The Waco evening news. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 1891-1894, 1894-05-01

kindred, with no sister, no brother
no mother to bring hower, POM
out that grave to me | beg you'
and mine shall be the hand TO decor
ate it. There is a divine relation
ship between true courage and mag
nanimity. II is not necessary to
defend the principles for which
our Confederate warriors bled'
the decision of the sword for the
time was against them, and 1t will
be the duty of the calm, quiet, dis
passionate historian of the future to
confirm or reverse the judgment.
But thattheir motives were pure;.hat
they believed they we're right; that
they were actuated by the highest
sense of patriotic duty, the most
partisan of their foes will scarcely
deny.
We see Polk leaving the sacred
walks of the ministry for the tented
field; we hear the gallant Stuart,
the Bayard Of the South, giving
praise to God in his dying moments;
We find Stonexall Jackson amid the
silent watches of the midnight hour
imploring the guidance Of Him who
protected the armies Of Israel, and
we are driven to exclaim; surely
these men ,ere christian warriors. "
No, my countrymen, to brand
these men as traitors would be 10
rob history of its truth, glory of its
greatness, and virtue of Its attract
lveness. In their private lives our
gallant dead were above reproach
in their piety they were humble and
devoted; in their patriotic profess
sions they were sincere, and with
their blood they sealed their faith
in the righteousness of the cause for
which they died. They belong not
solely to us; their fame cal not be
circumscribed by sectional bound
aries. They are not to be Judged
by the petty passions and prejudlces
which Eervert the judgment of their
countrymen. No. no. They hold high
rank in the army of patriot martyrs;
they have bequeathed their motives
to history and posterity will do
them Justice. Such men are above
the ISSUES of every struggle. Sue.
cess was not necessary to establish
their greatness, and defeat is power.
less to detract from their glory.
l do not care, my comrades, to
recall the deeds upon which the
claims to their glory rest. There
stands our Troy. Its Head has not
yet been written. How it rose, and
how it fought, aud how it fell; how,
for four long years, the Grecian
chariots dashed in vain around the
living walls of fire; how phalanx
after phalanx. now led by Aqua.
memnon and now by Ulysses, were
beaten and broken and driven back
to their ships; how our Trojan ma.
irons stood in our midst undaunted
undismayed, hathed the brow
and bound up the wounds
of their husbands and brothers
and sent them back to the ramparts:
and how, when their stricken ones
would fall, they bent over them in
passionate yet patriotic grief,
plucked the javelin from bleeding
oosoms, and buried their dead
N mantles torn from their
own beauteous persons; and how
he thoughts of their tender hands
md loving hearts kept our camp
Tres bright; and how the shouts of
which swept along our
ines were echoed and re.ecboed
rom the Mountains to the Sea-theu
low the change came, and how by
Wounds and starvation and disease
'ur ranks were wasted-and how
he gods who had smiled pro.
'itiously upon US and upheld our
'anner in the beginning, became IN
heir own inscrutable purpose
tended, aud turned their faces
rom us-all these things will vet
re written, and the grand Old heroic
hall 60 sounding down the
ges in strains sublime, until the
7orld shall become familiar with
he story.
AS we have gathered to scatter
overs over mounds so dear to MS
1T US not forget those unmarked