The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-18

Kittreu. delivered the Grafton. lie sald'
Survivors of the army of Northern Nir-
pinia. Confederate Veterans, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
Rismark. the great German. speaking
Ar +bo world through an address lately
made to his own people, has sad that'
SF,ourb ne stood confronted by the in
firmities of old age, TO him there was
bIessad comfort 1t was this The great
law of compensation underlying the
onuities of Gods government brings 10
an cid man the recognition of the TACT,
that. as he has largely done with the
.xarld and the world has largely done
with him. he is alone responsible TO God
both for what he may say and for what
no NAV do. Keenly alive TO that I'M
munity from sharp and rancorouS crltl-
c;sm of what may be said on this occa-
sion. one may be allowed TO proceed IN
fhe performance of that daty which has
reen assigned him by the kind women
of North Carolina. One might think
that here was the proper place TO pass
some words of high and courteous eu-
Iogim upon the women of North caro-
lima. But it may be said in the face OF
all that transpired within the borders OF
that great old commonwealth that the
women of North Carolina need no eu-
logium. From the early settlement OF
Roanoke Island, during the dark days
of her Colonial history; during the reVo-
luton: pending the great struggle be-
tween the step-mother, England. and
her daughters, the Colonies: during the
stirring times of 1872; during the bright
hours of Democratic supremacy. when
the country was expanding from ocean
to ocean; pending the war with Mexico,
and then onward as sectional strife be-
gan TO develop: all through those dark
est hours of '61'65; some men We're
found who were recreant to their high
trust and noble heritage as North Caro-
sinians. and were willing to sell their
birthwright for Il pitiful mess of pot
tage. but from Cherokee to Currituck,
from the Virginia line to the waters of
the petlCe. no woman was ever FOUND
within the borders of this old common
wealth whose features suggested the
slightest resemblance to Rebecca
Wright. an alien to your civilization,
fair women of Virginia, that woman who
put Sheridan in possession of Early's
movements. dispositions and numbers,
so rs to suggest to all fair minded men
and women that she was the twin sister
of Judas Iscariot No, the women of
North Carolina have always been true,
and from them has sprung that noble
Eaca that has put the world in love with
the finest touches of civil and religious
liberty They have commissioned me to-
day TO speak in their behalf. and the
only regret that | have is that | bring
not to the discharge of this high COM
mission the commanding eloquence of a
francis Hawkes. or the persuasive ora
tory of Henry Watkins Miller. But
/ should be unjust to the memory of my
father and mother, of my only brother
who yielded up his life in front of At
lanta, as well as of the sweetest recol-
Iections of that sainted sister who yield
ed up her young life from wounds in the
lungs contracted in over watching and
over-wOrk in the wards of the COnfed-
crate hospital at GoldsbOro, were | to
allow my sense Of insufficiency, my in
adequacy to the full performance of
the duties assigned ne, to cause me to
falter one moment in thu pathway Of
duty watch woman has assigned me- It
may Ike pardoned me if just here, before
entering upon the discussion of the
great question which will occupy the
web and the wool of this address,
pause sufficiently long to barely intimate
OF gratitude which they owe to the fair
women of the Shenandoah Valley, and
notably so to the dwellers in this old
war-worn town of Winchester, Va,
changing hands 81 times during the war,
as, from the spring days of 1861 through
out the entire struggle, they did their
full duty in nerying the arm and
strengthening the hearts of that noble
band of men arrayed in gray, who fol-
lowed the lead of Joseph E. Johnson,
Ashby, Stonewall Jackson and Robert
III. Lee. 1t may not be known to the
world nor can it be known the one 1.-THE
of all these blessed women did in the
hospital, in the closet on Blended knee
on the battlefield, outwatching the 81
lent stars in ministering to the Confed-
crate wounded, but this consolation re-
Mains as long as the Blue Ridge, whose
peaks now are enveloped with the morn
ing mists, as many a time they have
been wrapped up in smoke of BATTLE oc-
cupies the place assigned it by Almighty
God, the names of Mrs. Philip Williams
Mrs. Andrew Hunter Boyd, Mrs. Rob
ert Y. Conrad, Miss Kurtz the Richard
sons, the Russels, the Jenkins, the
GlaiZes, the Mesmers and many others
who were associated with those al
ten by the citizen soldiery of the South
They nobly planned and faithfully ex-
ecuted the high commission from God
which led them in their labor of love to
develop this beautiful bivouac of the
dead this blessed mother of all the
Southern cemeteries, fifty named and
worthily wearing that name, Stonewall
cemetery. All, how these women toiled,
how they prayed, how they begged,
walking among the ashes of Southern
glory and Southern wealth as long
weary months elapsed before they were
able TO complete in all its admirable APP
pointments this beautiful city of the
dead. They finished the work. All
through this lovely valley, all through
Piedmont, Va, the signal was given,
and perhaps the largest civil gathering
ever known in this valley witnessed
the conservation of these grounds to the