The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-09-24
THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.


THE BLUE AND THE GRAY.
Henry Watterson's Eloquent Address
OF Welcome TO the q. A. H.
The Annual Encampment OF the
Grand Army OF the Republic this year
was a o notable event, because 1t
was held In Louisville, on the borders
OF Dixie" and from there went to the
battlefield of Chickamauga. The adj
dress of welcome in Louisville was
made by Hon. Henry Watterson, aud
the following extract is worthy of the
occasion:
Except that historic distinctions have
long been ~obliterated here, IL might be
mentioned that / appear before Won as
the representative alike of those who
wore b blue and of those who wore
the gray in that great sectional com
bat, which, whatever else it did or did
not left no shadow upon American
5oldiership, no stain upon American
manhood. But, In Kentucky, the war
ended thirty years ago. Familiar in
tercommunication between those who
fought In 1t upon opposing sides mar
riage and giving In marriage; the
rearing OF u common progeny the
m~inistrations of private friendship;
the all-subduing influence of home and
church and school, of wife and child,
have eliminated in such a closely-knit
web OF Interests and affections that
none OF us care to disentangle the
threads that compose it, and few of us
could do so II we would.
Here, at least, the lesson has been
taught and learned that
You cannot chain the eagle.
ana you dare not harm the dove;
Hate bars To hate,
VIII open wide to love !"
And the flag God bless the flag
AS the heart of McCallum More
warmed to the Tartan, do all hearts
warm to the flag. Have you upon your
round OF sightseeing missed it here
about? Does it make itself on auy
hand conspicuous by its absence? Can
you doubt the loyal sincerity of those
VINO from house-top and roof-tree have
thrown 1t to the breeze? Let some
s~acrilegious hand be raised to haul ii
down see. No, no, comrades the
people en- maSse do not deal in subter-
tuges they do not stoop to
they may be wrong they may DO per.
verse; but they never di ,semble
These are honest flags, with homes,
nearts behind them. They are the
symbols of a nationality as precious t.
US as to you. They fly at last as Web.
ste would have had them A., bearing
no such notices as What is all this
worth Z" or liberty first and union
afterward," but blazing in letters o.
living light upon their ample folds, as
they hoat over the sea and over the
i1ad, those words dear to every Amer
and forever, one and i~nseparable."
And WhV NOT What IL loft fn. N,
and me to cavil about, far less to fighr
about? When Hamilton and Ms ii~or
agreed In sup PORTING a ,onstit ltior
Whotiy acceptable to neither of them
they compromised some diff ,rences
and they left some other diff ,rence,
open to double construction and
among these latter, was tue exac
relation Of the States to the Genera
Government. The institution of Afri
can slavery, with it's irreconcilabl,
conditions, got between the North an
the south, and. But | am not here
to recite the history of the United
States. You know what happened a.
well as L do, and we all know tina
there does not remain a shred of those
old issues to divide us. There is not .
Southern man to-day who would recall
slavery If he could. There is not ,
Southern man to-day who would light,
brook the effort Of a State to Withdraw
from the Union. Slavery is gone
Secession is dead. The Union, will
It's system Of Statehood still intact
survives and with il q power arc
glory among men passing the dreams
OF the fathers of the Republic. 70,
and may fold our arms and go t(
sleep, leaving to younger men to hold
and defend a property ten-fold greater
than that received by us, its ownership
unclOuded and it's title-deyds recorded
In heaven
1T is, therefore, with a kind of exul.
tation that ] fling open the gates of this
gateway to the South! | bid you wei
come In the name of the people whose
voice Is the voice of God. You came,
and we resisted you you come, and we
greet you; for times change and men
change with them. You will find here
scarcely q sign of the battle not a
"Reminiscences of its passions. Grim
visaged war has smoothed his wrinkled
front, and whichever way you turn on
either side, deepening as you advance
across the Chaplin Hills, whore jack
son fell, to Stones river. whore ROSY
fonght-and OF to Chattanooga and
Chickamauga ard over Missionary
Ridge, and down by Resaca and Ken
nesaw, and Allatoona, where Corse
held The fort" as q second time you
march to the sea-pausing awhile
about Atlanta, look with wonder on a
scene risen as by the hand of enchant-
ment--thence returning by way of
Franklin and Nashville-you shall
encounter, as you pass those %moldering
heaps, which remind you of your valor
and travail, only the magnauimous
spirit of dead heroes, with Graft and
Sherman. and Thomas and Mcpherson
and Logan looking down from the hap
Ply scars as II repeating the words of
the Master-"Charity for all-malics
toward none"
We too have our graves, we too had
our heroes All, all are comrades now
upon the other side, where YOU and I
must shortly join them blessed, thrice
blessed we who have lived 10 see full
filled the psalmist's prophecy of peace
Peace in the quiet dales,
Made rankly fertile by the blood of men;
PeaGe In the Woodland and the lonely glen,
Peace In the peopled wales.
peace In the crowded town;
Peace In a thousand fields of waving grain.
Peace In the highway and the ilow'ry lane.
Peace DER the wind-swept down.
Peace on the whirring marts,
Peace whore the scholar thinks, tho hunter
rOamS,
Peace, God of peace, peace in all our homes.
And all our heartsV' '