The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-10-07

OF North Carolina to say to you that
they are grateful to you for that sweet
courtesy of yours which. accorded to
North Carolina the lot of honor, the
plot of sacred ground which lies to
your right as you enter under the arch
way of Stonewall Cemetery. 1t is
simply -eminence which your
courtesy has accorded US, not because
OF any difference in the value of the
sacred dust which lies in each of these
State lots, but simply because of the
greater number of our dead.''
TRIBUTE TO MR.. RoUss.
"And now to you, sir" said Mr..
Avlrett, turning to Mr.. Charles Broad
way Rouss, who occupied a seat on
the platform, ''cradled in Maryland,
developed in Virginia, and now sue
cessful merchant in New York, the fair
women of my old State bid me say
that with grateful hearts our portion of
the Southland, and, we belive, the
whole from the Susquehanna to the
Rio Grande, will cherish the memory
of your noble benefactions with which
you have tenderly sought to drive
away the wolf of want from the door
way Of thousand. Southern homes.
You, sir, have given bread to the liv-
ing and have filly sepulchered our
dead. You have surrounded this
Gods acre in your munihcence with
beautiful iron fence which will defy
the tooth of time. You have caused
water to spring up in this valley with
its refreshment for the sick and the
dying. You have fortified the inhab-
itants of this old town of Winchester
against the fire fend by day and night,
and in your annual gifts to the Shen-
andoah Valley Agricultural Fair you
have taught the farmers of this beauti-
full section to sow in hope that they
might reap in joy. Nay, more, sir;
you have not forgotten Virginia. S
great shrine of learning, for in the
dark hour of her university's loss from
fire with sons high pride and joy
you have poured your treasures in her
lap. You have gone still further in
your farrea ching tenderness toward
the South. You have expressed your
willingness, nay, your fond desire, to
meet the whole Southland more than
half way in building upon magnifi-
cent plan and scale great battle
abbey, in which might be preserved
the relics, the trophies, he insignia of
her splendid heroism on battle field in
tattered flag, bullet pierced and shred
ed, but ever glorious; upon whose
walls might hang the portraiture of
distinguished herosm, and along
whose aisles in chiseled stone might
stand sculptured statues of Albert Sid
ney Johnston, Ashby, Stonewall Jack
son and our peerless Lee; and in whose
safe repositories might be placed the
records of the land you loved and
fought for, struggling to be free. Nor
have you stopped here, but to show
how deeply you love the Southern soil
you have brought the remains of your
noble boy from the great emporium of
the continent and given him burial in
the soil of old Virginia. Nay, more;
with monumental stone you have
marked the spot, gathering around it
the ashes of your dead, where, after
life's fitiul fever is over and your roll
Of splendid benefactions shall have
ceased, you yourself, sir, Confeder-
ate veteran, waiting for the reveille of
the resurrection morn, hope to lie.
The women of North Carolina have
sent by me, sir, few flowers to lay
upon the grave Of your crushed hopes
where sleeps your son, and if only
among the herbs which spring into
life among the valleys Of North Caro-
lima they might find one whose medic
inal properties would restore sight to
your eyes they would be gratefully
happy. Cherishing your benefactions
in the depths of grateful hearts, they
bid me say to you, sir, that your moth
er's God has taught them that there
are no blind in Heaven
Mr. Avirett then at some length re-
hearsed the causes in part which led to
the civil war and sketched the various
campaigns of the Army of Northern
Virginia, paying tribute to some OF the
| prominent North Carolinians who fell
IN battle.
THE GREAT TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE.
"And now there are some things in
conclusion, said Mr.. Avirett, (which
especially to North Carolina. Among
all the States of the Confederacy North
Carolina was especially blessed in that
great tribune ofthe people, Zebulon B.
Vance, perhaps ofall the war Governors
if not the most devoted, certainly
among the most useful. Fortunately
for him and for the great State which
he represented as its chief executive
the great duties which devolved upon
him found him at the very meridian OF
splendid manhood. Born IN the
county of Buncombe, among the fast-
nesses of his native mountains, 1t was
| the nOSt udtuid luIh6 ia ''~
that in his switzer home he should be
taught by devoted mother to love
liberty from his very cradle. AS a
lawyer, perhaps both Judge CASTOR
and Judge Ruffin were his superlors;
as United States Senator, perhaps
both Judge Badger and William II.
Haywood were equally as we'll, if not
better furnished. Simply as a Gov.
ernor we greatly doubt whether he
was superior to ex-Gov. Thomas
Bragg; as an orator with eloquence
divine we doubt very much whether he
could move men as did DR.. Francis l.
Hawke or Henry Watkins Miller. Bu
take him all in all, measured in all dl
rections, head and heart, he was the