Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1896-09-23
REFLECTIONS on THE cEyTENx1AL

ttNA I
not take place until 1897, this is Ten
nessee's Centennial year. The fact has
been so widely and ingenuously pub
lished as to attract the attention and
interest Of the whole country. And
were it not for the engrossing excite
ments of the presentpolitical campaign,
the event would be the leading theme
CT comment aud discussion.
AS it is, more people are concerning
themselves about us than ever before.
Our annals have more interested read
ers than ever before, who are studying
closely and critically the history Of the
State from its birth to its present de-
velopment, the history of its civic tri-
umphs, its pioneers, heroes and states
men, its climatic conditions, the nature
of its soils, its natural resources, and
the character of its people. They will
find at the close of their examination
that the Creator has given to this Sec
ton His best bounties in lavish profu-
sion; that its founders and builders
were men and women Of sturdy hope
and heroic mould, of sublime faith in
themselves and in the Providence that
always richly rewards sacrifices Tor
noble ends; that the valor of its war
riors would have glorified and enriched
any Roman age; that its craftsmanship
is recorded in the most gracious pages
of the nations history; and its civic
triumphs, till marred and restricted by
the successful violence of usurpation
and lawlessness, tended altogether to
the enlargement of a peoples opportu-
mites to work out a destiny OF honor,
independence and thrift. These stu
dents will find our past a coronet of
stars, Jul present an eclipse, and our
future shrowded in doubt and menaced
with perils; and this centennial year,
which should have witnessed the glory
and the fulness of a strong, solid and
splendid statehood, has brought in its
stead stagnation, destruction, distress,
disgrace, a bankrupted treasury, a
fraudulent Governor and a government
d~iscredited and dishonored by open
and defiant crimes-by the utter sub
version of law, justice and right.
1t is a thought, full of unutterable
sadness to every patriot citizen, that
when the fete days of our centennial
celebration shall have come and curl.
u and eager visitors crowd the gor-
geous temples dedicated to industry
and progress, the ashen ~sackcloth Of
humiliation will become us rather than
the rich ~splendor of holiday attire.
Cut eight years out of the history of
'Tennessee-not the four years of the
wal with their woes, desolations and
bloodshed. for they were a fiery baptism
to destroy q national sin, and not the
four years Of the reconstruction period
with their excuses and caustic severi.
ties, for out Of these came safety, peace
and reconciliation for a time at least,
but the eight years when passion was
cool, the judgment unobscured and the
asperities of the sectional conflict for
gotten, when liberty was driven an
outcast and an exile from her own
temple, when for partisan ends thou
sands of our poor and unfortunate citi.
zens were ~disfranchised for the crime of
poverty and illiteracy, when laws were
enacted for the sole purpose of crafty
ing the rapacious greed of a gang Of
~freebooters ont of the hard earnings of
a stricken and struggling people, and
when the popular will was thrust aside
by a legislative fiat that an arrant bull
ly and a moral wreck might be m ade a
king-cut out these hateful, disgrace
full years and hurl them to Tophet
where they belong, and every decent
and honest Tennessean could look the
inquiring stranger steadfastly in the
face and with swelling bosom direct
his admiration to a States pride and
glory-an escutcheon as bright as a
Jul and Il name unsullied as Il star.
Are not the people willing and ready
is not the time.ripe, for a supreme eff.
fort to cast off this grievous burden of
shame and guilt, drive the looting
crew from their riot on stolen spoils,
and rehabilitate the State in the form
and spirit of those influences and agen,
cies that have made her powerful and
greatp
The time, yea, the set time, has
come to favor" the Volunteer State, to
rescue her from the ~despoiler and take
her from the slough of despond and the
mire of pollution by the uplifting force
of a Republican triumph, that she may
be restored to her old place of pride,
glory and independence iu the group
of the States.