The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1896-03-05
NEWS ALL OVER.
We Are All One People,

We Are All One People.
10 o. Shelby, major general, com
manding the United Confederate
Veterans, of Missouri, received an in
quiry by wire from the New York
Commercial Advertiser requesting an
expression of his views on the action
Of Commander in Chief Walker, Of the
g. A r., in declining to sanction the
ipiJp5sed marching Of tie nerbers of
the Grand Army of the Republic in
uniform and the Confederate Veterans
in uniform at the Fourth of July
| demonstration next summer in New
York City. General Shelby's reply
read
"Foster Coates, Esq, Commercial
Advertiser New York City.
Dear Sir Replying to your tele-
gram of yesterday will say: When
General Lee furled the flag and stacked
arms at Appomatox, then and there the
colors and uniforms of the confeder-
acy were buried for all time. The idol
of brave men lay shattered as the stars
and stripes foated again in its old
time place Heroes wept at the burial,
but raised their faces to salute the flag
of an undivided and indivisible coun-
| try. And we, who still stand this side
of the weary door of death, enjoying
the freedom and protection vouchsafed
! to us by our common country and that
flag, realize that there is but one flag
and one uniform, one symbol and one
army, for our common country. Clti.
zenship is broader than sentiment and
duty greater than tender recollections.
But above ALL true Americanism is
chief Of this trinity of virtues.
"And so the ex soldiery, whether of
the north or of the south, should main
tain that spirit of duty citizenship and
| AmeriCanism which will Danish sec
tionalism, bitterness and prejudice,
and tie us together with fourfold
bond of respect, esteem and patriotism.
Believing, therefore, as | do, that
in the parade as proposed in your city
July 4, next, of the Grand Army of the
Republic in nation al uniform, and the
x-confederates in grey uniform with
\ the stars and bars, would be incon-
gruous and mar the harmony of that
occasion, | indorse General Walker,
commander-in-c chief, in the course he
has taken Our griefs are private-the
sunny southland all billowed over
with the graves of our dead from the
sea to the plain, from the mountain to
the gulf, invites our love and claims
our tenderest care. And ii is no part
of our duty or patriotism to obtrude
ourselves or our private sorrows into
the marching columns of the Grand
Army. 10 O. Shelby, Major Gen
eral Commanding Division OF Missouri,
! U. c. ""
The Poet Riley Retues.
James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoo
sier poet" has retired from the plat
form. The poet whose readings have
delighted hundreds Of thousands will
not say that he has made his last ap-
pearance upon any stage, but he does
say that he has retired indefinitely.
Those who know him best and who are
familiar with his almost morbldly SEN
sitive nature believe that Mr. Riley
will never again, now that he is tinan-
cially independent, place himself in a
position to undergo another case of
"stage fright, " from which, strange
as it may seem, he always suffered be-
fore facing an audience.
Not one in ten thousand of those who
have heard of Mr.. Riley would have
guessed it had cost that self possessed
man and consummate actor, who hand
led his lines so that every word, by
tone and infection, should count and
have its studied effect upon his audi
tors, an effort to place himself before
them. But for hours before every
D public appearance the poet really suf
fered from an attack of acute nervous
apprehension. Years of familiarit.
with the footlights did not lessen thi
. feeling, which, coupled with anothe
. strong aversion, that of travel, tinall,
led to his withdrawal from the plat
form. Mr.. Riley has said that to TAX
railroad train gagged him; h
never could make head nor tail o
Is time tables, and he was continually get
% ting lost in strange cities. His oil
: travelling companion, Bill Nye, had tn
lie sense Of locality about as i'll deyelope
l. as has Mr.. Riley, and many goo
1t story is told of the mishaps to thes
Sc two wanderers on their pilgrimages
Il Only the other day Mr.. Riley receive
lie an offer from New York of 81, 900 fo
y four public appearances, but he de
lie clined it with expressions of gratitude