The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1893-05-03


honors, forgets the conventionalities and
excitements attendant upon the rostrum,
to participate in the cere monies OF this
day; when the little children have as"
sembled here to learn their first lessons
of patriotism; when the choristers of the
air chant their praises to God; when all
things in nature conspire towards The
conservation of this hour, it is well that
we are here.
1t would not be in consonance with
this occasion for me to- inquire the cause
of our gathering. For every eye that
glistens tear, every blossom which
graces garland, and every flag which
decorates soldiers grave, tell usmis-
takably that we are here to honor our
Confederate dead. We are here to as
sert our undying devotion to the Con-
federate cause, and to prove our love
and veneration for those gallant soldiers
in grey, who bore our Dal'-riven banner
to renown and met defeat on the field of
honor
We are here to direct the faltering
step of the future historian to the high
est niche of fame; and to inspire the
hand which dips the golden quill of his
tory in the immortal essence of truth.
We are here to carve the rugged path of
that historisian in order hat he may
climb to those dazzlings heights, that he
may inscribe across the broad pantheon
of history.
"Their names are writ, where the stars
are lit, on flames Imperial stand"
It was sad spectacle to have beheld
our Southland stripped of her wealth,
and her former greatness from the grasp
of civilization; but sadder still for re-
Election that during the dark days of
reconstruction, when misfortune, desc
latiou and gloom had implanted their
blood stained seals across the sky of
Southern independence, and we were
manacled hand and foot, and pOwerless
to prevent it. We dill not despair in
our mlsfortunes. No lethargic spell
swept over US to paralize our energies.
The magnificent temples of Ninevah,
Babylon and Carthage, decorated and
gilded from pit to dome, have vanished
from earth, yet they live in poetry and
song. SO we of the South, true to every
impulse which strengthened our ener-
gies and terminated our aspirations,
have rebuiltour temples and monuments,
and have entrusted them to tradition;
and in the ensuing ages they will live
long after the tradition becomes mute,
art speechless, and music pOwerleSs to
harm the soul.
1t is be tutiful thought, and comfort
ing in its power, to know that ere they
were completed we were with one grand
rush moving on to the elimination
of the generous hope of the
philanthropst, where IN one golden
chain of patriotic sentiment we shall be
one united and inseparable people, with
one common hope, one flag, one country,
one God, and subservient to none others.
When we withdrew from the Union,
we believed that the constitution of our
fathers would allow us to depart in
peace We were satisfied with our ma.
terial prosperity in 1861. We anticipated
none of the spoliations of war. We be-
sought no sympathy or charity of the
world at large. We recognized the SOW
ereignty of states, and knowing our
rights dared maintain them. We strug-
gled and were defeated. With crushed
fortunes and blasted hopes for moment,
we accepted the inevitable decree of war.
II is sad, yet consOling fact that Meth
er ancient nor modern history records
more heartrending scene than that which
met the eye of the Confederate soldier
when he lowered for the last time the
Confederate ensign at AppOmattox,
where he turned his back to conquer
ing foe, and sought the loved precincts of
his humble home, lonly to find desOla-
ton and despair to await his return.
Farther on inthis dark and dismal tragedy
which was enacted upon the bloody the
atre of war, the scene might be shifted,
and the curtain drawn little farther, in
order that gifted sGrey might receive
the inspiration to write:
''For there no more the blazing hearth
shall burn,
No busy housewife ply her evening
care.
No children run to lisp their sires re-
turn,
Nor climb his knee the envied kiss
to share"