The record-union., 1898-10-20
world the full demonstration of the sim

cerlty or our purpose.
Duty determines destiny Destiny
which results from duty performed may
bring anxiety and perils, but never
failure and dishonor. Pursuing duty
may not always lead by smooth paths
Another course may look easier and
more attractive, but pursuing duty for
duty'S sake is always sure, safe and
honorable.
1T is not within the power of man
to foretell the future and to solve un-
erringly it's mighty problems. AL
mighty God has his plans and methods
for human progress, and not infre-
quently they are shrouded for the time
being in impenetrable mystery. Look
ing backward, we can see how the hand
of destiny builded for us and assigned
us the tasks whose full meaning was
not apprehended by the wisest states
men of their times. Our colonial an
ceStorS did not enter upon their war
originally for independence. Abraham
Lincoln did not start out to free the
slaves, but to save the Union. The war
with Spain was not of our seeking, and
some of it's consequences may not be to
our liking. Our vision is often defec-
tive. Short -sightednesS is a common
malady, but the closer we get to things
and they get to us the clearer our view
and the less obscure our duty. Patri-
otism must be faithful as we'll as fer
vent; craftsmanship must be wise as
Well as fearless-not the craftsmanship
which will command the applause of
the hour, but the judgment of posterity.
THE progress of a nation can alone
nrpVpnt 6pOpnar1tiOn There
new life and purpose, or there will be
weakness and decay. There must be
broadening of thought as we'll as broad
ening of trade. Territorial expansion
is not alone and always necessary to
national advancement. There must be
constant movement toward a higher
and nober civilization, a civilization
that shall make it's conquests without
resort tc war and achieve it's greatest
victories pursuing the arts of peace.
In our present situation, duty and duty
alone should prescribe the boundary of
our responsibilities and the scope of our
undertakings.
The final determination of our pur-
pose awaits the action of the eminent
men who are charged by the Executive
with the making of the treaty of peace,
and that of the Senate of the United
States, which, by our Constitution must
ratify and confirm it. We all hope and
pray that the confirmation of peace will
be just and as humane as the conduct
and consummation of the war. When
the work of the treaty makers is done.
the work of the lawmakers Will begin.
The one will settle the extent of our
responsibilities: the other must provide
the legislation to meet them. The
army and navy have nobly and hero
ically performed their part. May God
give the Executive and Congress wis
dom to perform theirs"
The address of Clark Howell Of At
lanta, who responded to the sentiment
Our United Country, North and
South" caught his audience and caught
them hard. Mr.. Howell spoke as fol-
lows:
Mr.. Toastmaster and My Fellow
Countrymen: In the mountains of my
State, in a country remote from the
quickening touch of commerce and
railroads and telegraphs, two vine-coV-
cred mounds, nestled in the solemn ST.
lence of a country churchyard, suggest
the text of my response TO the senu-
ment to which I am to speak tonight.
So bear with me while l lead you to
the rust-stained slab, which for CEN
tury-since Chickamauga-has been
kissed by the sun as it peeped over the
blue ridge melting the sublimated tears
with which the morning night had De
dewed the inscription:
Here lies a Confederate soldier.
"'He died for his country
"The September day which brought
the body of this mountain hero to that
home among the hills was an ever
memorable one with the sorrowing con-
course of friends and neighbors who
followed his shot-riddled body to the
grave. and of the number no man gain
said the honor of his death lacked full
LOYALTY to the flag for which he fought,
or doubted the justice of the cause for
which he gave his life. Thirty-five
wears have passed, another war has
called its roll of martyrs, and this time
the body of a son, wrapped in the Stars
and Stripes, is lowered to its everlast-
ing rest beside that of the father who
sleeps in the stars and bars.
"There were those who stood by the
grave of the Confederate here years
before. and the children of those We're
said the honor of the death of this hero
of FL Caney, and none were there but
loved. as patriots alone can love, the
glorious flag that enshrines the people
Of common country, as it enshrouds
the form that will sleep forever in it's
blessed folds. And on this tomb will
be written: Here lies the son of
Confederate soldier. He died for his
country
And so it is that between the maxi
ing of these two graves human hands
and human hearts have caused a solu-
ton of the problem that has baff1ed
human will and human thought for
three decades. Sturdy sons of the South
have said to the brothers of the North
that the people of the South had long
since accepted the arbitrament of the
sword to which they had appealed. And
likewise the oft repeated message has
come back from the North that peace
and good will reigned, and that the
wounds of civil dissension We're but a
sacred memory. And yet there We're
those among us who believed your
course was polite, but insincere, and
those among you who assumed that our
professed attitude was sentimental and
unreal.
bitterness had parted, and sectional
hate was no more, but there were those
who feared, even if they did not believe,
that between the greater sections of our
greater Government there was not the
perfect faith and trust and love that
both professed, that there was want of
the faith that made the American revo-
l,,tion a successful DOSSibility that