The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1898-09-29
A PEOPLES LOVE.
EImira Sydnor MiIier's
Tribute to
MISS WINNIE DAVIS.

MISS WINNIE DAVIS.
The common call of great nation
has reunited the warning bands of 9th
er days, around the beautiful brows of
the South the palmetto which sighed
to the pine is wreathed by loves hands.
The light of the autumnal sun falls fair
on the grave of the heart-stricken sing
er whose stsigh was for peace-"peace
in the mart, in the field, on sea and on
land" and the desire of his soul has
been granted. And the bright pathway
leading forward to eternity has been
glorifed by the passing of many of
those glorious mortals who have laid
down sword and pen and rested from
their labors. Year after year the South
has had cause to mourn some stars the
less in her heaven of fame. and but yes
terday the lovely spirit of the "Daugh-
ter of the Confederacy" took flight by
the sounding sea.
She was the object of peoples love,
she is now the object of their tears.
The hearts which enshrined her are as
desolate to-day as some poor bird the
tempest has shorn of its nest, for to
them she was the legacy of the great
leader of his people, the President who
stood with them when the storm of war
swept over the land and laid their beau
tiful places in ruins. She was the JOY
of his home and the ministering angel
of his old age 1t was the noble daugh-
ter, who clung to him in his days of de-
feat and heart break, even as the gen.
tie Cordelia sustained the venerable
King Lear, and moved among the ador-
ing veterans of the "Lost Cause" an
angel in woman's form.
The legacies of some men are riches,
of some fame, of some patriotism; JEFF
ferson Davis legacy was his child and
the South took her reverently and ten
derly to its heart, and when child the
banner of that South cast its saddened
glory over her pillow.
In the great book of Life it was not
written for her to forsake father and
mother and cleave only unto the love
of her heart. II was not written for
her to sit beside an alien freside, the
ministering. spirit of a home, above
which the Eastern skies hung gray,
and from which the soul of music and
flowers, all the bountiful loveliness Of
Lies owrf5outhland we're missing. No
matter what may have been her feel
ings, she recognized that like the hero
ic daughter of Jephthah, she was vowed
to the cause fer which her people had
fought, suffered and died. 1t was
grander to be the Daughter Of the
Confederacy" than wife, to that land
which had christened her and anointed
her, which had crowned and blessed her
she was faithful aye, faithful unto
death.
And it is to such as these that the
promise of crown of glory has been
given.
And now life's portal has closed and
death appeared on the horizon. For
her all things are voiceless, and to those
who knew and loved her there comes
the reproachful thought that heaven
had no reviving dew for this stricken
flower of the South. The tidings of
her death have gone forth and there is
mourning all over the land. The vet
erans who basked in the sunlight of
her face at Atlanta, who received the
benediction of hand-clasp and saw
revived in her the beautiful spirit OF
the past, to whom her voice was song
and her presence JOY, will gather this
week around the smoldern campfres OF
memory, recalling every hallowed re-
collection of her who is no more. Some
will remember her as child in the
old days in Richmond, when she moved
laughing about, rainbow amid the
storm. Some will tell of her as they
saw her at "Beauvoir," dreaming un-
der the magnolias of Pass Christian ever
singing their magic song close by
They will talk of her as the light of he1
fathers eyes, the generous young hos
tess to whom the name of Southern