Birmingham state herald., 1895-10-19
Ex-Gov. Bob Taylor's Lecture.

"Dixie" is the most delightful piece Of wit and oratory that Montgomery au- dience has ever been treated to. mag nificent audience heard the Taylor broth CTS last night Ex-Congressman Ali was the first speaker. His lecture on " an kee Doodle" is a masterpiece His talk was chaste, eloquent, instructive ana thoroughly interesting.
 When Governor Bob took the stand and the band struck up Dixie" the au- dience went wild. Governor Bob has the most expressive face in the world. The stirring strain and the cheerful multi tude made every nerve in him jingle with pleasure and his face showed now Hucii he liked 1t.
 An attempt to give a synopsis of his lecture would destroy it's beauty; espe- cially would it weaken his praise and eulogy of the south.
 He thought that when the angels of the Lord had laid out the paradise andChtted it with every luscious fruit and flower, that. as they took their flight they must have called it Dixie"
 They had fastened one end of the rain- bow on "Dixie" and then had flown in a beautiful arch and fastened the other end on Yankee Doodle.
 The Mason and Dixon line was still there and could not be oblterated The law cannot abolish it; it's there as plaln today as it was when Yankee Doodle was put on the pension list and Dixie on crutches. It is now, however, one of geography. We are one against for eign foe, but in customs and preJudices we are twain. The line is still there as the great divide between cold bread and hot biscuits and it will stay there as long as the northerner says you hadn't ought to do it" and the southerner says I've done done it.
 He then told of a funny story of how our provincialiSmS sound to each other in Yankee Doodle" and Dixie"
 Who can prophecy the end of our wealth and fra aternity as long as Yankee Doodle" gets the wealth and Dixie" the fraternity?
 His story of the COW owned by two old. darkies. one of whom fed his half all the time and the other milked his half all the time threw the audience into paroxysms of laughter
 He whispers in the ear of Yankee Doo- dle that Dixie is smiling on the west and the west is squeezing the hand of Dixie.
 He believed in sectionalism not of the bitter or hatred kind, but the kind that went only so far as home love went. He said an old politician was making a speech and said that he knew no north, no south, no east, no west, when kid shouted By golly, you'd better study geography" Diversity is the law of na- ture. The Mississippi river divides the east from the west and the Ohio river
  ripple pillar, upon which rests the night jest Ina ton of earth.
 In his eulogy of the north he said tha { its statesmanship and cod fish comma nd ed the admiration of the world. The west had the largest territory, and after prais- ing it's big-hearted people, who thought it the best country in the world. he said it was the home of the grizzly bear and the funnel shaped cloud, and woe unto him who got in the way of either. Then l. south" 'the land of grief and broken columns" his eulogy was sublime. No artist could paint richer and more beau tiful picture than his carefully chosen words, strong style and beautiful rheto- Tic crea ted in the minds of his hearers.
 1T love Dixie best because it is my home, my native land of beauty, virtue ralor and truth. would despise the van kee or the western man who did not love his home best of all spots on earth. love the south best because it is the best I would not be offensively sectional, but God made the south the best The de- scriptions were given 'of the beauty, wealth of fruit. flowers. virtue and chiv- airy of the south beggars the pen unless the sound of his rich voice and his grace full gestures could be reproduced along with a verbatim copy of the words he used.
 Columbus would have gone back if he had landed north and told the queen that he had discovered the north-pOle and that 1t wore side-whiskers and spectacles
 "lf the boast of the northerner is true and the aurora borealls is but the refec- ton of the furnaces of Yankee Doodle then the stars which shoot across the southern skies are but the race horses of Tennessee and Kentucky and the milky way but the reflections of the rice and cotton fields.''
 The speaker then claimed the great life giving currency of the world, the gulf stream for Dixie" and dwelt on its blessing and utility to the whole earth No wonder they fought hard for Dixie She is the red and white and some of the blue. She is the dimple on the cheek of the goddess of liberty, and most of the cheek. as the jewels are to the crown so is Dixie" to the nation.
 He then spoke eloquently of the resur- rection of the old south, but did not hke the idea that it was new. He was not ashamed of the old south and her heroes any more thar the north was of her coun- try and great men.
 The governors description of the old time mansions and plantations of the south were most beautiful, and charmed his hearers. Every day was a link in the chain of pleasure His darky sketches were so true to nature that the audience had no trouble to see in the serious face before 1t Rastus and "all dem niggers Jo h;,, ytc ;rx |, ,intx xy,o