The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-06-02
Mrs. SALLIE LONG, /
SEC'Y Con. Mon. ASSN, Z
T.EyINnToN Mo

MY DEAR MADAM.-I deeply regret
that official engagements of such i'm
pOrtance that / cannot put them aside
will prevent me from being with you on
Friday next to deliver an address upon
the unwilling of the monument at
Machpelah cemetery to the memory of
the confederate dead buried i'm that
beautiful spot.
No nObler sentiment thrills the human
heart than that which moves us to do
honor to the dead who gave their lives
for their country. No braver or more
devoted soldiers ever did battle than the
ones whose resting place you have
marked-heroeS all, though i'm most
cases untitled and unknown. Your
work has been one of love, tenderly,
touchingly and patriotically done. In
its prosecution no unworthy thought has
entered-no sentiment deprecatOry of
those who opposed and were successful,
nor OF their cause, Your only purpose
has been to place wreath of immOr-
telles where gallantry has fairly won it.
Greater love hath no mau than this,
that a man lay down his life for his
friends. These men thus loved their
country. For its cause, as they saw it,
they freely spent their lives. Even this
was not all. There are sufferings Of the
camp, the bivouac, the guard, that try
mtn S souls as terribly as do the dangers
Of battle. When in New Orleans few
years ago | went, as visitors generally
do, TO visit its magnificent cemeteries,
where. suddenly, without warning or
knowledge that | should find it there. |
came upon monument to the confeder-
ate soldier. 1t was a shaft of some
height, surmounted by the form of u
private of infantry. aud so truly had the
sculptor caught the figure, pose and
carriage, that in a moment l was trans
posed to the old days when the prototype
of this man of bronze was a moving
breathing, living reality before my eyes
L am not more impreSSiOnable, i think
than another, but when | looked upon
that familiar form, the slouched hat, the
roll of blankets, the ready musket, the
firm step, and remembered through how
many trials of heat and dust, of wet and
cold, of hunger and thirst. of bare feel
and naked back, the confederate soldier
passed, the tears leaped to my eyes anC
my heart swelled with love for my deal
comrades of long ago. Comrades
Comradeship what sacred words ar,
these Not that man belonged to thi:
army or to that-not that he was feder
al or confederate, not these, not these
/ Dut tiitl VI trfiu
when lowering skies and clash Of arm
tried the stuff of which men were made
this one divided with you his last crust
that one in a critical moment saved you
life; this one when you were wOundet
and fevered nursed you back to healtl
as tenderly and lovingly as a woman
that one amid hail of bullets carrie,
you from battle field, and all of them
day i'm and day out, did acts of gallantr
and selt-abnegation which stampe'
them heroes, and yet they did then
Observation-Disclosures matters-of-c0urse
without display or boast. Where al
were brave, where all were true, hoy
difficult to distinguish. With few eX
lceptions they were thus brave and true
and while we do honor Ia our leaders
the Prices, the MarmadukeS, the Par
SONS. the Shelbys, and Others who lie,
our Missouri divisions and brigadeS, le
us bear in mind and cherish the chival
rous, unsellish, patient, fearless, unre
warded man i'll the ranks whose Serrie
breasts made their victories possible.
"Sleep, soldiers, still in honored rest,
r Your truth and Valor wearing:
The bravest are the tenderest,
Tine loving are the daring.
| With .hanhs for the high compliment
conferred upon me IN your invitation
and with gratitude to the ladies of you
association for their labors i'm secu,in
the erection of this monument. | am,
Very Sincerely Yours,
| a. a. LESUEUR.