The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1896-04-30


loved state. Young Georgians, when, in
1866, those of your people, who, under
the providence of God, had been spared,
returned to their homes, what did they
find? will tell you what they found,
and as tell you compare what they then
found with what you now see-they
found Georgia's fair domain trampled
under foot by the tread of contending
armies; homes desolate by the fires of
war; wealth dissipated; thousands of our
brothers disabled or sleeping the last
sleep on the field of honor. We found
our women and children clad in the rags
of abject poverty, standing on the brink
of starvation, all this and more, is what
Georgians found only thirty years ago.
What did they do? Did they sit down
in the ashes of their desolation, give up
in despair and hold out pleading hands
and beg for help? No, thank God!
Georgians preserved their integrity and
courage and Georgia's men girded up
their loins, and hand in hand with
Georgia's women, who aided and encour
aged, they turned their backs on the
past, their faces to the bright sun of
hope, so that the shadows of their bur-
dens fell behind, and started out on
grand march of reconstruction, and
their courage was blessed by a merciful
God and that march ended in triumph.
Do you doubt the assertion? Go to the
records and you will find that in twelve
years Georgians increased their taxable
values from two hundred and ten, to
over four hundred millions of dollars;
built up from nothing school fund of
over million per annum, and are now
contributing nearly another half million
yearly to the relief of the widows of our
comrades and in aid of our disabled and
INDECENT veterans; and Georgia, together
with nine of her sister Southern states,
all devastated by war, only generation
since contribute annually one-fourth in
value to the vast sum which makes up
the export trade of this great country.
Here we can afford to halt. Take the
index and the illustration and what do
you find? A record made up of heroic
courage; devotion to principle; faithful
ness to duty; patience under suffering
and wrong, and energy in recuperation,
to which, my young friends, you can
point with pride and challenge the an
nails of history to eclipse.
Young people, those of the living,
both men and women, who have taken
part in making the history of the South
during the last third of the present CEN
fury, are like that century, rapidly pass
ing away. All of us have crossed the
great divide of life and are struggling
down it's shadowy slope, catching now
and then CLINT from the waters of that
dark river which we must soon cross and
join the comrades whose memories we
this day honor. We cannot leave you as
a heritege, grand triumphal arches,
handicapped monuments, or the glow
ing canvas commemorative of deeds and
acts, but we can bequeath to you far,
richer legacy, a double legacy, record
of duty well done in war and in peace.
and treasure chest filled with sacred
memories. This double legacy is yours
by inheritance, but like most legacies it
carries with it grave responsibilities. On
you will rest the duty of keeping the
record bright, and adding to it's lustre
by your patriotic deeds when occasion
comes, be that occasion one of peace or
war, yours will be the duty and privilege
of keeping these sacred memories alive
and of transmitting to your posterity
this double legacy of record and memo |
ries, unsullied and unimpared by con-
duct or neglect.
mo need of monument or work of art,
content
You be with these rich legactes alone;
Your love to them you give, for they
shall long outlive,
The glowing canvas or the chiseled stone.
Here let the fair maiGens bring, at each
returning spring,
The vernal splendors of the coming
yeara;
And here let womans love express it.
self; here flow
Above these sacred memories their no.
lest tears
Yes, my young friends, this grand re-
cord and these sacred memories
after all, surpass cen monuments of
brass;
They shall exist long after those shall
cease;
TO you of greater worth, denoting no.
BILE birth,
Than the historic marble gods of
Greece"
My friends, here l had intended to
stop, but while speaking my attention
has been attracted to the number of our
little people who are present with us, and
with your kind indulgence l will say a
few words to these children. Little
folks, both boys and girls, no doubt all
of you have heard of the ten command
ments-the ten commandments which
were written upon two tables of stone
and given to Moses, the great leader of
the lsraelites, amidst the thunders of
Mt Sinai to be through him transmitted
to all the generations of man. These
commands have never been repealed
or amended-for they were written on
those two tables of stone by the same
Almighty Hand which created the uni
verse; by the same hand which bur-
nished the sun and painted the beautiful
flowers with which you propose to honor
the memories of the dead. One Of these
ten commandments is addressed partic-
ularly to children, and strange to say, it
is the only one to which is coupled q
promise of reward for obediencs-Here
it is-''Honor thy Father and thy Moth
er, that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth
thee" Children, what is it to honor
your father and your mother? To do