The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1897-10-16
AROUND THE CAMPFIRE.

I
not fail to be read with feeling O
pride and satisfaction by al Missis
slpplGns,. but especially by.those of th
district which he represents aud ha
made celebrated from one end of III
Union to the other
The talk of Crongressm&n Catch
lugs, commonly called Gen, Catchings
was one OF the happlest events o
/ this sort that was ever made in Thu
city. An effort was made to secure
the attendance Of his fellow members
Of congress, Davey Of Louisiana, and
Private John M. Allen of Tupelo
Miss, but they had imperative en-
gagements that compelled them tc
decline.
Congressman Catchings saluted the
veterans of the % cavalry as "com'
rades." He told the audience that the
only army song of his side,-Im a
poor rebel soldier, and long way
from home, was not the one no was
singing them. Ho was right at home,
right here III Davenport. He knew
no section of this great country where
he did not feel at home. He paid
glowing tributes 70 the memories CT
the great leaders of the war, Lincoln,
Grant, sherman, Sheridan, Thomas
Mead Lee, Jackson, johnson and
Johnston, Beauregard and Forrest and
the house cheered him to the echo.
In fact It was hard for him to talk
more than half minute at time
without interruption by salvo of
applause or chorus of laughter that
filed tho auditorium so he could not
be heard. He told stories that kept
the people quietly shaking with mer-
rimeut, intermingled with volcanic
explosions of mirlh that could not be
held IN, He made as good a United
States speech as ever came from the
lips of any man. aud he won the hearts
of his hearers so completely with his
genial manner, his open hearted fra
termty, and his broad and liberal ac-
ceptance of the opinions of his neigh
bors who differed from him, now or
in the past, that if he moved here he
would be morally certain to be forced
to lun for congress from this staunch
union district, no matter what his
politics or his war record have been.
He apostrophized the common soldier,
and declared that he was the man
who did the fighting and who made
the great men of the war. He said he
had been in a hundred fights, and not
a dozen times in those four years had
he heard q command to charge, and |
he had been in charges more than he |
could remember. Men in the ranks |
by instinct, and their officers |
had ado to keep up with them. They |
learned the tactics of the field so
thoroughly that the regiments and
companies handled themselves without |
the word of Command-but after |
The private had fought, died,
aud bravely won or gallant y lost
The day, the officer who had been
hardly an incident in the whole affair
got the promotions and the honorable |
and the receptions and the
Ieasts, while blue beef and privation
we're still the lot Of the private
No such tribute to the martyred
Lincoln had been heard in this city as
hat which this years Confederate
soldier paid him. lie said: "There
las been no reasonable thought in
he south that ! have encountered for
more than 80 years. If ever the
Eagles Of war are let loose again in
his country we will outnumber you
hree to one, though in population
'ou outnumber us that much, In de-
ense of this union and that flag. This
udience looks to me just like one OF
neople. There are no diff
erences In US as men, or In our de-
Tres and aspirations, AID. God will
ng, we will march hand in ham, with
GU till in this glorious land of ours
'e have solved all the problems that
ex humanity; till we have demon
rated that that great man, Abraham
incoln, was right when he said that {
lis government of the people, for the
aople and by the people, was the G
randest production of the human /
ind, !
In closing Mr. Catchlngs said "And Q
hat a government is this we have
IRE This hand (raisiug it aloft) that S
led to break down that government, I
IS for years been engaged in max I
g Its laws, to govern alike you and fl
e." lie followed this with an ur- b
mt appeal for the announcement Of g
g National Guard, and the FOSTER O
OF the patriotic spirit everywhere,
d ended with a tribute to the wo- o.
of the country that was 90
ough 10 make every woman III the d.
use want to hug him. Whe he
Included and babe his audience s
odnight, Col, Horton on the stage, n
d some old soldier in the body OF G.
mouse were on their feet simultan- CT
lsly, proposing "Three cheers for re
II. Catchings, and they got them, OF
measure The scene ended with u.
i dozen officers of the I'd cavalry, So
other veterans, surrounding the
nored guest of the evening, wiring Il
bis hand of, and embracing him hi
brothers. Perhaps it was worth B
lie to have war to secure such a
ternal reunion of the forces that It pl
aged against each other. OF
The enthusiasm over the Mikado pT