The bee., 1897-05-06
Gov. TayIor's Speech.

Ladies and Gentlemen The first CEN
fury in the history of the Commonwealth
OF Tennessee, glorious with the deeds oil
heroes. and rich with achievements in all
the arts of peace, has been garnered in
eternity; and as stand here to Join you in
this jubilee, the stirring scenes of hun.
dred eventful years pass in review before
me. see the blue smoke curling heaven
ward from the rude cabins of the pioneers,
and hear the first song of civilization along
the banks Of the Watauga; l see the red
glare on the sky OF night proclaiming the
approach of torch and tomahawk; see the
peerless Bonnie Kate" like a frightened
mountain fawn. outstripping the painted
warriors in her race for life, and amid the
flames and smoke from Decherd rifles,
which battle the savage foe. see her scale
the parapets of the beleagured fort and
fall fainting into the arms of John Sewer;
l see thousand coon skin caps gathering
at Sycamore Shoals. and a thousand ri
des rejecting a thousand sparkling i'm
ages of rising sun: see a Thousand stall
wart mountaineers suddenly vanish into
the forest, and now | see them emerge
around the base of Kings Mountain, and
winding upward towards its summit like a
serpent of fire. they pour their whitening
volleys into the faces OF the foe; the brave
redcoats fall like the leaves of autumn; the
battle is won and the tide of the revolution
is turned. The scene changes. and now
see the az cleaning in the hands of these
sturdy men; the forest falls and fruitful
fields spread westward from the noun
tains to the Mississippi; a new State is
carved from the heart of the wilderness.
the sixteenth star glori6es the flag Of the
Union. and Tennessee is born.
The years roll on. and the young repub-
lie OF civil liberty gives birth to new re-
public Of thought. Men like jefferson and
Jackson rise up and revolutionize the DO
litical ideas of the world men like Frank
lin and Fulton and Morse and Howe and
Hoe ana Whitney and Bell and Tesla and
Edison. open up new highways for the
march OF civilization.
see the vast wilderness OF America, the
dominion of savage Indian and wild beast,
yielding to the brain and proves OF the
Anglo-Saxon race. until forty-four stars on
our national flag symbolic the strength
and power and unity Of the greatest re-
public this world has ever known.
see the achievements of a thousa nd
years crowded into single century. | see
American genius walking in the gardens of
the intellectual gods. gathering sweets for
the soul from a thousand unwithering
flowers. catching music from the spheres
and beauty from ten thousand fields of
light.
II our fathers. who died hundred
years ago. could come back from 1.-THE
tongueless silence of the dreamless dust
and see the miracles that have been
wrought. II they could see their children
talking across oceans and sweeping across
continents in palace cars swifter than the
swiftest wing; If they could see the modern
reapers sweeping like phantom ships
through seas OF sunset gold, and hear the
music OF the harvest song and IL they could
catch glimpses OF the myriads of cities and
towns and country homes. which are the
habItations OF seventy millions OF people.
II they copld look upon the beautiful