Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-05
THIRD EDITION.
WAY DOWN IN DIXIE.
Two Hours of Poetry, Prose and Music From
the Gifted Orator Statesman, Gov
Bob Taylor.

''Dixie," word dear to all southrons,
was the subject upon which Gov. Bob
Taylor of Tennessee discoursed before a.
large audience at OBriens last night.
Promptly at $50 o'clock the curtain
rang up and the evenings entertainment
began. A happy innovation was the adj
dition of a trio of male voices which add
ed materially to the lecture. The audience
was given a slight foretaste of the de-
licious morsels yet to come by the three
gentlemen.
Mr.. DeArmand first rendered beauti-
full solo, Drinking" with piano accom-
paniment by Miss Belle Mccoy. Mr. De-
Armands rich basso was heard to adj
vantage, and his rendition was delightful
and pleasing.
He was followed by Mr.. Nichol, who
sang in a pure tenor voice the solo, Gould
l." 1t was delicious morsel.
Mr.. Davis, in full baritone voice, sang
Goodbye, Sweet Day. in an admirable
manner.
The solos were followed by "Old Ken
lucky Home" which was heard to great
advantage from behind the scenery.
Then appeared mid thunderous ap-
plause Alabama's next governor, capt.
Joseph F. Johnston with the ex-governor
and next governor of Tennessee, Hon.
Robert Taylor.
Stepping to the footlights Captain
Johnston said:
pleasure to perform the present agreea-
BILE duty Tennessee and Alabama are
bound together by many ties. The great
river which bears the name of the former
hugs each to the other, kisses the lands
with sweet kisses and fond caresses. We
married her daughters, bought her
horses and drank her-water. Some of
our ablest statesmen are native Tennes-
scans and some of our loveliest women
are from that fair land. 1t is a great
Statp-orpat in it's and
cities, and we are proud to have with us
visiting citizen who has been honored
as few of her citizens have. 1 can ap-
preciate the honor with him. He is a
man who can make a laugh grow where
sadness has dwelt. He was once the
governor of the state of Tennessee, and,
as [ am informed through the newspa-
pers, will be nominated by the democrat
ic party of that state for the office again
next week. | have the pleasure of intro-
ducing you, my dear friends, to the man
who was and is to be governor of the
state of Tennessee"
The distinguished orator then arose.
and, bearing acknowledgment to the
spontaneous outburSt of applause, said
in substance, by way of Introductory:
Il am proud to have the pleasure of
being introduced to you by the man who
Is TO be the governor of one of the states
which form the group constituting Dix
ie.' and when he is indicted into office
honor to the occasion"
The speaker then launched forth into
most brilliant word picture of the three
Paradises, as he termed them. The first,
he said, was the Paradise of Holy Writ,
the second yankee Doodle" and the
third the Land of Dixie
The Mason and Dixon line, he said,
was still there, where 1t had been drawn
during the days of carnage, and the law
which put Yankee Doodle" on the PEN
sion list and Dixie" on crutches cannot
wipe 1t out 1t will stay there as long as
the northerner says "you hadn't orter
do it, and the southerner says 1--WE done
done it,
Referring to the imaginary line the
orator burst forth in a flow of oratory
which was at once interesting and pa
thetic. He dwelt particularly upon the
lasting monuments which will live for
ages to remind future generations of the
war which blasted the fair land of Dix
te" and laid many of it's sons beneath
the sod in untimely graves.
Perhaps the most interesting part of
dis lecture was his word painting of the
nalcyon days before the war, when mas
ter and slave lived happily in this land,
Way down south in Dixie" He spoke
of the fields of cotton, corn, rice and
cane; of how the negroes used to work
all day and have their dance when the
sun went down, interposing the word
painting with old time darkey ballads,
In which he was ably assisted by his trio
of singers.
He described the north with it's biting
winds, the west with it's billiards. and
the south with its fruits and flowers,
and called it the Land of Beauty and
Tears"
He said the north had it's stupendous
monument, the great Niagara, but the
south had It's mighty gulf stream, which
touched the lands of all nations which
hOrdara6 M tha hrinu Haan
The speaker could not keep himself
from repeating one of his beautiful and
pathetic Illustrations Of ante-bellum days,
one which had been heard here before,
that OF the old black NANNY and the
little boy. The song used in this bit of
poetic phantasy is appropriate and was
rendered in a mastery manner.
The new south, the speaker said, had
been heralded far and near through the
press, but Il tell you," he said in en-
phatic tones, there Is no new south; it
Is the glorious old south resurrected. The
trail marks are In the hands, the places
where the lance pierced the side are yet
visible, but soon the north and west will
be overshadowed by the old south re-
generated"
I How can one say there Is new south,
he continued, and think of the Wilder
ness, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge,
Shiloh, Gettysburg and Appomattox?
These will serve to keep fresh the MEM
DRY of the old south. and never will there
he a new south.
A beautiful tribute was paid an old
family servant a preacher, one of tho
last to Join the dear old master and mis-
tress In the great beyond. >
The closing words of the speaker was
gem of oratory, an outburst of rever-
entail praise for the land Way down
south In Dixie"
The lecture was a gem in every par
ticular and those who heard it enjoyed
rare rich treat