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

sacrificed upon the altar of liberty
is an unanswerajle testimony to the
sscredness of her cause; and from
out the ashes of fallen heroes 90 forth
those mute appeals which stimulate
the oppressed to deeds of daring in
every land where men are struggling
for their cherished rights.
An able American statesman has
said that nations wealth is the
sum of its splendid deeds. re-
member at the close of our deadly
conflict how our land seemed
haunted by the lurking skeletons of
every former interest. 1t was a
dark, bitter hour; woe and want
were depicted on every hand; our
women performing mental Offices
our youths denied the college and
driven to the corn-tields; our old
men taxed with a labor that be.
longed not to their years, and l felt
to what depth of humiliation aud
poverty we had been reduced. But
l turned even then from this picture
of restitution to the contemplation
Of our future historic splendor. l
thought of the glory of our short.lived
greatness; the unexampled valor of
our brave men, and the self forget.
full devotion of our noble Southern
women, and | felt that we were in.
deed rich. And now when
twenty nine years have passed,
and under the blessing of
God the fields have bloomed
again, the old home has been re-
built, and as the younger children
gather around the family altar, the
silvery haired mothers eye goes up
to the picture on the WALL to that
bright-eyed boy in his grand old
Confederate gray, who at the first
call went forth to battle, and whose
last message was, "Tell my mother
died for my country" Twenty.
nine years have passed, and when |
remember how a wasted band of un.
daunted warriors contended against
cold and hunger and disease, and
hurled back through long years of
scarcity and suffering, the repeated
assaults of an overpo wering enemy,
princely approximations Of honor
and chivalry passed before me, and
sense of pride that no defeat can
humble, swells in my bosom, and
feel that we have a wealth that OPP.
preston can never reach. "a
land becomes lovely in consecra.
ted coronet of sorrow. Crowns of
roses fade, crowns of thorns endure.
Calvaries and crucifixes take deep
est hold on humanity" Honored
Lone Star State, the state of Grand
bury, Mccullough and Hood, what.
ever may be her future, the past at
least is secure. Battle scared old
Virginia, O, my mother, "still
fronting with a royal brow her
tate," no tyrant could seduce her
from the memory of Stuart, her
Hill, her Johnson, her jackson.
Favored Southern land; more fa-
vored as the wardesol ated home of
Beauregard and Lee and all their
immortal associates, than if shs
were the pampered empire of the
proudest monarch on earth.
MY covntrymen, my comrades. I
offer you prayer for peace-peace
In our homes and in our hearts. The
day Is coming, thank Heaven. and
poiiuclans cannot prevent it, when
the two sections of this GREAT
country will be bound in closer
oond OF union-a union of hearts
as we'll as of hands. The church of
the living God is proclaiming the
glad message first delivered by the
angels to the watching shepherds
On the plains of Judea, aod the
spirit of fraternal reconciliation il
abroad. A few years agowe erect.
ed monuments at Kings Mountain
ana Cowpens, and held our centen.
NAL at Yorktown; but they are all
preparatory to a grander gathering
~aich Is yet to assemble, and
ioi,ler monument which is yet to be
quilt. The day is coming, coming
coming and God and angels are re-
fastening it, when the true men of
the n Orth shall meat +bo