The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-10-20
ROBINS RoosT,"
JOHNSON CITY. Tenn, sept p. i's9o.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn, Sept. p, 1899.
To the Blue and the Gray:
Dear Old Veterans of the Unhappy
Past: Not long ago 1 received an invi
tation TO be present and answer to the
toast, The Southern Patriot" at q
banquet to be given to the president ot
the United States and other distin
puishcd guests on the occasion of the
reunion of the Blue and the Gray, tc
be held in Evansville, Ind, on October
1918; and since l am deprived of that
pleasure L have concluded to write you
a short love letter.
A patriot is a citizen who loves his
country, whether he lives in the North
or in the South; therefore every man
who honorably wore the blue, and
every man who honestly wore the gray,
in that struggle which tried the souls
of men, was patriot. The Blue won,
the Gray lost; but the boldness of the
Blue and the gallantry of the Gray
placed us in history as a nation of he
rOes- There can be no brighter proph-
ecy of a glorious future for our country
than the fraternlzing of the brave men
who fought each other under opposing
flags long ago. 1t is too late now to
argue questions which were settled by
the sword; il is too late to get hot uu-
der the collar and shout ''TraitOr!'
across Mason and Dixon's line. Grim
nations and recrimnationS are very
poor balm for old sores. The Union
can exist in name only if we remain
divided by sectional prejudice and sec
tiOnal animosity. We must have the
union of hearts and the union of hands
TO perpetuate the republic forever.
Fraternal relations and fraternal feel
ings must exist between the States and
the sections if we would preserve the
institutions established by our fathers.
| believe that these relations of broth
srhOOd between the North and the
South are being strengthened more
rapidly and more thoroughly now than
ever before. The shedding of blood
once separated us; the shedding of
blood is reuniting MS.
When President Mckinley, a little
more than year ago, issued his procla-
nation calling for volunteers to fight a
foreign foe under a tropical sun, Ten
nesseans toed the mark side by side
with the boys of Indiana and Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio, ready and willing to
follow the broad stripes and bright
stars of the old flag wherever it might
float in battle, and, if need be, to die
with their brethren of the North under
its ample folds. Grant and Lee were
in camp together, Lawton and Wheeler
led at Santiago, and Tennesseans bled
on san Juan hill. What better proof
Of her loyalty 10 the Union could the
South give than when she sent her sons
into its armies to suffer and shed their
blood for its triumph and its glory?
Not long ago I heard an old AIissis-
Sippi Confederate soldier say that he
had fought four years under the Stars
and Bars, and that when he went home
at the close of the war and saw his
country in ruins, he nursed his hatred
and revenge; but when war was de-
clared against Spain his son volun-
teered in a Mississippi regiment, and !
when he saw him marching under the !
Stars and Stripes and wearing the blue |
the spirit of anger came over him, and /
that uniform off these boys and let I
them put on the gray and show to the |
world how the sons of old Confederate |
veterans can fight under the old flag" /
But the colonel shook his head and /
said, mo; they must wear the blue I
and the regiment marched /.
away. And then he bowed his head /
and said, with fearful eyes: but when
they brought my boy home, and stood /
over his coffin and looked at him pale in
death, IN his blue uniform and wrapped
in his cOuntry's flag, all my anger and
animOsity vanished, and 1 said: Hence
forth that is my uniform, that is my
flag, and this whole country is my
country"
1t is not the number of people that
makes nations great, else China would
be the greatest nation on the face of
the earth today; it is not prOwess that
preserves empires from decay, else
Rome would have lived forever; it is
not genius, else the dust of the Par
thenon would not now mingle with the
dust of Grecian art, and we might still
be enchanted with the songs Of some 7
lark-eyed Sappho and charmed with
The Iliad of some modern Homer. 1t is
he virtue and patriotism of the people,
md their faith in Almighty God, which
uphold governments and lengthen the
,aths of their glory. 1t seems to me ]
hat the God of nations is guiding us. I
md shaping our DESTINY. We have the :
numbers and the prowess and the :
-enius: and if we will only continue to
and cherish the spirit of ma J
ional patriotism, we viii yet realize
'ur dreams of liberty enlightening the !
world, and the mighty deeds of the =
,ast will be drowned in the light of our
uture glory as the stars are drowned
n the light of the morning. Let us
in deed and in truth; never
gain, I trust, with the sword in fra
ernal war, but through all the future :
q fraternal peace and brotherhood. c
The Blue visited the South once un- /
invited, and the Gray showed them I
ONE of our Southern mineral resources
D the shape cf muskets and cannons. i
he Gray now invites the Blue TO come f