The age-herald., 1898-03-05

their homes were burned and their property swept from them, and they had life to commence anew. But God Almighty, In His infinite wisdom has so constituted His creatures that time assuages all grief
 Whatever animosities may have existed following the war, they do not exist now. As time has passed and the records of history have demonstrated that the pres ervation of the union was right, the south has fully accepted the arbitrament of the sword as final, and the men of bhe south would fight valorously now for it's pres- ervation in It's entirety as they did thirty five years ago for its dismemberment.
 This city was laid waste by the rayages of war, and but three houses are here now as landmarks of the ante-bellum days
 Thing of the Past W
 ''The bitterness between the sections of a common country is a thing of the past. What better illustration is there of this than the union survivors here join the con- federate survivors in paying tribute to the memory of their honored dead on Memorial Day, or that the confederate survivors join the union survivors in strewing the graves of their dead soldiery with flowers on Dec oration Day? For two years past, the former contendng foes here in this com munity have had a union day, and inter- mingled their labors in their remembrances of the dead. No better evidence Is there Of lHlS 1dcI lldl lllal I1OrdCO fNih6 SehihP NA United Confederate Veterans, with the wives, sweethearts and daughters of it's members, are your honored guests at your camp fires tonight; their swords are sheathed, their knapsacks are supplanted by well-filled pantries and their canteens on their sideboards, where they will greet you with the pleasantries that passed between the famous governors of the Caro- linas.
 That this feeling is national in it's ex- tent is evidenced by the graceful ovation received by that grandest living exponent of southern patriotism and chivalry, the idol of the surviving confederates and the grand old man" of the south, General John B. Gordon, the commander in chief of the United Confederate veterans, at the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic four years ago.
 We of the south want the people of the north whom you represent, to come among us to build up the country laid waste by the war The ex-confederates present will echo the statement that they would extend welcome as cordial to follower of Grant at Shiloh or Meade at Gettysburg, they would to a follower of Pemberton at Vicksburg or of Lee at Appomattox. The only credential desired of a home-seeker is that he shall be gentleman If he does not possess that requisite essential, he will not be receiv- ed."
 Officers Elected
 Department Commander-A Y. Bethea Decatur.
 Senior Vice-Department Commander Samuel Griscom, Birmingham.
 Junior Vice-Department Commander A. J. Harper, Larkansvllle.
 Department Chaplain-Manvah Bostick, Birmingham.
 Medical Director-Dr A. N. Ballard, Birmingham
 Council of Administration
 Council of Administration-Wm Snyder, Btrmingham; Y. F. Wollenhauft, Gull man; H. A. Steward, Mouton; Fred Hammer, Athens; M c. Scott, Montgom- cry.
 Delegate to National Encampment-R H. Allison, Decatur Alternate, A. w. Fulgum, Birmingham.
 Next department encampment to be held in Birmingham.