The Opelousas courier., 1898-01-29
[stenographic Report Of the Tlmes-Democrat.

1850, CDDH tHS OtuStOh " "o
s]entation of Picture of Contede-
rate Sec'y Of Narys Hon. Ste
phen r. Mallory.
(stenographic Report Of the Tmes-Democrat.
"Mr. President. Ladies and Gentlemen
very pleasant office is assigned to me on behal
of the Louisiana division Of the United Veteran
to express their appreciation of this gratefu
gift, which has been 80 admirably and el0
quently presented on the part OF the Ladies' AID
vocate, and to which so heartfelt a Response
has been made by one who represents the arm.
as well as the historical association itself.
''Slr, it is fitting that there should be upOl
the walls of this Memorial Hall memorials o
the Confederate Congress and the Confederate
camps; that we should have represented OF
these walls the wisdom, the intelligence, TIL
intellect, the craftsmanship which were Illus
trated in the Confederate Congress during thii
short period of our governments existence
1t is we'll that the wisdom and patriotism rep
resented in the Cabinet of Mr.. Davis should
have its representative faces upon these walls
bringing to mind our indebtedness to the mel
of the past.
Just as we value the history Of the war, OF
the battles that were bravely fought, and the
some of whom survived defeat and whom the
world will to the last day %ofrecord recognize as
being greater in defeat than other men greater
in victory just as these military memorials
adOrn these walls, they represent the courage,
the v.rtHe. the endurance and the patriotism
fine e pie of the South that survived defeat.
For j Is among the most marvellous facts III
all til. tory of the past, the bravery of a
people hose cheeks did not turn pale. nor did
theyL lch under disaster. The South during
the last six and thirtylyears has never low
the presence of their triumphant foes. A mar
vellous spectacle has been presented in the his
tory Of those thirty years, OF men returning
from the very fields of battle to carry on the
victories which they could not achieve with
the sword by the eloquence of their lips and
the still more potent protests which they still
utter against invasions on the principles of the
past.
II am wandering from that which l first in
tended to utter. In all this assembly there are
no hearts that throb with greater emotion up
on the presentation of this portrait than the
veterans who called upon me to represent their
feelings. Memorials Why, sir, these vete-
rams are the memorials of the past. These men
in gray who assemble here to night, most OF
them in the gray offs the sombre twilight of
their old age. they are our memorials. In their
time, i'll the flush of early manhood. they heard
the call OF their country and went forth to bat
tie, and many OF them survive in the prime of
their manhood and strength to tell great deeds,
of which they were partially the heroes. but
the greater portion are men sinking under the
weight of years, and as they gather by evening
into this hall. and their eyes roam around
these walls. these precious memorials speak
comfort to their failing hearts.
"We, too, shall shortly slumber in the grave.
The voices that still respond to the roll call
will be silent In a year or two, and no longer
answer to their names, and as the thinning
dHh6 ulSdpUCdl HUH LILO Wow VI tHo AS1lH,
they look upon these memorials to hold their
history up to the generations that are yet I'M
born.
.'Sir, it is a great thought, after a great his
tOrlc struggle Tor a great historic people such
as ours, hot to die until they have raised the
memorials of their struggles. I would not be
the prophet OF evil, nor utter any sentiment in
conflict with the purest patriotism of the pres
ent hour and present day but, sir, if the day
of disaster should ever com upon this great
country Of ours, # at some day the solitary owl
ingtOn, and the frogs in the slime of the River
James. in responsive chord, croak over the des-
olation of this land, depend upon it there will
rise at q century later than ours, or two cen
turtles later, some Macauley, some Motley or
some Carlyle, who shall dig among the records
and memorials that are hanging upon these
interpret the great lessons which have been
taught in the struggle of the Confederacy and
in her defeat. But it. may be, if ever disaster
con comes ~ TO he snls g foShiG country amd yr 81 ours t Wnieh may
interpreters of our struggle, with larger light
than we have to-day, will describe that the
liberty OF the people OF America and the glory
of the American republic went down together
in the grave of the COnfederacy. However,
sir, this may be, you and | who have outlived
by six and thirty years the termination Of this
struggle have no repentences to confess before
the world or to ourselves. These Southern
hearts have not recanted the principles which
they Fought for even unto blood, and the result
Of war, which is only the result OF conQuering |
forces, can never determine the truth of any
abstract principle. Therefore, we who lived
n our prime on the fields of battle, who were
without shelter except that spread for
IS by the dome of the sky, able to endure the |
and the ~fatigues of war, in the memo
y. of 1t all hold true to our hearts still the
which underlay that great struggle. |
Now, sir, these memorials stand for that
'ast. l am glad. sir, that this portrait, with its
Unopened lips, will speak through their very
male and female, as they gather within these
wallis and gaze upon that manly countenance,
Vil learn inspiration of the wisdom that no
in the marks Of the past and still
Ugh in the hearts OF those who were willing
Gle that they should not be smothered.
nd just at this point allow me to say, as 1
raw to a close, there is no sWeeter work for
ur women to-day, our younger women that
ever knew the pangs and sorrows of their
who have been born and who have
up into the beauty of their woman hood
nee those dark days, it is a sweet office for
he Daughters of the COnfederacy, old and
Dung, to gather up the mementoeso of the past,
nd hold them as most sacred treasures under
le most careful guardianship,
mot one note that was ever written during
10 war ought to be lost, not one scrap Of
eWspaper report that has escaped the ravages
'es that are in search of the representative
mbols OF the past. Sir, the woman make the
untry. 1t is the women Of the South that
AIDE the COnfederacy equally, il not more
an the men. 1t is the mothers that would
1t allow their maternal love to smother the
Q of patriotism in their hearts that armed
cir sons and their husbands and sent them
rth to war, and many a heart has during this
past been lonely and sad because
cir love was buried In the warriors robe that
comprised the form committed in the moon
lit to the unmatched grave on the battle
Id.
Let this historic society loudly appeal to
. Daughter OF the Confederacy not only in
apters that are already organized, butin chap
that are still to be formed, to make it their
triotie service to uphold to the gaze Of
generations that are still to come the true
owlege of that struggle through which we
We passed.
Sir, I will not call it the Lost Cause. It
yer has been lost, for no cause is lost that
es IN memory, and no cause is lost that has
foundation in principle, and I have lived
6 enough and have observed enough in this
TO Know the power that lies in a protest,
! IN my home, whenever my mind goes back
the past, I think OF these unmarked graves
over this Southern land, from the upper
ders Of Virginia down to the Gulf of Mexico.
n grave containing within itself a silent
solemn and eternal protest against all who
Y undermine the actors to that cause which
to be lost. Let the Daughters of the
see that to them, as q matter of
y and love, is committed by those VIC are
Q and by those that are going and by those
D shall survive them in their turn, the duty
eelng that the historian of 200 years hence
put the C0nfederacy in the proper his
~
Uf.-