beneath the
boundless blue of heaven-in the pres
ence of many who were among the
first to throw themselves into the
breach when Carolina called upon hel
sons-before hundreds of our gallant
citizen soldiers-the scene made doubly
attractive by the charming women
who have gathered here to show to us
| who wore the gray, that they are proud
OF the principles for which we fought
| unhesitatingly assert that higher re-.
| solves, purer principles, nobler devo-
tion than that which actuated the peo.
pie of the South from 1860 to 1865 are
unknown to mankind.
Tell me of Leonidas and the Spar
tan Three Hundred, of the Tenth Le.
gion of Cesar, of the forces of Mil
tiades at Marathon, of the Old Guard
OF Napoleon at Waterloo, Of the Light
Brigade at Balaklava! They were
grand, and would not tear leaf from
the laurels with which fame has encir-
cled their brows.
But, my friends, neither Spartan
courage nor Roman fortitude, neither
Grecian valOr nor Swiss heroism, nei-
cry surpasses, If it equals, that of the
ill-fed, poorly-clad Confederates, whose
intrepidity, resplendent heroism, sub
limo self-sacritice was as bright us the
stars and as stainless as the cross
which they followed over hundred
fields of fame"
"oNE OF LEES MIsERABLEs."
Pointing to- the monument, he said :
Look at yo. der figure that so grarGiy
typifies one OF >the soldiers " Lees
!anrelled legions' reverontly. regret
fully standing by tho grave OF mis- dead
comrades who have passed through
the, aldohpa of:fhe world to the glory of
'sner snen, 4nmer 7;fa,e on high, where they rest
- oAAA A1iS . idUOIo dlOllSoluO UIc CIy6Udl
fountains that flow through the gardens
OF Paradise. Althogh that familiar
figure is as mute and motionless as are
the dear, dead lips of the slain COM
rades who had stood by us in bivouac
and battle, and is silent to tho senses,
1T speaks to the soul. 1t tells us to guard
the memories Of our fallen comrades,
ever to have faith in the righteousness
of our cause, that inspiring, imperish-
able faith which has breathed into
every infant along with O mothers love
and q mothers blessing-that cause
which the broken shield of the Con-
federacy resting above the pulseless
breast of our President Davis, is as
stainless as star.
"Oh, the treasured memories that
this silent soldier conjures up; the
blanket which he shared with COM
rade in bleak bivouac; the old haver-
sack out of which he took his last
morsel Of bread to divide with hungry
messmate; the canteen that furnished
refreshing draught to the thirsty
soldier. and which we have seen placed
to the pallid lips of those who were ly-
ing fatally wounded"
In the course Of a glowing tribute to
the memory Of the generals of the Con-
federacy, Col. Armstong said: "Their
fame is as dear to me as is the red life
current which warns my heart, and
when | cease to honor their memory,
when they no longer live in my love,
my lips shall be sealed and my heart
pulseless in death"
THE PRIVATE SOLDIER.
"Great as was the sacrifice made by
the leaders, Col. Armstrong said it did
not equal that of hundreds Of their tol-
lowers who sacrificed everything that
was dear to them to respond to their
countrys call. In eloquent words he
recalled to memory the time when a
son of the South enrolled himself as a
soldier-when he tore himself from the
loving grasp Of his bosom companion,
and showed that duty to country was
greater than devotion to home.
In closing his grafton, he said:
This monument is intended to per-
petuate the virtue and valor of the
Men in Gray 1t is commemorative
of the cause to which South Carolina
gave the noblest of her sons, more than
twelve thousand of whom died in de-
fence OF principles ingrained in their
lives in the hearts of chivalrous peo-
Pile.
"When the last of those who fought
beneath the Southern cross of the Con-
federacy have followed that cross above
the stars. this monument will convey
the lesson and impress it deeply upon
the heart that the Confederate soldiers
who fell in battle or died from sickness
were not forgotten by those who sur
vived the struggle, that their names
are among the proudest memories OF
the Southern people, that the princi-
pies for which they valiantly but vainly
fought are inscribed in letters Of living
light in the eternal temple of truth.
Comrades, for this monument we
are indebted to our noble women. II
is another proof of their nnselfish
work, their inestimable worth. Oh
that could mold my thoughts into melo
dy and measure fittingly to tell Of the
goodness, the gentleness and the devo
tion of our Southern women. In every
vision of memory, every reverie of the
recollection. there rises the fair, sweet
| face, the fond, familiar form of the
angel Of the household.
"Of the women of the war how shall
1 speak Their moral heroism, un
swerving love, unexampled fidelity
silent self-suffering has elected un
| bounded admiration and universal
praise. The voices, so soft and sweet
that fell upon the ear of the sick an(
wounded soldiers as gently and sooth
ingly as the benediction that follows
after prayer
g ! seem to see them, tenderly ant
lovingly, they bend above each suffer
er's couch, place the cooling draugh
TO the parched lips and bathe the burn
ing brow. The wasted soldier canno
in words express his thanks to tn,
ministering angel who has nurset
| f,,ll a1