The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-06-28
THE CONFEDERATE RE-uNIoN.

Down Broad, up Franklin, next
Thursday in Richmond, viii march
Gordon in front-what is left of the
Confederate soldiers of the South-or
may it not be better to say what the
battle has left of each Confederate
soldier?
Up Franklin street, with Washington
at one end Lee at the other, each lis
teuing to the requiem OF two revo-
lutions voiced by the river that rolls
under the hills Of Hollywood
In Paris, along one Boulevard, NaPo-
leon. crowned as the eonqueror of the
world, looks from above the altar of the
Madeleine over the dead Nendome-
column of his cold conquests toward
his tomb in the Hotel des invalides.
That column next Thursday will be
a column living OF those warm hearts
that still throb true, marching face
forward toward the statue Of their Lee.
toward the tomb Of that they loved
and Still love.
Let us then to-day, in the midst Of
our sacred song. our prayers, and in
the words that come to us from the
good men OF God, pause and invest that
reunion with the holiness chat is at the
heart of it.
Is 1t not holy? Go to the home of
Jefferson Dayis-then the White
blouse of the Confederacy-
and see the battle flag OF
y =. Hill, made every stitch of it by
his bride from her BRIDES dress see
there, also, Ghe two ears of corn which
were days rations for a Confederate
soldier; every souvenir is to the South
ern soldier, in some sense, as sacred
as the cross.
1t is in no wise needful here to dwell
upon the philosophy of the civil war,
nor upon its relations to the condi-
tions that exist now. Philosophy can
not inmude upon the epic Of the Battle
of Antietam, nor upon the pathos of tie
retreat of Lee from the Wilderness 10
the walls Of Richmond nor can the lit
tleness of human pre- judice touch the
greatness of Gettysburg. These facts
of history, together with Cold Harbor
and Shiloh, of Nicksburg and Chicka-
manga, are events in which inheres the
heart of every soldier of the Confeder.
dcy who now lives. As well try TO stop
the tears of the widow for her boy
that is dead as the love OF the Con-
federate for his cause that was lost.
The programme of the reunion en-
10
day of this week, and embraces, also.
Virginia, West Virginia, South Caro-
lima, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama
Tennessee, North Carolina, Kentucky,
Missouri and Maryland
North Carolina will be there. and
she win be in line. and when her name
is called she will answer: First at
Bethel; Last at AppomaIttox; 1850
voters. $4,000 soldiers; 14,522 killed;
p SOP died!" And when this answer
comes, those who have survived the
thirty years battle of peace VIII bare
their brows. with tears and cheers. for
getful Of all else except the loyalty OF
those who died and OF those who live
after them.
And the hair-so white now Of
those who viii next Tuesday look
doubtless for the last time again into
one another's eyes will be as wreaths Of
smoke over what is left of that splendid
fame of battle
One more year, and the smoke will be
thinner and whittier, and in not many
more years, there Will he not even a
nhitened brow left to reverence.
Then looking over the arena, the see
ond and the third generations, and gem
erations to come viii contemplate i
cause in ashes.
And shall there be no more re-un-
ions? Taking up those ashes they Will
be urned and set apart in a sacred
place, and with love that will not
lessen, mothers and fathers will tell
their young of heroes these will be
the reunions that viii come in after
years.
And that urn Of the ashes OF the
cause of Lee will be put above the
hearth which was it's foundat:on-stone
and the young maiden--her fingers
tingling with the blood of her forbears:
of women who waxed white by the hos
pital bed, and of men who waxed
winter with the death wound. will
trace over that urn these words:
Even in the ashes live their wonted
fires
And her brother-lad looking upon
it will say: 1T is WE'LL and he
will be filled with that touch of grief
and courage and JOY whose delicious
thrill is felt to the full by those in
n. 4 L.