Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1897-04-29
The Grant Monument.

On Tuesday last a great monument
was dedicated in New York city to
Gen. U. 8. Grant. The display and
pageant were probably the most i'm
posing that have ever been seen In
America, the tomb itself is the result
of the expenditure of large sums of
money, and is one of the most artistic
and substantial structures of it's kind
In the world. Its building and
dedication were called national
affair, but the nation as a nation has
not bad great deal of heart in it. One
section, the South, has of course not
contributed to it, as it was all along
conceded that the monument was not
to be so much in honor of the man or
the country as for the glory and beau
LITIGATION of New York. But it has
dragged unseemingly. When New
York secured the remains, the honor
conferred was pledged to eceive due
appreciation by the early erection of
an imposing and suitable mausoleum.
But New Workers forgot the promise,
or allowed other matters to drive it
out of mind for time. Congress was
applied to, to help out with contibu-
ton, and beggars were sent in all di-
rections soliciting aid. At last, after
years of waiting, the tomb is finished,
the body has been placed in it, and
representatives of the various sections
have tramped in solemn procession by
the last resting place of the man who
was in command of the armies of the
union when the late late civil war
closed.
It may not have been meet or right
for the South to stand so far aloof from
this procession, but there is no power
yet known that can control human
feelings, there is nothing that can be-
get love but love itself, and when the
South and Southern people are asked
to bow their heads in sadness, or shed
tears of real sorrow. they comply only
when there is just and real cause.
Single Gen. Grant out as man, as
soldier. as a conqueror, and the South
could and would honor him. Of all
those who came from the war at the
head of victorious legions, Gen. Grant
had as much in his conduct and char
acter to cause their admiration as any
who did battle against them. They
honor him because he was not vindic
tive. they honor him because he hon
estly wanted peace and did not war
for the sake of conquest, they honor
him because when he pledged his faith
he never swerved from the pledge.
But in this pageant marched the
South's conquerors and present enc
mics. Those who formed the process
sion were principally those who take
peculiar pleasure in shouting traitor
in her face, and who spitefully use her
and pereecute her. Her SONS were
therefore scarce in the parade, though J
they are legion in their regard for the
memory of Gen. Grant.
The love of brave deeds, the honor
of faithful adherence to duty nowhere
find heartier response than
in the breast of Southern people.
They have in their poverty erected
such humble monuments to their
heroes as they could, they have laid
upon the graves of their dead, flowers,
and watered them with tears, they
every day show their devotion to prin
ciple, they hate no man for like devo
ton, and whilst they can never hope
for the magnificent piles, or the out
pour of the national treasury to gar
nish graves and guard the ashes so
dear to them, they are not envious of
the honor their northern brethren
bestow, nor of the marble heaps, and
massive tombs wealth and power can
they ask only the privilege of
being let alone with their dead, to
have none intrude upon their sorrow,
Ind they will not intrgde upon the
sorrows of others. The graves of their
lain contain their ideal of valor and
oval devotion to principle, and in :
hem are also their buried hopes.
Here they will weep, here 81
eek their inspiration
There W
port :. ,oc oo,es
.,eWs Tueeday, burning piers
and three ship1.