The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-10-26
A REUNION
Annual Meeting of Survivors Of Company
b, First Battalion of = p illery, North Car
DINA Troops Speech Of Welcome by JnO.
w. Stokes-Address by O. j. Carroll
written for The Messenger

written for Ihe MeSSenSer.J
Magnolia, N. c., October IL
B., first battalion of artil-
lery, North Carolina troops met here
Friday October Sth, their regular year.
ly reunion. Some 500 people, men,
women and children were present. AT
ter three rousing cheers for Lieutenant
I. w. Taylor, of whom there vas never
a more kind or considerate officer, fol-
lowed speeches by Mr.. 0. j. Carroll, of
Raleigh; John W.. Stokes, of Magnolia
and DR.. Mitchell Of Wake Forrest.
Then came a beautiful dinner spread
under the grove Of cedars, with a field
of dahlias in full bloom for a back
ground, on the premises of II. +. New
bury. Every thing passed off pleasant
ly, and all enjoyed the day.
The old vets of whom there were
thirty-three present Of company b and
many from other commands enjoyed a
brief history by Lieutenant 1 w. Tay-
lor of the old from its organ
ization to B~entonsville. Then they
chatted until late in the afternoon when
reluctantly they shook each others
hands and said good bye, promising to
meet again at Magnolia next October.
SPEECH OF WELCOME BY JOHN w.
STOKES, ESQ.
C~onfederates Veterans, Ladies and
Gentlemen:
The duty seems to have devolved on
me Of extending to you our mutual well
come, on this occasion. To me 1t
would be a most pleasant duty, were
1t not that / am so mindful Of my own
DEFICIENCIES on the one hand, n the
honor due our distinguished guests on
the other. I say distinguished guests,
for to me the hero in gray Is the very
highest type Of manhood the world has
ever produced. In the modesty OF
your nature you may not think so, but
it is true. No lord Of European mon
archy, no patrician that added 1ustre
to the name Of Greece or Rome, no
hero of antiquity that daZzles us with
the dim %grandure of his deeds merits
the praise, consideration and honor that
you merit. Your integrity, humanity,
patriotism and fortitude, your noble
self sacrifice, your constant devotion to
duty, your unflagging tenacity Of pur-
pose, your ever responsiveness to the
battle call, your neverfailing heroism
in the rush and din Of conflict, stand
without a parallel in the annals OF his
tory.
Glorious record!-When shall it's
grandeur fade! When shall it's lustre
De OlI0Inpu, WHO CdH ucSCIlUc IL.
Historians have paused, amazed
Philosophers have sought to divine it.
Orators have immortalized it,poets have
sung of it's glory. No malicious pen
can detract from that record. No wit
can ridicule it. No humorist can bur-
lesque it. 1t stands an impregnable
fact of history. We come today to
render honor to whom honor is due, to
commemorate in our humble way the
noble deeds, the grand heroism Of the
most splendid army that ever strOve
for a righteous cause 1t was an army
OF gentlemen-inspired by the noblest
impulses of the human heart. 1t was
an army of patriots, fortified by the
consciousness of a just cause.
1t was an army of soldiers whose re-
finement-taken as a whole-culture,
intellectually and high impulses of
honor were never surpassed if eQualled
by those Of any other army ever mus
tered in any cause. Well has some
English poet in singing of the defeat
ed confederacy said:
All, realm Of tOmbS!
But let it bear this blaZen to the
last of times
No nation rose so white and fair,
Or fell so pure of crimes.
1t is said that the survivors Of the
charge Of the light brigade, uncouth and
uncultured though many of them were,
were feted in the queens gardens, and
were courted and cajoled by the most
exclusive circles of London artistic
cracy.
But greater heroes are you than were
they. You fought neither for pelf nor
glory nor empire. You bled and endur
ed for the tenderest and most sacred
objects known to the human heart,
You fought for your hearth and your
home, for the protection of your wife
- ~ 49, Alo ~ O rYpo Vo
to you by our fo~refathers, for the ex-
haltation of the citizen, and thesover-
eighty of the state. And I beg Of you tC
think not that your failure dampens
our ardour. or detracts an iota from oul
love, appreciation and esteem. Your
failure only appeals to our tenderes,
sympathy. Your poverty, If you be
poor. and lack Of worldly success, shall
onlycause us to embrace you with the
greater tenderness. Your rags would
only cause us to embrace you with thu
a~lacrity to set for you the chief seat a
the feast. Not your misfortunes shall
degrade you in our eyes. Your failure!
of success, your loneliness. your sor
rows, your disappointments in life, shall
enshrine you the more sacredly in on
heart and memory. And did you real
ly fail in the mighty contest? Was l
all for naught? No, you did not fail
If you had not fought the mighty am
lasting results would not have beer
achieved. No conscientious, we'll oil
rected human effort is ever lost. Tn
wal of secession was essential to tn
pe~rpetuity of this government a
a free government. The prime
pies for which you ~contended ar
at the foundation of all human liberty
and the m of that terrific con
test will ever act as a check to tn
would be despoilers of our land.
In the name of the citizens of Mag
nolia. and in behalf of the good wome
of our community, l bid you welcome
welcome to all we have, welcome t
every service we can render you. w
can not make it a day of grand page
antry and magnificent display. w
would were we able. We a make
a day of peace and rest and nope.
day of forg%etfulness and of rejoicing