Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-01-28
An Eloquent Tribute 10 Ex-Ceafed.
crate Soldiers.

| saG ouu0o1 UkSsautt q
the New York Confederate yetera,
Camp in honor of Gen. Rost. E
Lees birthday. was an eloquent eff
fort. He said:
eff l were called upon to epito
mice my tribute to the ey.Confed
crate soldier. l would borrow on,
sentence from my friend Victor
Smith, and say - he did ID wrisins
ITO me recently on thssubject fh,
ex-Confederate soldier, faithful t.
the lost cause, yet true to the cause
that lost it. Hearty applause.
Lacking yesrs deprives me of the
privilege of speaking to the toast
out of a personal experience, but
the fact that / was not born earlier
than l was is not my fault. but my
fate. / am not q Confederate vet
eran, but only q Confederate survi-
vor not 'the survival of the fittest,
but the survival Of him who fit not.
| Laughter. But l am licensed
to speak to the toast through the
blood of my brothers, and my whole
heart IS in the subject. count
myself happy to pay tribute to that
disbanded legion of honor, whose
every conflict was q battle for con-
science sake, whose every victory
was the triumph Of an honest cause,
and whose final defeat developed o
heroism and fortitude without par.
allel in the history of conquered
peoples. [Great applause.
'The ex-Confederate soldier
should be proud of his past, salts
fed with his present and hopeful
OF his future. He has proven him
self hero in war, q nobleman in
peace and an honor at all times to
the land of his birth. His record
during the war was that of su preme
courage, and his record since then
has been that of heroic patience.
Laying down his shield and buck-
Ter at Appomattox, he butsoned his
parole beneath his faded jacket
next to his heart and returned home
to begin life anew. The battles he
had fought during the four long
years Of bloody struggle were not
half so hard as the one which now
confronted him, and how he has
fought the hardest fight is set forth
in the rehabi!itations of his land
and the establishment Of his peo-
pie. He turned his face homeward
after the surrender with the brave
spirit and manly resolution which
filled the heart of that representa-
tive member of Georgia regiment
who said to his comrades when he
got his parole Il am going back
to Dixie, kiss my wife and children
pillow up my new-ground field and
make a crop, and if the Yankees
bother me any more will whip 'em
again. Laughter and applause. !
"The ex-Confederste, standing
today in unimpeachsble loyalty to
our indissoluble Union and vieing
worthily with all others in upbuild-
ing the strength and glory of our
republic, is also the hero Of past
for which he has neither shame nor
regret, but which he holds as hal
lowed memory, more precious than
his birthbright and as sacred as his
honor. That past recalls to him a
mighty struggle; recalls sorrows
and sufferings 80 widespread and
intense that his whole land seemed
then one vast altar on which all the
treasures and traditions of q pso-
pie were laid in sacrifice for the
faith that was in them. AS q sell
der the ex-Confederat needs no Gu
logy. His patience through priva-
ton outlasted the war itself, and
his behavior in battle gave him the
glory Of renown aud an indlsputa.
BILE title to knighthood. Zap
plause.
"Since the war he has acquitted
himself as citizen with all the
credit which his credit as O soldier
| demanded. He has trampled dis.
aster under bis feet has made the
devastation of his native land give
place to newborn thrift and pros.
perity he has rebuiided her des.
troyed cities and made the wide
fields that drank the blood of hel
sons rich again with the beauty Of
ripening fruit and the harvests Of