The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-10-21

reporters skill, and telegraphic wire, and
daily press, which have made us acquainted
with the horrors OF modern battlefield, had
not vet begun their vigilance, and the story
OF the American Revolution has never been
told. and never will De told. 1t did not take
much ink to sign the Declaration OF lnde.
pendencp, but it took a terrific amount OF
blood to maintain it. 1t was an awful gate
of oppositlon that the men and women
and the women as much rs the men
pushed back 1t was q gate Of self-:acrilce.
1t was q gate of blood. 1t was gate OF
carbulcle.
We are not indebted to history for our
knowledge of the greatest OF National
crises. Many Of us remember it, and father RS
and mothers now living had better keep tell
ing that story to their children, so that in
stead of their being dependent upon cold
type and Obliged TO say, :'On such page OF
such book you can rea: that" will they
rather be able to say, ''My father told me-
so!" ''My mother told me So" Men and
women who vividly remember 1861. and
1862. and 1853. and 1864, be yourselves the
historians, telling it, not with pen, but with
living tongue and voice and gesture. Ihat
Is the great USE Of Memorial Decoration Day,
for the Gala lilies on the grave tops soon De-
come breathless Of perfume, and IN u week
turn to dust unto that which lies beneath IL.
But the story OF courage ana selt'sacrihce
and patriotism told on platforms and IN
households and by the roadside and IN
churches and in GENE: cries by that annual
recital will be kept fresh in the memory OF
generations as long as our American institu-
tions are worthy OF preservation. Long
after you are dead your children will be able
TO saw. with the Psalmist: "We have heard
with our ears, God, our fathers have
told us, what work Thou didst in their
days, in the times OF DID," But what
a time it was. Four years Of home
sickness! Four years Of brotherly
ana sisterly estrangement! Four years oil
martyrdom! Four years OF massacre! Put
them in long line, the confagration OF
cities, and see them light up whole contt-
nent! Put them in long rows, the hospitals,
making a vast metropolis Of pain and
paroxyism! Gather them in one vast assem-
blage, the millions OF bereft from the st.
Lawrence to the Gulf. and from the Atlantic
to the Pacific beachesl Put the tears into
lakes, and the blood into rivers, and the
shrieks Into whirlwinds! During those four
wears many good and wise men at the North
and South saw nothing ahead but annihlla-
tion. With such a National debt We
could never meet our obligations! with
such moral antipathies Northern and South
ern men could never come into amity! Rep
rcS6nt3tlVeS Oh LOuiSidud duu oeotkio. auo
the Carolinas could never again sit side by
side with the Representatives Of Maine,
Massachusetts and New York at the Ma
tional capital. Lord John Russell had de-
clared that we we're "a bubble-bursting Ma
and 1t had come true. The Ma
tions OF Europe had gathered With very re-
signed spirit at the funeral Of our American
Republic. They had tolled the bells on
Parliaments and Reichstags and lowered
their flags at half mast. and even the lion
on the other side OF the sea bad whined for
the dead eagle on this side. The deep grave
had been dug, and beside Babylon, aud
the past our dead Republic was to be
buried. The epitaph was all ready: Here
lies the American Republic. Born at Phila-
delphia, 4th OF July, 1776. Killed at Bull
Run, July 81, 1861. Aged eighty-f1ve years
and seventeen days. Peace to Its ashes"
But before the obsequies had quite closed
there was an interruption OF the ceremon-
les, and our dead Nation rose from Its
mortuarY surroundings. God had made for
1t special Resurrection Day, and cried,
"Come forth, thou Republic OF Washing
ton, and John Adams, and Thomas Jeffer-
son, and Patrick Henry, and John Hancock,
and Daniel Webster, and 8. Prentiss, and
Henry Clay. Come forth" And she came
forth, 10 be stronger than she had ever been.
Her mightiest prosperities have come since
that time. Who would want to push back
this country to what it was In 1860 or 165O2
But, oh, what q high gate, what strong
gate she had to push back before she could
make one step in advance! Gate OF flame!
See Norfolk Navy Yard, and Columbia, and
Chambersburg, and Charleston on fire!
Gate of bayonets! See gllttering rifles and
carbines fash from the Susquehanna, and
the James. to the Mississippi, AMI the Ar
kansas! Gate Of heavy artillery. making
the mountains OF Tennessee and Kentucky
and Virginia tremble as though the earth
gate was so fiery and 80 red that can think
OF nothing more appropriate than to take
the suggestion Of Isaiah in the text and call
it gate Of carbuncles.
But we must admit 1t Is hard gate to
push back. Millions Of thin hands have
pushed at it without making 1t swing on its
hard hinges. 1t Is gate made out OF empty
-four barrels, and cold fire CRATES, and worn
out apparel, and cherries homes, and un-
medieated sickness, and ghastliness and
horror. 1t is gate of struggle. A gate OF
penury. A gate of want, A gate OF disap-
pointment. A red gate, or what Isaiah would
have called a gate Of carbuncles.
Now, rs l have already suggested, as
be happier If we consent to have our life
struggle. I do not know anyone to whom
it is not a struggle. Louis the Fourteenth
thought he had everything fixed just right
and fixed to stay, and 80 he had the great
clock at Bordeaux male. Tho hours of that
clock were struck by figures in bronze rep
resentng the kings OF Europe. and at GER
tain time OF day william the Third OF Eng
land and other kings were made to come out
and bow to Louis the Fourteenth. But the
clock got out of order one day and just the
opposite Of what WIS expected occurred, as
the clock struck certain hour Louis tine
Fourteenth was thrown to the feet OF Will
lam the Third. And 80 the clock Of destiny
brings many surprises and those go down
that you expected to stand, and ut the foot
OF disaster most regal conditions tumble. In
all styles Of life there come disappointment
und struggle. God has for some good rea-
son arranged 1t so. II il Is not poverty it is
sickness. II it Is not sickness, 1t is persecu-
ton. II it Is not persecution, it is contest
with some evil appetite. If it is not some
evil appetite. II is bereavement. If it is not
one thing, it is another. Do not get soured
and cross and think yout case Is peculiar:
You are just like the rest OF us. You will
have to take the bitter drauShs whether it
be handed to you in golden chalice or pewter
n udu VIII u O
year income sleeps sounder and has better
appetite than the man who has
five millions. II our life were
not struggle We would never consent to
get out OF this world, anl we would want to
stay here. and so block up the way OF the
generations. BY the time that
man gets to be seventy years Of age, and
by the time he gets to be fifty
years Of age, he says: 81 have had enough
OF this, and when the Lord wills 1t l am
ready to emiSrate 10 country where there
are no taxes and tho silver of the trumpet
gold Of the pavement under his feet" We
have in this world more opportunity to cul-
tivate patience than to cultivate any other
grace. Let that grace be strengthened in
The ROYAL Gymnasium OF obstacle and on